Hugh Lofting

Hugh Lofting was an English-American writer, trained as a civil engineer, best known for creating Doctor Dolittle, the physician who can talk with animals. The character began in illustrated letters he wrote to his children from British Army trenches during the First World War, and Lofting settled in the United States soon after the war. He wrote the series that followed, including The Story of Doctor Dolittle and The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, before his death in 1947.