Oliver Rackham was the outstanding botanical writer of his generation. His books include The History of the Countryside, Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape and Ancient Woodland and the Woodlands, which was the 100th volume in the Collins New Naturalist series. He was Honorary Professor of Historical Ecology at Cambridge University and was a Fellow of Corpus Christi College for 50 years. He was an Honorary member of the British Ecological Society and a Fellow of the British Naturalist's Association.