A FORMER boss at Bettys has published his debut children's novel.

Jonnie Wild is former chief executive and chairman of Bettys & Taylors and is the great nephew of Frederick Belmont who founded Bettys. He steered the family owned business for more than 30 years, becoming an environmentalist, and now he's become an author to boot.

Mr Wild said his own children have a lot to answer for. It was their despair for the future of the Amazon rainforest, after watching an episode of Blue Peter in the late 1980s, which first inspired his interest in forest conservation.

He said: “I came home one day to find them distraught and I just wanted to be a good Dad and make things better."

At the time, Mr Wild was chief executive of Bettys & Taylors and in 1990 he and the company launched Trees For Life, pledging to plant a million trees. By 2007 the scheme had passed the three million mark. He also founded the Yorkshire Rainforest Project, with a mission to save an area of rainforest the size of Yorkshire.

Parenthood was also the launchpad for Wild’s other big passion, storytelling.

These days it’s his grandchildren who wait avidly for the next instalment of his latest tale and now, for the first time, his stories will be told to an even wider audience with the publication of his debut as an author, The Carnivorous Crocodile, a picture book for children aged five and under which has been brought to life by award-winning illustrator Brita Granstrom.

Featuring the humorous adventures of a cunning crocodile, five brave flamingos and a whole host of entertaining African jungle animals, the story introduces themes of sharing, community and problem-solving. All author royalties will be donated to two specific wildlife habitat conservation projects in Africa, Udzungwa Forest Project and Tanzania Forest Conservation Group.

Mr Wild has been involved in projects with the University of York and wildlife conservationists at Flamingo Land in North Yorkshire.

Mr Wild said: “It is no coincidence that the main characters are flamingos. As well as being colourful and eye-catching creatures, they also represent the collaborative work between Flamingo Land and the universities that I have been fortunate to be involved with here in Yorkshire.”

Just as the jungle animals who come face to face with the Carnivorous Crocodile have to help each other to overcome the challenge before them, Mr Wild hopes the book will support environmentalists and conservationists in their research and work with communities to find solutions to climate change. The Carnivorous Crocodile is published by Otter-Barry Books on February 1. Paperback £6.99.

Mr Wild will be reading and signing copies of his book at Waterstones in York on February 14 1pm-3pm.