Dr. A. Drew Downing has a PhD in sociology and is a Professor Emeritus at Imperial College, London. For the last 15 years, his focus of study has been documenting the backgrounds and rise to power of the world's most notable open source mascots. After overcoming legal issues stemming from a defamation lawsuit pressed by the BSD Daemon, Dr. Downing plans to publish his next great work, "Mascots of the Python Ecosystem", this June under the imprint of academic publisher Wellington & Fawkes.

Downing resides at an undisclosed location on the bluff southeastern coast of England, and commutes thrice weekly to lecture in London. He enjoys scrabble, raising purebred dachsunds, and a properly-tended herb garden.