 Booth was born the son of a doctor of metallurgy, and industrial surrounds of Sheffield influenced him from an early age.He and his family migrated to Australia in 1958, where he worked as a labourer for several years before attending the National Gallery School in Melbourne.In the 1980s Booth started his phase of horrifying figures, for example mutilated bodies and war scenes (sometimes with a light touch of humour), yet he always conveys a strong feeling in his art.