Christopher Gary Packham (born 4 May 1961) is an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author, best known for his television work including the CBBC children's nature series The Really Wild Show from 1986 to 1995. He has presented the BBC nature series Springwatch, including Autumnwatch and Winterwatch since 2009.
Video Chris Packham
Early Life
Packham was born in Southampton, Hampshire. He was educated at Bitterne Park Secondary School, Taunton's College and the University of Southampton, where he received a BSc in Zoology. After graduating he cancelled his study towards a PhD to train as a wildlife cameraman.
Maps Chris Packham
Television Career
In 1983 Chris Packham was a part-time camera assistant for wildlife filmmaker Stephen Bolwell working with him on A Toad's Tale.
From 1983 - 1985 he worked on The Living Planet series and The Living Isles for the BBC and Ourselves and Other Animals, a series for Channel 4.
Packham is known for his work as a television presenter which began in 1986 with the BAFTA-winning BBC1 children's programme The Really Wild Show (1986 - 1995) and nature photography series Wild Shots on Channel 4. He also wrote and presented the BBC One series The X Creatures and BBC Two's Hands on Nature and Nature's Calendar. Other television series included Go Wild (Live) and Travel UK for Central Television, Nature's Detectives (BBC), Really Wild Guide (BBC2) The Good Sex Guide Series III and The Great Dinosaur Trail which he wrote and presented for LTV Carlton Television, Watchout Series II and III as lead presenter, Animal Zone (BBC2), Postcards from the Wild and An Evening with Chris Packham for Discovery Animal Planet.. Other network television programmes included Flying Gourmets Guide (BBC1), The Great British Birdwatch (live) for BBC, Smokescreen (Harlech Television), Beachwatch (Live), Flamingo Watch (Live) and Heading South (Live) for the BBC, and Behind the Scenes of the Lost World for Meridian Television.
During this time Chris Packham was involved in numerous regional television series such as The London Wildlife Challenge for ITV Carlton Television, Anything Goes (Live), Birdwatch with Chris Packham, The Pier on Film and Wildwatch with Chris Packham for Meridian Television, and Go for Green for BSB Satellite and Cable. Regional television programmes included: Through Two Cameras, The Wild Garden, The Wood Worker, The Disappearing Down, Jewels in the Sand, Wildfowl Seasons and The Keepers of the Forest.
He was the lead presenter on the BBC South's Inside Out, and also works on BBC South East Inside Out with Kaddy Lee-Preston.
Since June 2009, he has co-presented the BBC Two nature programme Springwatch - and its sister programmes Autumnwatch and Winterwatch - along with Michaela Strachan and Martin Hughes-Games.
He formed the production company Head Over Heels with producer Stuart Woodman, making wildlife programmes for Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and the BBC.
In 2011, Packham won an episode of Celebrity Mastermind. His specialist subject was the Battle of Rorke's Drift. He also presented the BBC programme The Animal's Guide to Britain.
In 2013 he presented a four-part documentary series entitled Secrets of Our Living Planet which demonstrated the complex ecological relationships upon which apparently unconnected species, such as tigers and crabs, depend.
In 2014, Packham presented a two-part documentary in which he, Martha Kearney and Adam Hart examined in detail the behaviour of the honeybee, as well as a series on animal cognition, called Inside the Animal Mind, which partly featured his own pet dogs. In 2014 he presented a 10-part series The Wonder of Animals for the BBC. It included episodes on birds of prey, dolphins, crocodiles, great apes, elephants, foxes, ants, big cats, bears and penguins.
In 2016 Packham co-presented a two-part series for the BBC, Cats v. Dogs: Which Is Best?, along with Liz Bonnin. The programmes compared cat behaviour and relationships with humans, against those of dogs, in the format of a mock contest. It also explored some recent research on the subject.
In 2017 Packham co-presented Earth Live on Natgeo Wild with Jane Lynch and Phil Keogan. The programme was a live journey exploring some of the most spectacular wildlife on the planet.
In October 2017, he presented a BBC Television documentary about his experience as a high-functioning person with Asperger's, Chris Packham: Asperger's and Me. In the programme Packham examined critically the approach taken to autism and Asperger syndrome in the United States.
Charity Work and Wildlife Conservation
Packham is president of the Hawk Conservancy Trust and the Bat Conservation Trust, The Hampshire Ornithological Society, British Trust for Ornithology and The Southampton Natural History Society. He was president of the Hawk and Owl Trust between 2010 and 2015.
He is vice-president of the RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts, Butterfly Conservation, the Brent Lodge Bird & Wildlife Trust, The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and Grace Secondary School (The Sudan).
Packham is patron of Population Matters (formerly the Optimum Population Trust), Africat, The Sholing Valleys Study Centre He is also patron of the Woolston Eyes Conservation Group, which manages Woolston Eyes Bird Reserve, The Humane Research Trust, The Fox Project, ORCA, The Seahorse Trust, The NatureWatch Foundation, Raptor Rescue, The Fleet Pond Society and Birding for All
Packham became the Ambassador for the National Autistic Society in October 2017.
Honours and Awards
In 2011, he was awarded the British Trust for Ornithology's Dilys Breese Medal for his "outstanding work in promoting science to new audiences".
In December 2013, Packham was made an honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Southampton, having originally graduated from the university more than 30 years earlier.
In December 2014, Chris Packham was voted "Conservation Hero of the Year" by readers of Birdwatch magazine in association with the online BirdGuides website for his work in publicising the illegal slaughter in Malta of millions of migrating birds.
October 2016, Chris Packham received a Wildscreen Panda Award for Outstanding Achievement
Personal life
Chris spent his early childhood in Hampshire and natural history was his main passion. He is the older brother of fashion designer Jenny Packham.
He found his time at school very difficult, being socially excluded and regularly bullied by fellow pupils. In his teenage years he was responsible for the care of a kestrel, which he took from the wild and the death of which was a severe low point in his life. At university he embraced the punk rock scene.
Packham has had Ménière's disease since his late 30s. In 2003, at the age of 42, Packham began seeing a therapist after the death of his dog, Fish. As his work with the therapist concluded in 2005, Packham was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. He has also stated that he has suffered from severe depression.
Chris now lives in the New Forest with his pet poodle, Scratchy. For over ten years Packham has been in a relationship with Charlotte Corney, owner of the Isle of Wight Zoo, although the couple live separately.
Views
In 2009 during an interview with the Radio Times, Packham suggested that the giant panda was too expensive to save and "should be allowed to become extinct" so that funds could be redistributed to protecting other animals and habitats. He made a comment in 2008 saying he would "eat the last panda" if doing so would retroactively redistribute the money spent on panda conservation. He later apologised for upsetting people.
In 2009, 2014 and 2017 he criticised the TV show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! for its mistreatment of animals.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph in 2010 Packham said that "The human population is sowing the seeds of a mass extinction event." In 2012 he expressed this view again in the Daily Mirror and reiterated this in 2017 saying that if every woman could be emancipated birth rates would drop.
In 2014 he self-funded a film crew to produce a series to highlight the mass killing of migrating birds by hunters in Malta. In April 2017 he was arrested and charged with assault while filming on the Maltese island of Gozo. The case was dismissed after video footage evidence was revealed.
In 2015 Packham signed a letter to MPs to block the proposed changes to amend the Hunting Act 2004. He has worked to raise awareness of the illegal persecution of raptors in the UK. He resigned as President of the Hawk and Owl Trust in 2015 citing "Personal differences over ideas of policy". Later in 2015 Packham wrote an article in BBC Wildlife magazine complaining about the silence of many of Britain's leading conservation organisations on the issues of fox hunting, badger culling and hen harrier persecution. This elicited a public response from the Countryside Alliance calling for the BBC to sack him.
Works
Books
- The Flying Gourmet's Guide (1985)
- Bird Brain of Britain (1988)
- Chris Packham's Wild Shots, Collins and Brown Publishers, (1993) ISBN 1-85585-200-4
- Chris Packham's Back Garden Nature Reserve New Holland Publishers (2001) (Foreword by David Bellamy) ISBN 1-85974-520-2
- Back Garden Nature Reserve (2003) ISBN 1-85605-846-8
- Chris Packham's Wild Side of Town: Getting to Know the Wildlife in Our Towns and Cities New Holland Publishers, (2003) ISBN 1-84330-355-8
- Nature's Calendar (2007) ISBN 0-00-724646-3
- Chris Packham's Nature Handbook (2010) ISBN 1-4053-5526-3
- The Wonder of Birds: nature, art, culture [Norfolk Museums Service] (2014) (Foreword by Chris Packham) ISBN 0-9031-0184-X
- Pets in Portraits by Robin Gibson (2015) (introduction by Chris Packham) ISBN 1855144980
- A Misuse of Nature by Sam Langers (2015) (introduction by Chris Packham)
- Fingers in the Sparkle Jar: A Memoir Ebury (2016) ISBN 978-1785033483
Papers
- Packham, Chris (March 1985). "Role of male Kestrel during incubation". British Birds. 78 (3): 144-5.
- Packham, Chris (April 1985). "Bigamy by the Kestrel". British Birds. 78 (4): 194-5.
Video
- Go Wild at Windsor Terry Nutkins and Chris Packham 1988.
References
External links
- Official website
- Chris Packham on IMDb
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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