Jeffery Boswall (20 March 1931 – 15 August 2012) was a British
naturalist,
broadcaster and
educator
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
.
One of the longest serving producers with the
BBC Natural History Unit
The BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU) is a department of BBC Studios that produces television, radio and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme. It is best known for its highly regarded nature documentaries, including '' ...
(1957-1987), and the writer and presenter/narrator of many of the programmes he produced, he was also prominent in the development of the ethics of natural history broadcasting and the encouragement of new entrants into the field. Boswall wrote and produced the first wildlife film shown in colour on the BBC, ''
The Private Life of the Kingfisher'', filmed by Ron Eastman. It was broadcast in 1967 on BBC2. He was one of the "pioneers of British natural history broadcasting" (Daily Telegraph obituary, 5 September 2012).
Early years
Jeffery Hugh Richard Boswall was born in
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
on 20 March 1931. A keen amateur ornithologist, his first published article appeared in the journal
British Birds when he was 16. His interest in ornithology arose from a chance suggestion by a friend that he join him bird watching at the River Adur near Shoreham-on-Sea. His first full-time job was as assistant to the Director of Watchers and Sanctuaries for the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment throug ...
.
BBC Natural History Unit
Boswall began as a radio producer, upon joining the
BBC Natural History Unit
The BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU) is a department of BBC Studios that produces television, radio and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme. It is best known for its highly regarded nature documentaries, including '' ...
in 1957, producing series including ''Birds of the Air'' and ''The Naturalist''.
He started to work on television programmes in 1964. He produced the ''Look'' series (introduced by
Peter Scott
Sir Peter Markham Scott, (14 September 1909 – 29 August 1989) was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and sportsman. The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, he took an interest in ...
) from 1963 to 1969, which is the series which made Peter Scott a household name in Great Britain.
Boswall wrote and produced the first wildlife film shown in colour on the BBC, ''The Private Life of the Kingfisher'', filmed by Ron Eastman and narrated by
Peter Scott
Sir Peter Markham Scott, (14 September 1909 – 29 August 1989) was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and sportsman. The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, he took an interest in ...
. It was broadcast in 1967 on BBC2. It won the Silver Medal at the Moscow Film Festival in 1967. It enormous popularity led to it being repeated an unprecedented eight times, as well as to Boswall commissioning a series of 18 programmes on single species in a series known as ''Private Lives'', ranging from the Jackass Penguin to the Siamese Fighting Fish to the Cuckoo.
He produced and presented ''Wildlife Safari to Ethiopia'' (1970), a six-part series. It was described by
Christopher Parsons
Christopher Eugene Parsons OBE (23. August 1932 in Winchester, Hampshire – 8 November 2002 in Littleton-upon-Severn, Gloucestershire) was an English wildlife film-maker and the executive producer of David Attenborough's ''Life on Earth'', wid ...
, former head of the BBC's Natural History Unit, as "arguably one of the best series of its genre ever made". Boswall went on to produce and present three follow up series: ''Wildlife Safari to the Argentine'' (1972), ''Boswall's Wildlife Safari to Mexico'' (1977) and ''Boswall's Wildlife Safari to Thailand'' (1979).
He was awarded the
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
's
Cherry Kearton Medal and Award
The Cherry Kearton Medal and Award is an honour bestowed by the Royal Geographical Society on "a traveller concerned with the study or practice of natural history, with a preference for those with an interest in nature photography, art or cinemato ...
in 1977.
He wrote, produced and narrated ''Animal Olympians'' (1980) a one-hour special which compared the feats of animals to those of human olympians, as well as celebrating superlative feats from the natural world which have no human analogue. This was broadcast in connection with the
Moscow Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...
in 1980 and was for many years in the top 5 sales of
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
programmes internationally.
Other programmes he produced included ''Cracking the Egg'' (1982), ''The Truth behind the Turkey'' (1982), ''Natural World: Where the Parrots Speak Mandarin'' (1986) and ''Wild Waterfalls'' (1989)
He was series producer for ''Birds For All Seasons'', a three-part series broadcast in 1986, narrated by
. He wrote a book to accompany this series, with David Helton.
He frequently appeared on or contributed to other radio and television programmes, including ''
''.
Boswall is acknowledged as one of the key figures in shaping the approach to ethics in natural history broadcasting. He is credited with establishing two main commandments "Thou shalt not deceive the audience" and "thou shalt not harm nature".
On the latter topic he was quoted in ''Discover'' magazine in 1985:
Boswall chaired the first six BKSTS International Symposia for Wildlife Filmmakers from 1976 to 1991, being the main forum in the UK for wildlife filmmakers to meet and debate current issues in the profession. Keynote speakers included
. This event was merged with
, probably the first full-time position of its kind in the world. Boswall has taught courses in the UK and internationally on natural history film-making. He appeared on the jury at a number of international wildlife film festivals.
Boswall's overall contribution to natural history broadcasting has been recognised by awards from the Royal Geographic Society and the British Kinematograph Sound and Television Society.
In addition to owning one of the largest privately held collections of commercially issued bird voice gramophone records and tapes, Boswall published numerous discographies including sound production by birds, mammals, insects and amphibians.
He was joint author of ''The Peterson Field Guide to the Bird Songs of Britain and Europe'' and co-founder of the British Library of Wildlife Sounds collection now at the
in London.
...