Tony Soper (born 10 January 1929) is a British naturalist, author and broadcaster.

Life and career

Soper was educated at Hyde Park Elementary School and at

Devonport High School for Boys Devonport High School for Boys is a grammar school and academy, for boys aged 11 to 18, in Plymouth, Devon, England. It has around 1,135 pupils. Its catchment area includes southwest Devon and southeast Cornwall as well as Plymouth. Pupils are ...

, both in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

. He joined the BBC at 17 as a "youth-in-training", subsequently graduating by way of studio manager to features producer in radio, then moved into television. Among the radio programmes he produced were ''

Birds In Britain ''Birds In Britain'' was a BBC Radio series, broadcast from 1951 to 1963 on the Home Service, about wild birds. Its lead presenter was James Fisher. It was created as an offshoot from a programme called ''The Naturalist'', in order to avoid ove ...

''. Soper co-founded the

BBC #REDIRECT 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 ex ...

's Natural History Unit as its first film producer, with Patrick Beech the then South West Controller. Cutting his teeth on the ''LOOK'' series he organised far-flung wildlife filming projects. He presented live television programmes, including ''Birdwatch'', ''Birdspot'', ''Discovering Birds'', ''Discovering Animals'', ''Beside the Sea'', ''Wildtrack'' and ''Nature''. Soper also co-presented '' Animal Magic'' with

Johnny Morris Johnny or Johnnie Morris may refer to: * Johnnie Morris (actor) (1887–1969), American comedian and actor *Johnny Morris (television presenter) (1916–1999), British television presenter *Johnny Morris (footballer) (1923–2011), English football ...

for a few years in the 1960s. For many years he also had a regular column in the

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

members' magazine. As Expedition Leader and a pioneer of wildlife cruising, he has spent the last twenty years exploring both polar regions. He holds a British

Yachtmaster A Yachtmaster qualification is a certificate of competence of the ability to handle either a sailing boat or motor boat (as endorsed) in certain prescribed conditions. Three different titles are specified; Yachtmaster Coastal (previously - and in ...

's certificate and is a qualified compressed air, oxygen, hard hat diver. Soper's wife Hilary is a wildlife painter, and they have two sons.

Honours

He is a recipient of the

British Naturalists' Association The British Naturalists' Association (BNA), founded in 1905 by E. Kay Robinson as the British Empire Naturalists' Association (BENA), is an organization in the United Kingdom to promote the study of natural history. It publishes a journal called ...

Peter Scott Memorial Award.

DVDs

A single 23-minute episode of ''Wildtrack'' is available as a bonus feature on the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

release of

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

's 1979 series ''

Life on Earth Life on Earth may refer to: Science * Life * Earliest known life forms * Evolutionary history of life ** Abiogenesis Film and television * ''Life on Earth'' (film) (''La Vie Sur Terre''), a 1998 Malian film * ''Life on Earth'' (TV series), a 197 ...

''.

Bibliography

(incomplete) *''The Bird Table Book'' (1965, several editions to 2006)'' *''The Shell Guide to Beachcombing'' (1972) *''Wildlife'' ''Begins at Home'' (1975) *''Everyday Birds'' (1976) *''Wildlife of The Dart Estuary'' (1982) *''Discovering Birds'' (1983) *''Penguins'' ith John Sparks(1987) *''A Passion For Birds'' (1988) *''Owls'' ith John Sparks(1995) *''Wildlife of the North Atlantic'' (2008) *''The Arctic: A Guide to Coastal Wildlife'' (2012) *''The Northwest Passage'' (2012) *''Antarctica: A Guide to the Wildlife'' (2013)Chalfont St Peter:

Bradt Travel Guides Bradt Travel Guides is a publisher of travel guides founded in 1974 by Hilary Bradt and her husband George, who co-wrote the first Bradt Guide on a river barge on a tributary of the Amazon River, Amazon. Since then Bradt has grown into a leading ...

References

External links

Tony Soper's Home page
1929 births British ornithologists British television presenters British television producers Living people {{UK-ornithologist-stub