Simon Maxwell Cowell (born 19 April 1952) is a British conservationist, television presenter, and author best known for hosting the Animal Planet documentary series ''

Wildlife SOS Wildlife SOS (WSOS) is a conservation non-profit organisation in India, established in 1995 with the primary objective of rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife in distress, and preserving India's natural heritage. It is currently one of the large ...

'' from 1996–2014. He is the founder of

Wildlife Aid Foundation The Wildlife Aid Foundation is a charity dedicated to the rescue, care and rehabilitation of sick, injured and orphaned animals. Based in Leatherhead, Surrey, UK, the centre operates Surrey County's only wildlife hospital (one of the three large ...

, originally titled Wildlife Aid, which is a

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

dedicated to the "rescue, rehabilitation, and release of British wildlife".

Biography

In his early life, Cowell suffered from

stuttering Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the ...

, and enjoyed singing. He attended the City of London Freemen's boarding school, and took part in multiple choirs and school musicals. Cowell earned a PhD in biological sciences at Jesus College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, and worked a

commodities trader A commodity market is a Market (economics), market that trades in the Primary sector of the economy, primary economic sector rather than manufactured products, such as Cocoa bean, cocoa, fruit and sugar. Hard commodities are mined, such as gol ...

through the 1980s. He has two daughters. He and his former wife Jill co-founded the

animal rescue and rehabilitation centre in 1983, several years after setting up a wildlife sanctuary on the grounds of his home. The organisation's activities were the subject of the television series ''Wildlife SOS'', and subsequently a Youtube channel series with entries being released to the present day. Cowell endured a self-described nervous breakdown in 1994, after which he decided to dedicate "all his time" to the Wildlife Aid charity. As part of his efforts as a conservationist and animal-rights activist, he has campaigned for

PETA Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...

. Cowell has been described as a "forthright, witty character" who is "not averse" to

profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...

. Costar

Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad' ...

once described him as "

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 ...

with Tourette's". He was awarded a prestigious

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

award in 2006 for his "services to

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...

". As an author, Cowell released a memoir entitled ''My Wild Life: The Story of a Most Unlikely Animal Rescuer'' in 2016. He resides in

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leath ...

, Surrey, and Wildlife Aid Foundation is run out of his home.

Health

In July 2022, it was announced through his foundation that in late June 2022 he was diagnosed with an aggressive,

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devic ...

form of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

. A donation campaign for his organisation entitled "''Simon's Last Wish''" was launched on 15 July.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cowell, Simon 1952 births Living people English conservationists English television presenters Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Leatherhead People educated at City of London Freemen's School Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge