David James Bellamy OBE (18 January 1933 – 11 December 2019) was an English author, broadcaster, environmental campaigner and botanist.
Early and personal life
Bellamy was born to parents Thomas Bellamy and Winifred May Bellamy on 18 January 1933.[1] As a child, he had hoped of being a ballet dancer, but he knew his rather large physique would stop him.[1] Bellamy went to school in London, attending Chatsworth Road Primary School Cheam, Cheam Road Junior School and Sutton County Grammar School, where he initially showed an aptitude for English Literature and History; he then found his vocation because of an inspirational science teacher, studying Zoology, Botany, Physics and Chemistry in the sixth form.[2] He gained an honours degree in Botany at Chelsea College of Science and Technology (now part of King's College London) and a PhD at Bedford College in 1960.[3]
Bellamy was influenced by Gene Stratton-Porter’s 1909 novel A Girl of the Limberlost and Disney's 1940 film Fantasia.[1]
Bellamy lived with his wife Rosemary in the Pennines, in County Durham.[1][4]
Scientific career
Bellamy's first work in a scientific environment was as a laboratory assistant at Ewell Technical College[5] before he studied for his BSc at Chelsea. In 1960 he became a lecturer in the Botany department of Durham University.[6] The work that brought him to public prominence was his environmental consultancy on the Torrey Canyon oil spill in 1967, about which he wrote a paper in the leading scientific journal, Nature.[7]
Publishing career and related
Bellamy published many scientific papers and books between 1966 and 1986 (see #Bibliography). Many books were associated with the TV series that he worked on. During the 1980s he replaced Big Chief I-Spy as the figurehead of the I-Spy range of children's books, to whom completed books were sent to get a reward. In 1980 he released a single written by Mike Croft with musical arrangement by Dave Grosse to coincide with the release of the I-Spy title I Spy Dinosaurs (about dinosaur fossils) entitled "Brontosaurus Will You Wait For Me?" (backed with "Oh Stegosaurus"). He performed it on Blue Peter wearing an orange jump suit. It reached number 88 in the charts.[8]
Promotional and conservation work
The New Zealand Tourism Department, a government agency, became involved with the Coast to Coast adventure race in 1988 as they recognised the potential for event tourism. They organised and funded foreign journalists to come and cover the event. One of those was Bellamy, who did not just report from the event, but decided to compete. While in the country, Bellamy worked on a documentary series Moa's Ark that was released by Television New Zealand in 1990,[9][10] and he was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[11]
Bellamy was the originator, along with David Shreeve and the Conservation Foundation (which he also founded), of the Ford European Conservation Awards.
In 2002, he was a keynote speaker on conservation issues at the Asia Pacific Ecotourism Conference (Apeco).
In 2015, David Bellamy and his wife Rosemary visited Malaysia to explore its botanics.[12]
In 2016, he opened the Hedleyhope Fell Boardwalk, which is the main feature of Durham Wildlife Trust's Hedleyhope Fell reserve in County Durham. The project includes a 60-metre path from Tow Law to the Hedleyhope Fell reserve, and 150 metres of boardwalk made from recycled plastic bottles.[13]
Broadcasting career
After his TV appearances concerning the Torrey Canyon disaster, his exuberant and demonstrative presentation of science topics featured on programmes such as Don't Ask Me along with other scientific personalities such as Magnus Pyke, Miriam Stoppard and Rob Buckman. He wrote, appeared in or presented hundreds of television programmes on botany, ecology, environmentalism and other issues. His television series included Bellamy on Botany, Bellamy's Britain, Bellamy's Europe and Bellamy's Backyard Safari.[14] He was regularly parodied by impersonators such as Lenny Henry on Tiswas with a "gwapple me gwapenuts" catchphrase. His distinctive voice was used in advertising.[15]
Chronology of TV appearances and radio broadcasts
Activism
In 1983 he was imprisoned for blockading the Australian Franklin River in a protest against a proposed dam. On 18 August 1984, he leapt from the pier at St Abbs Harbour into the North Sea. In the process he officially opened Britain's first Voluntary Marine Reserve, the St. Abbs and Eyemouth Voluntary Marine Reserve. In the late 1980s he fronted a campaign in Jersey, Channel Islands, to save Queens Valley, the site of the lead character's cottage in Bergerac, from being turned into a reservoir because of the presence of a rare type of snail, but was unable to stop it. In 1997 he stood unsuccessfully at Huntingdon against the incumbent Prime Minister John Major for the Referendum Party. Bellamy credits this campaign with the decline in his career as a popular celebrity and television personality, stating in 2002
Early and personal life
Bellamy was born to parents Thomas Bellamy and Winifred May Bellamy on 18 January 1933.[1] As a child, he had hoped of being a ballet dancer, but he knew his rather large physique would stop him.[1] Bellamy went to school in London, attending Chatsworth Road Primary School Cheam, Cheam Road Junior School and Sutton County Grammar School, where he initially showed an aptitude for English Literature and History; he then found his vocation because of an inspirational science teacher, studying Zoology, Botany, Physics and Chemistry in the sixth form.[2] He gained an honours degree in Botany at Chelsea College of Science and Technology (now part of King's College London) and a PhD at Bedford College in 1960.[3]
Bellamy was influenced by Gene Stratton-Porter’s 1909 novel A Girl of the Limberlost and Disney's 1940 film Fantasia.[1]
Bellamy lived with his wife Rosemary in the Pennines, in County Durham.[1][4]
Scientific career
Bellamy's first work in a scientific environment was as a laboratory assistant at Ewell Technical College[5] before he studied for his BSc at Chelsea. In 1960 he became a lecturer in the Botany department of Durham University.[6] The work that brought him to public prominence was his environmental consultancy on the Torrey Canyon oil spill in 1967, about which he wrote a paper in the leading scientific journal, Nature.[7]
Publishing career and related
Bellamy published many scientific papers and books between 1966 and 1986 (see #Bibliography). Many books were associated with the TV series that he worked on. During the 1980s he replaced Big Chief I-Spy as the figurehead of the I-Spy range of children's books, to whom completed books were sent to get a reward. In 1980 he released a single written by Mike Croft with musical arrangement by Dave Grosse to coincide with the release of the I-Spy title I Spy Dinosaurs (about dinosaur fossils) entitled "Brontosaurus Will You Wait For Me?" (backed with "Oh Stegosaurus"). He performed it on Blue Peter wearing an orange jump suit. It reached number 88 in the charts.[8]
Promotional and conservation work
The New Zealand Tourism Department, a government agency, became involved with the Coast to Coast adventure race in 1988 as they recognised the potential for event tourism. They organised and funded foreign journalists to come and cover the event. One of those was Bellamy, who did not just report from the event, but decided to compete. While in the country, Bellamy worked on a documentary series Moa's Ark that was released by Television New Zealand in 1990,[9][10] and he was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[11]
Bellamy was the originator, along with David Shreeve and the Conservation Foundation (which he also founded), of the Ford European Conservation Awards.
In 2002, he was a keynote speaker on conservation issues at the Asia Pacific Ecotourism Conference (Apeco).
In 2015, David Bellamy and his wife Rosemary visited Malaysia to explore its botanics.[12]
In 2016, he opened the Hedleyhope Fell Boardwalk, which is the main feature of Durham Wildlife Trust's Hedleyhope Fell reserve in County Durham. The project includes a 60-metre path from Tow Law to the Hedleyhope Fell reserve, and 150 metres of boardwalk made from recycled plastic bottles.[13]
Broadcasting career
After his TV appearances concerning the Torrey Canyon disaster, his exuberant and demonstrative presentation of science topics featured on programmes such as Don't Ask Me along with other scientific personalities such as Magnus Pyke, Miriam Stoppard and Rob Buckman. He wrote, appeared in or presented hundreds of television programmes on botany, ecology, environmentalism and other issues. His television series included Bellamy on Botany, Bellamy's Britain, Bellamy's Europe and Bellamy's Backyard Safari.[14] He was regularly parodied by impersonators such as Lenny Henry on Tiswas with a "gwapple me gwapenuts" catchphrase. His distinctive voice was used in advertising.[15]
Chronology of TV appearances and radio broadcasts
Activism
In 1983 he was imprisoned for blockading the Australian Franklin River in a protest against a proposed dam. On 18 August 1984, he leapt from the pier at St Abbs Harbour into the North Sea. In the process he officially opened Britain's first Voluntary Marine Reserve, the St. Abbs and Eyemouth Voluntary Marine Reserve. In the late 1980s he fronted a campaign in Jersey, Channel Islands, to save Queens Valley, the site of the lead character's cottage in Bergerac, from being turned into a reservoir because of the presence of a rare type of snail, but was unable to stop it. In 1997 he stood unsuccessfully at Huntingdon against the incumbent Prime Minister John Major for the Referendum Party. Bellamy credits this campaign with the decline in his career as a popular celebrity and television personality, stating in 2002
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