Chris Packham is best-known for presenting BBC nature series Springwatch since 2009. Here is everything you need to know about the presenter.
Who is Chris Packham?
Chris Packham is one of the UK’s most famous and much-loved naturalists and wildlife television presenters. He is a regular presenter on Springwatch and Winterwatch and has also hosted many other shows including The Great Dinosaur Trail, The Wonder of Animals, Cats v. Dogs: Which Is Best?, The real T-rex and Chris and Meg’s Wild Summer.
How old is Chris Packham?
Chris Packham was born on 4 May, 1961.
Where is Chris Packham from?
He was born in Southampton, Hampshire and grew up there.
Is Chris Packham married?
Chris Packham is in a relationship with Charlotte Corney, who runs and owns Wildheart Animal Sanctuary.
How is Chris Packham related to Megan McCubbin?
Megan McCubbin is Chris’s step daughter from his relationship with Jo McCubbin.
How did Chris Packham get into TV?
After studying Zoology at university, he decided against doing a Phd, instead opting to train as a wildlife cameraman. His career started as a camera assistant for wildlife filmmaker Stephen Bolwell, working with him on A Toad’s Tale.
When did Chris Packham get his big break?
Chris Packham’s big break came in 1986 when he was chosen as one of the presenters of the new children’s wildlife show The Really Wild Show.
My Countryside interview: Chris Packham
The naturalist and presenter discusses his early path into the wilderness, the beauty of a newly leafed beech and his happy companions, Itchy and Scratchy.
10 Chris Packham facts you might not know
1. A determined naturalist from a young age, aged 14, he buried a pet black mouse called Batty in his garden under a green wooden cross after it died.
2. In a careers advice meeting in 1976, when Chris was 15, he claims he was told: “You cannot be an astronaut”.
3. He studied kestrels, shrews and badgers in his teens and as an undergraduate at Southampton University, where he read Zoology. In 2013, he was made an honorary Doctor of Science by Southampton.
4. Chris started building sets and cleaning cameras in July 1984, when he met wildlife filmmaker Stephen Bollwell, who he developed a long-lasting friendship with.
5. Among other things, BAFTA-winning children’s series The Really Wild Show saw presenters, which included Packham, Terry Nutkins and Michaela Strachan, swim with a killer whale and play football in the studio with a cheetah cub.
6. On BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Packham chose the collected works of F. Scott Fitzgerald as his book and binoculars as his luxury.
7. Chris managed to squeeze the names of 30 songs by The Smiths into his Springwatch broadcasts, including describing a stoat as “a sweet and tender hooligan”, saying a ruffled bird resembled a vicar in a tutu and, in response to a letter from a viewer called Sheila, saying “Sheila, take a bow!” He has also referenced songs by The Clash, The Cure, David Bowie and Manic Street Preachers in his shows.
8. Packham suffers from Ménière’s disease, a debilitating condition of the inner ear which causes bouts of vertigo and often nausea, vomiting and fluctuating hearing loss.
10. In 2017 Chris filmed a personal documentary called “Asperger’s and Me’ for BBC Two where he talked about living with Aspergers.