{"id":17351,"date":"2022-06-07T17:06:43","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T15:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=62707"},"modified":"2022-06-07T17:35:14","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T15:35:14","slug":"obituary-for-john-a-burton-1944-2022","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/obituary-for-john-a-burton-1944-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Obituary for John A Burton 1944\u20132022"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Rosamund ‘Roz’ Kidman Cox\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 07 June 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Always a rebel, mostly for the right reasons, John Burton ditched school for an education in the woods, fields and bomb sites around his south-London home.<\/p>\n

By his teens, he was a brilliant naturalist, subsequently choosing fieldwork over university. (His later recognitions would include an honorary doctorate.)<\/p>\n

From a young age, the one institution he loved was the Natural History Museum<\/a>, and based on his field skills alone, in 1963 he got a job there, as assistant information officer.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
John Burton and Sir David Attenborough attend an event at BAFTA to celebrate 25 years of the World Land Trust. \u00a9\u00a0David Bebber\/WLT<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Then in 1969, he became assistant editor of the part-work Birds of the World<\/em>. John\u2019s subsequent journey through the world of wildlife journalism and conservation is long and varied, but he was always at the head of the wave.<\/p>\n

In 1970 he became a consultant to the fledgling Friends of the Earth<\/a>, lobbying for changes in legislation, including a ban on otter<\/a> hunting.<\/p>\n

RIP…John Burton, Fauna and Flora, World Land Trust. A man who not only cared deeply about wildlife, but knew which humans could be trusted and which could not . A man who got things done, world wide.He was my mentor ..I hope I helped him sometimes.<\/p>\u2014 Bill Oddie Official (@BillOddie) June 1, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>