{"id":86,"date":"2021-11-22T15:40:35","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T14:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=40963"},"modified":"2021-11-22T15:54:07","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T14:54:07","slug":"who-is-chris-packham-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-winterwatch-presenter","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/who-is-chris-packham-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-winterwatch-presenter\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Chris Packham? Everything you need to know about the Winterwatch presenter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\"><\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By Carys Matthews\n                \t\t<\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Monday, 22 November 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p><hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/><?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=\"yes\"?>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><p><em>The Watches<\/em> (<em>Springwatch, Autumnwatch<\/em> and <em><a href=\"\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/news\/when-is-winterwatch-on-tv\/&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener noopener noreferrer\" noreferrer=\"\">Winterwatch<\/a><\/em>) co-presenter, nature photographer, author and naturalist Chris Packham first appeared on our screens in the children\u2019s CBBC nature programme <em>The Really Wild Show.<\/em> Since then he is best-known for presenting BBC nature series <em>Springwatch<\/em> since 2009 when he replaced Bill Oddie.<\/p>\n<p>A passionate advocate for wildlife, Chris now presents with his step-daughter, the Zoologist Megan McCubbin who has recently started her presenting career on <em>Springwatch.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Who is Chris Packham?<\/h2>\n<p>Chris Packham is a naturalist, broadcaster, author and award-winning wildlife photographer.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"&quot;twitter-tweet&quot;\" data-dnt=\"&quot;true&quot;\"><p lang=\"&quot;en&quot;\" dir=\"&quot;ltr&quot;\">Angry , scared and betrayed . We have been failed and scorned by the stupid , the greedy and the evil . Life is now in mortal danger . But it\u2019s not over , it\u2019s just down to us to do what needs to be done and we need to go to it now . So let\u2019s . . .<a href=\"&quot;https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/COP26?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&quot;\">#COP26<\/a> <a href=\"&quot;https:\/\/t.co\/yjOkP9HMKs&quot;\">pic.twitter.com\/yjOkP9HMKs<\/a><\/p>\u2014 Chris Packham (@ChrisGPackham) <a href=\"&quot;https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChrisGPackham\/status\/1459918281708560392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&quot;\">November 14, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async=\"\" src=\"&quot;https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js&quot;\" charset=\"&quot;utf-8&quot;\"\/><p>He is known for his environmental activism, and is one of the founders of <a href=\"\/\/wildjustice.org.uk\/&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener&quot; noopener noreferrer\">Wild Justice<\/a>, a not-for-profit group funded solely by donations that takes legal challenges against the government and its agencies on behalf of wildlife in the UK.<\/p>\n<h2>What did Chris Packham study?<\/h2>\n<p>In a careers advice meeting in 1976, when Chris was 15, he claims he was told: \u201cYou cannot be an astronaut\u201d. He eventually 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.<\/p>\n<section class=\"&quot;highlight\"><div class=\"&quot;highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> <h4>Six fun facts about Chris Packham<\/h4>\n<p>Here are some facts you might not have known about the 60-year-old Chris Packham.<\/p>\n<p>1. Abstract expressionists such as Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning are his favourite painters.<\/p>\n<p>2. He enjoys reading military history \u2013 most recently the sinking of the Bismarck in World War II.<\/p>\n<p>3. The bird he would most like to see is the Araripe manakin, a species only found in the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil. He calls it the Duran Duran bird, because of its bright red crest resembling a quiff.<\/p>\n<p>4. His most memorable wildlife spectacle is watching \u2018one million flamingos\u2019 flying in to land on Lake Victoria. \u2018I could have burst, it was beyond comprehension.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>5. He always keeps a roll of bin bags in his travel bag \u2013 he can use them for wet clothes or dead specimens.<\/p>\n<p>6. A favourite joke is: \u2018I was at the zoo the other day and I saw a bloke trying to chat up a cheetah. He was trying to pull a fast one.\u2019<\/p>\n<p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section><h2>When did Chris Packham present <em>The Really Wild Show?<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>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. He then went on to present the\u00a0BAFTA-winning children\u2019s series <em>The Really Wild Show <\/em>saw presenters, which included Terry Nutkins and Michaela Strachan as co-hosts and saw Chris swim with a killer whale and play football in the studio with a cheetah cub.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\"&quot;The\" really=\"\" wild=\"\" show=\"\" first=\"\" opening=\"\" bbc1=\"\" width=\"&quot;200&quot;\" height=\"&quot;113&quot;\" src=\"&quot;https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5K5CKrK6JHg?feature=oembed&quot;\" frameborder=\"&quot;0&quot;\" allow=\"&quot;accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<h3>A lover of music<\/h3>\n<p>On BBC Radio 4\u2019s <em>Desert Island Discs<\/em>, Packham chose the collected works of F. Scott Fitzgerald as his book and binoculars as his luxury.<\/p>\n<p>Chris managed to squeeze the names of 30 songs by The Smiths into his <em>Springwatch<\/em> broadcasts, including describing a stoat as \u201ca sweet and tender hooligan\u201d, saying a ruffled bird resembled a vicar in a tutu and, in response to a letter from a viewer called Sheila, saying \u201cSheila, take a bow!\u201d He has also referenced songs by The Clash, The Cure, David Bowie and Manic Street Preachers in his shows.<\/p>\n<h2>Where does Chris Packham live?<\/h2>\n<p>Chris lives in a cottage in the New Forest, which featured in his personal documentary from 2o17 called <a href=\"\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/p05k8jj6&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener noopener noreferrer\" noreferrer=\"\">\u201cAsperger\u2019s and Me\u2019 for BBC Two<\/a> where he talked about living with Aspergers. Chris\u2019s partner, Charlotte, runs the Isle of Wight Zoo.<\/p>\n<div\/><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Carys Matthews Published: Monday, 22 November 2021 at 12:00 am The Watches (Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch) co-presenter, nature photographer, author and naturalist Chris Packham first appeared on our screens in the children\u2019s CBBC nature programme The Really Wild Show. Since then he is best-known for presenting BBC nature series Springwatch since 2009 when he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":87,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/11\/who-is-chris-packham-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-winterwatch-presenter.jpg",623,414,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/11\/who-is-chris-packham-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-winterwatch-presenter-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/11\/who-is-chris-packham-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-winterwatch-presenter-300x199.jpg",300,199,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/11\/who-is-chris-packham-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-winterwatch-presenter.jpg",623,414,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/11\/who-is-chris-packham-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-winterwatch-presenter.jpg",623,414,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/11\/who-is-chris-packham-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-winterwatch-presenter.jpg",623,414,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/11\/who-is-chris-packham-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-winterwatch-presenter.jpg",623,414,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Carys Matthews Published: Monday, 22 November 2021 at 12:00 am The Watches (Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch) co-presenter, nature photographer, author and naturalist Chris Packham first appeared on our screens in the children\u2019s CBBC nature programme The Really Wild Show. Since then he is best-known for presenting BBC nature series Springwatch since 2009 when he&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/86"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}