RIP, used to love his programmes when I was a kid.
Met him very briefly once in the early 90’s. Oxleas woods were under threat (can’t remember the details) and a concert had been arranged to help highlight the issues. We went to see a local band called Natural Life who were playing there and DB was walking around chatting to the crowd.
Oh, that is a shock - he was my college tutor at Durham in the early 1970s, and helped me through a difficult time there.
A lovely man; he told us students that as a youngster, an early ambition had been to be a ballet dancer (!). When he turned to studying biology, he decided to study plants rather than animals "because they stay still - you don't have to chase after them".
Sad to hear, he never did get the comeback he craved. Read an interview where he bemoaned the BBC dropping him, I think it was cos he denied the climate crisis was real. Which, for a guy who used to get close up to the kinds of bugs that are now disappearing, was pretty crazy. I wonder if he changed his mind before the end.
Met him twice - once as a kid when he came to my school, and then again when I was working at the British Library - he remembered the school! Lovely, lovely man.
RIP, used to love his programmes when I was a kid.
Met him very briefly once in the early 90’s. Oxleas woods were under threat (can’t remember the details) and a concert had been arranged to help highlight the issues. We went to see a local band called Natural Life who were playing there and DB was walking around chatting to the crowd.
The planned East London River crossing (across the Thames between Beckton and Plumstead) was originally meant to continue through the Oxleas Woods through to the A2 at Falconwood. There were a lot of protests about this and it was dropped
RIP, used to love his programmes when I was a kid.
Met him very briefly once in the early 90’s. Oxleas woods were under threat (can’t remember the details) and a concert had been arranged to help highlight the issues. We went to see a local band called Natural Life who were playing there and DB was walking around chatting to the crowd.
The planned East London River crossing (across the Thames between Beckton and Plumstead) was originally meant to continue through the Oxleas Woods through to the A2 at Falconwood. There were a lot of protests about this and it was dropped
Oh, that is a shock - he was my college tutor at Durham in the early 1970s, and helped me through a difficult time there.
A lovely man; he told us students that as a youngster, an early ambition had been to be a ballet dancer (!). When he turned to studying biology, he decided to study plants rather than animals "because they stay still - you don't have to chase after them".
RIP, David
My old boss went to Durham, he did chemistry rather than biology, but played many games of five a side football against DB. He said he did that with the same enthusiasm he did everything else, a top bloke.
David was a so-called "moral tutor" at St. Aidans, then a single sex female college. He was allocated a group of students who were studying maths or science, and was someone we could turn to (in addition to our departmental academic tutors) if we had difficulties. He and his wife also organised occasional social gatherings in their home, to which we were invited.
As you have heard, @Big William, he threw himself into everything he did with great gusto, and was not afraid to express views which were controversial. But I must admit the mental image I have of him in tights and ballet shoes - and of course his trademark beard - is one that will stay with me for ever!!
Comments
Met him very briefly once in the early 90’s. Oxleas woods were under threat (can’t remember the details) and a concert had been arranged to help highlight the issues. We went to see a local band called Natural Life who were playing there and DB was walking around chatting to the crowd.
RIP.
RIP
Another childhood hero gone.
RIP
A lovely man; he told us students that as a youngster, an early ambition had been to be a ballet dancer (!).
When he turned to studying biology, he decided to study plants rather than animals "because they stay still - you don't have to chase after them".
RIP, David
Decent artist too.
Sad to see him go, but a good innings.
RIP
David was a so-called "moral tutor" at St. Aidans, then a single sex female college. He was allocated a group of students who were studying maths or science, and was someone we could turn to (in addition to our departmental academic tutors) if we had difficulties. He and his wife also organised occasional social gatherings in their home, to which we were invited.
As you have heard, @Big William, he threw himself into everything he did with great gusto, and was not afraid to express views which were controversial. But I must admit the mental image I have of him in tights and ballet shoes - and of course his trademark beard - is one that will stay with me for ever!!