SNOOTY ATTITUDE OF OXFORD ACADEMICS WAS A TURN-OFF
TV personality Chris Packham
has revealed why his plan to carry out a research project on marsh warblers at Oxford University never materialised.
Encouraged by his tutor, it had been his intention to do a PhD on the species after graduating from the University of Southampton with a zoology degree.
But he was put off academic life by a couple of disagreeable experiences when he attended the interview.
After arriving early, he was advised to wait in the library where he settled down to read a magazine article about sharks.
But not long had passed when the librarian asked him to leave because - he was “disturbing” other readers, evidently because of his spiky hair and punk appearance.
Then, in the interview, the academic was dismissive and said: " I don’t think you’re the man for us - off you go."
Says Packham, who has since become a household-name nature broadcaster: “He struck me as a seriously, seriously unpleasant man - you don’t treat young, impressionable, ambitious zoology students like that.”
The revelation comes in an interview with Mark Avery, co-author (with Keith Betton) of Behind The Binoculars - Interviews with Acclaimed Birdwatchers.
Encouraged by his tutor, it had been his intention to do a PhD on the species after graduating from the University of Southampton with a zoology degree.
But he was put off academic life by a couple of disagreeable experiences when he attended the interview.
After arriving early, he was advised to wait in the library where he settled down to read a magazine article about sharks.
But not long had passed when the librarian asked him to leave because - he was “disturbing” other readers, evidently because of his spiky hair and punk appearance.
Then, in the interview, the academic was dismissive and said: " I don’t think you’re the man for us - off you go."
Says Packham, who has since become a household-name nature broadcaster: “He struck me as a seriously, seriously unpleasant man - you don’t treat young, impressionable, ambitious zoology students like that.”
The revelation comes in an interview with Mark Avery, co-author (with Keith Betton) of Behind The Binoculars - Interviews with Acclaimed Birdwatchers.
The interview with Packham is particularly refreshing partly because he is a decade or more younger than most of his fellow-interviewees and partly because he is frank about a sometimes uncomfortable childhood during which he was ostracised b y some of his contemporaries and hence experienced longer periods of being solitary than is the norm.
This is not to say the other interviews are not fascinating.
During their time watching birds, many have shared many similar (if not identical) experiences, they all offer their own unique insights.
Not all their experiences have been happy. For instance, Roger Ridddington, the long-serving Editor of British Birds magazine, had the misfortune to have both his binoculars and telescope stolen on his first day of a birdwatching holiday in Spain.
Especially interesting is the interview with the chief executive of the BTO, Andy Clements, who is challenged by Keith Betton about the direction of his organisation and whether it might consider changing its name (by incorporating the word ‘bird’) to make it more appealing to young birders.
Dr Clements responds: “We have a traditional membership who would be quite upset if we changed things too dramatically and too quickly.”
He goes on to recall that, occasionally, he still hears complaints about the BTO’s change of logo. On one occasion, a delegate at its annual conference walked out when he learned how much the exercise had cost.
Also fascinating is the interview with Stephen Moss who, over the years, has become more interested in emotional human response to birds than in identification, distribution and behaviour.
Since giving up twitching, he says he has been “much happier enjoying birds and wildlife in a holistic way - twitching had been a substitute for happiness.”
Published in 2015, this is an excellent book because the authors have coaxed intriguing and sometimes controversial information and comment from their subjects.
The other interviewees are: Phil Hollom,Stuart Winter, Lee Evans, Steve Gantlett, Mark Cocker, Ian Wallace, Mike Clarke, Debbie Pain, Ian Newton, Stephanie Tyler, Alan Davies and Ruth Miller, Rebecca Nason, Robert Gillmoor and the two authors
A follow-up title (2017), Behind More Binoculars, also published by Pelagic Publishing, contains interviews with: Frank Gardner, Ann and Tim Cleeves, Roy Dennis, Kevin Parr, Tony Marr, Tim Appleton, Tim Birkhead, Dawn Balmer, Jon Hornbuckle, Tony Juniper, Richard Porter, Bryan Bland, Carol and Tim Inskipp, Barbara Young and Bill Oddie.
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