Stephen Leonard (born 4 September 1972 in

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

) is a Northern Irish

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet) or veterinary surgeon is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal r ...

and television personality.

Early life

Leonard's family moved to

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

from Northern Ireland when he was six weeks old. He was educated at The King's School,

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

Career

Steve Leonard studied veterinary science at

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...

Veterinary School. In the final year of his degree, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

approached the college to film a group of final-year students. Originally seeing the idea of appearing on TV as "a bit of a laugh," he agreed to participate in the filming. The series, ''Vets' School'' (1996), was a huge success, and was swiftly followed by ''

Vets in Practice ''Vets in Practice'' is a BBC fly-on-the-wall documentary series that followed a group of trainee Veterinary surgery, veterinary surgeons. The first episode, ''Animal Magic'', aired at 8 pm on 26 August 1997. Series one attracted 8.09 m ...

''. He went on to present ''Vets in the Wild'' (2000–02) with

Trude Mostue Trude Mostue (born 28 March 1968) is a Norwegian veterinary surgeon and television presenter. She is best known for her appearances in the BBC documentary series ''Vet School'' in 1996, and later in the follow-up series ''Vets in Practice''. She ...

. He quit full-time veterinary employment and found himself travelling all over the world with the

BBC Natural History Unit The BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU) is a department of BBC Studios that produces television, radio and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme. It is best known for its highly regarded nature documentaries, including '' T ...

, filming for ''Ultimate Killers''. He travelled to places as far away as

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Filming ''Ultimate Killers'' involved

stunt A stunt is an unusual, difficult, dramatic physical feat that may require a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually for a public audience, as on television or in theaters or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Befo ...

s, such as tandem skydiving out of a balloon at 10,000 feet over

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, and climbing into an

eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

's eyrie in

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. Steve Leonard also presented ''Extreme Animals'', and ''Animal Camera'' (2004), an intimate look at the animal kingdom through cutting-edge miniature camera filming techniques. More recently, he explored the origins and evolution of life on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

in ''

Journey of Life The album ''Journey of Life'' by German band X-Perience was released on 20 November 2000 in Germany. After the second album, ''Take Me Home'' (1998), X-Perience left their former record label WEA/Warner Music and signed at Polydor/ Universal. Th ...

'' and followed animal

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

s on ''Incredible Animal Journeys''. Steve and his elder brother Tom Leonard are currently working at th
Leonard Brothers Veterinary Centre
in

Whitchurch, Shropshire Whitchurch is a market town in the north of Shropshire, England. It lies east of the Wales, Welsh border, 2 miles south of the Cheshire border, north of the county town of Shrewsbury, south of Chester, and east of Wrexham. At the 2021 Unit ...

, and Crewe, Cheshire. During the programme '' Return to... Vets in Practice'', shown in July 2008, Steve explained that he had decided to return to being a vet full-time, and to fit his filming commitments around his veterinary career. He has recently returned from

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

where he filmed a second series of ''

Orangutan Diary ''Orangutan Diaries'' is a nature documentary series on the BBC, which follows the lives of Bornean orangutans in the care of Lone Drøscher Nielsen, a member of the Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) foundation. The program tries to detail the t ...

'' with co-presenter

Michaela Strachan Michaela Evelyn Ann Strachan (, born 7 April 1966) is an English television presenter and singer. After beginning her career in theatre, she ventured into presenting and fronted the children's television shows '' Wide Awake Club'' (1986–1989 ...

. In March 2009, Steve helped launch the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) network soil and earthworm survey, a scheme that aimed to get the public more involved in science and nature. Leonard presented the ITV series ''Animal Kingdom''. Filmed in Erindi Game Reserve,

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, the series was aired in 2011 and spanned six episodes. Steve passed his BSAVA Certificate in Small Animal Medicine in 2017 with Distinction.

Filmography

*"Big Week at the Zoo" (2018) *"Trust me, I'm a Vet" (2017) *''Panda Babies'' (2015) *''Nature's Newborns'' (2013) *''Safari Vet School'' (2012) *''Animal Kingdom'' (2011) *'' Beast Legends'' (2010) *''The Hottest Place on Earth'' (2009) *''

'' (2007–09) *''Return to... Vets in Practice'' (2008) *''Sharks: Great Whites in Great Britain?'' (2006) *''Incredible Animal Journeys'' (2006) *''Journey of Life'' (2005) *''Animal Camera'' (2004) *''Steve Leonard's Search for the Loch Ness Monster'' (2003) *''Steve Leonard's Extreme Animals'' (2002) *''Steve Leonard's Ultimate Killers'' (2001–02) *''Vets in the Wild'' (2000–02) *''

Holiday A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often ...

'' (1997) *''

'' (1996–2000) *''Vets' School'' (1996)

References

External links

BBC - Science and Nature - Steve Leonard
*
Steve Leonard's official websiteSteve Leonard Arkive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonard, Steve 1972 births Living people British television personalities People from Cheshire People from Enniskillen People from Lancaster, Lancashire People from Whitchurch, Shropshire British veterinarians People educated at The King's School, Chester Health professionals from County Fermanagh Mass media people from County Fermanagh