Professor Timothy Richard Halliday was a British

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

and artist. He was born on 11 September 1945 in

Marlborough, Wiltshire Marlborough ( , ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the England, English Counties of England, county of Wiltshire on the A4 road (England), Old Bath Road, the old main road from London to Bath, Somerset, Bath. Th ...

, to Edna (née Barlow) who was a housemistress at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. It was founded as Marlborough School in 1843 by the Dean of Manchester, George ...

, her husband, Jack Halliday was a biology teacher there. He was educated at Marlborough College, then studied zoology at Oxford University, where his

doctoral thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

was on the sexual behaviour of

newt A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae. The terrestrial juvenile phase is called an eft. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Not all aqua ...

s. He joined the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

in 1977, as a lecturer in biology, and by his retirement in 2009 was a professor of biology. He played a key role in organising the 1989 'First World Congress of Herpetology' at the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

, and was instrumental in the creation of the Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force, and served as its international director from 1994 to 2006. He also helped to establish the TRITURUS network of newt researchers. Between 1990 and 1998 he seat on the council of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

(ZSL), as well as chairing its conservation committee. He was also an advisor for David Attenborough's programmes '' Life on Earth'' and '' Life in Cold Blood''. As an artist, Halliday specialised in painting birds, frogs and toads. He married Carolyn Wheeler (who had been the first female pupil at Marlborough College) in 1970. They first met at nursery school. She also studied zoology at Oxford. They lived in Oxford and had three children and two grandchildren. All survive him. He died on 10 April 2019, after being diagnosed with an rare and incurable form of

T-cell lymphoma T-cell lymphoma is a rare form of cancerous lymphoma affecting T cell, T-cells. Lymphoma arises mainly from the uncontrolled proliferation of lymphocytes, such as T-cells, and can become cancerous. T-cell lymphoma is categorized under Non-Hodgkin ...

in 2016. The species '' Pseudophilautus hallidayi'', Halliday's shrub frog, is named in his honour. The Amphibian Survival Alliance and IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group dedicated a special issue of their journal ''FrogLog'' to Halliday in November 2018. An ZSL symposium on amphibian diseases held in late April 2019 was also dedicated to Halliday.

Publications

* Halliday T. 1980. ''Sexual Strategy. -(Survival in the Wild).'' Oxford and Melbourne: Oxford University Press. 158 pp. . * O'Shea M, Halliday T. 2002. ''Smithsonian Handbooks: Reptiles and Amphibians''. London: DK Publishing. 256 pp. . *

References

External links

*
Open University profile

Images of Halliday
at the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halliday, Tim 1945 births 2019 deaths British herpetologists People from Marlborough, Wiltshire Alumni of the University of Oxford Deaths from non-Hodgkin lymphoma 21st-century British painters People educated at Marlborough College Academics of the Open University British bird artists