Colin Hiram Tudge (born 22 April 1943) is a British biologist, science writer and broadcaster. Tudge was born and brought up in

south London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

and attended

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2-18 private, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

, from where he won a scholarship to

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...

, studying zoology and English. In his career, he has worked for World Medicine, '' Farmers' Weekly'' and ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organ ...

'', before becoming a freelance writer. In the 1980s he was a regular broadcaster for 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 ...

, including the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

science series ''Spectrum''; he wrote and presented ''The Food Connection''; he made one-off documentaries and guest appearances. He lives in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

with his second wife, Ruth West. He was married to Rosemary (née Shewan) and had three children, Amanda, Amy and Robin, the last being an author of political works. National Life Stories conducted an oral history interview (C1672/12) with Colin Tudge in 2016 for its Science and Religion collection held by the British Library.National Life Stories, 'Tudge, Colin (1 of 10) National Life Stories Collection: Science and Religion', The British Library Board, 2016
Retrieved 9 October 2017

Works

* ''Why Genes are Not Selfish and People are Nice: A Challenge to the Dangerous Ideas that Dominate Our Lives.'' Edinburgh, 2013. Floris Books. . Argues that, contrary to many popular ideas, humans are not selfish but naturally cooperative, and that the universe is more than just 'stuff' for us to use at will. * ''Consider the Birds: How They Live and Why They Matter.'' London, 2008. Penguin. Explores various aspects of the life of birds from their migrations to their complicated family lives, their differing habitats and survival techniques to the secrets of flight, it discusses how birds live, why they matter, and whether they really are dinosaurs. * ''Feeding People is Easy.'' Pari Publishing, Italy. 2007. When agriculture is expressly designed to feed people, all the associated problems seem to solve themselves. * ''The Secret Life of Trees.'' Allen Lane, London, 2005, . Penguin Books, London, 2006. Published as ''The Tree'' by Crown, New York, 2006. * ''So Shall We Reap: the Concept of Enlightened Agriculture.'' Allen Lane, London 2003; Penguin Books, London, 2004. An alternative title is ''So Shall We Reap: how everyone who is liable to be born in the next ten thousand years could eat very well indeed; and why, in practice, our immediate descendants are likely to be in serious trouble'', on the future of agriculture, in which he challenges the current science and technology paradigm and outlines a

sustainable Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

way of feeding the population of the world, expected to stabilise at ten billion people by the middle of the 21st century. * ''In Mendel's Footnotes: Genes and Genetics from the 19th century to the 22nd.'' Jonathan Cape, 2000. Paperback: Vintage, 2002. Published as ''The Impact of the Gene'', Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, New York, 2001. * ''The Variety of Life: A Survey and a Celebration of All the Creatures That Have Ever Lived.'' Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 2000. Paperback, March 2002. An accessible

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or Taxon, taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, M ...

of life, explaining in clear terms the descent and interrelationships of most kinds of organism. * '' Neanderthals, Bandits and Farmers.'' Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1998. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1999. . A small book explaining how agriculture began. The book is one of a series of long essays by respected contemporary

Darwinian ''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sele ...

thinkers, which were published under the collective title '' Darwinism Today''; the series was inspired by a course of 'Darwin Seminars' which took place at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

(LSE) in the late 1990s

* ''The Day Before Yesterday.'' Jonathan Cape, London, 1995. Pimlico, London, 1996. Published in the US as ''The Time Before History: 5 Million Years of Human Impact,'' Scribner, New York 1996. Touchstone, New York, 1997. * ''The Engineer in the Garden: Genes and Genetics from the Idea of Heredity to the Creation of Life.'' Jonathan Cape, London, 1993, . Hill & Wang, New York, 1994, . Pimlico (Pbk) 1995 * ''Last Animals at the Zoo.'' Hutchinson Radius, London, 1991. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1992.

Island Press Island Press is a nonprofit, environmental publisher based in Washington, D.C., United States, that specializes in natural history, ecology, conservation, and the built environment. Established in 1978, Island Press generates about half of its ...

, Washington, 1992. * ''Global Ecology.'' Natural History Museum, 1991. Oxford University Press, New York 1991. * ''Food Crops for the Future.'' Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1988. * ''The Food Connection.''

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

, London, 1985. * ''Future Cook.'' Mitchell Beazley 1980. Published as ''Future Food'', Harmony Books, New York, 1980. * ''The Famine Business.'' Faber and Faber, London 1977. St Martin's Press, New York, 1977. Penguin Books (Pelican), Middlesex, 1979. Co-authorships * ''The Second Creation: Dolly and the Age of Biological Control.'' (co-authored with Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell). Headline, London, 2000. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2000. * ''Home Farm.'' (co-authored with Michael Allaby). Macmillan, London, 1977. Sphere Books, London, 1979.

References

External links

Colin Tudge Personal Website

The Campaign for Real Farming
founded by Colin and Ruth Tudge in 2008

Colin Tudge's video talks
at IAI TV * Colin Tudge, Chris Leaver and Tony Trewavas (2003)
"Brave new world?"
''

'', 178, 44-47f * Colin Tudge
"Bad for the Poor, Bad for Science"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 20 February 2004 * Colin Tudge: lecture to the Soil Association 12 July 200
“Can Organic Farming feed the world?”
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tudge, Colin 1943 births Living people British nature writers British science writers People educated at Dulwich College People from London Mass media people from London Writers from London