Julian Hector (born 1958) is a British television and radio producer and executive who was Head of 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 ...

. During his career, he has been producer of '' David Attenborough's Life Stories'' on

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 ...

, producer of the ''Tigers about the House'' television series, writer and producer of the ''Lakes and Rivers'' episode in 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 ...

’s '' Wild Africa'' series, producer of ''

World on the Move ''World on the Move'' is a nature radio series broadcast weekly on BBC Radio 4. It is presented by Philippa Forrester and Brett Westwood Brett Westwood is a radio presenter and author, specialising in natural history. He regularly presents e ...

'', and instrumental in establishing the BBC's ''

Tweet of the Day ''Tweet of the Day'' is a British radio programme that was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on weekdays at 05:58 from Monday to Friday. The original format of an episode is a short programme of 90 seconds, the original series featuring the song or soun ...

''. He was described by

Sir David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and writer. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the nine nature d ...

as ‘one of the most inventive producers in radio’ and during his award of an honorary doctorate from the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, 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, Br ...

was credited with bringing ‘live natural history programming to Radio 4’.

Early life and education

Julian Alan Lowther Hector was born in 1958 in Nairobi, Kenya and educated at

Bedford Modern School Bedford Modern School (often called BMS or simply Modern) is a Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference independent school in Bedford, England. The school has its origins in Bedford Charity, The Harpur Trust, born from the financial endowme ...

. He read

Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

at the

, graduating in 1981, obtained a PhD from

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

in 1985 and was made an honorary

Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

by the

in 2014. In the later stage of his days as an undergraduate, Hector worked as a

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

ecologist with the

British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of list of global issues, global issues, and to provide an active prese ...

South Georgia South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...

, an unpopulated British island 1400 km from the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

. The project involved studying the breeding patterns of

Albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Paci ...

es on Bird Island under the ultimate directorship of

John Croxall John Patrick Croxall (born 19 January 1946 in Birmingham) is a British biologist, and was Head of Conservation Biology at the British Antarctic Survey. He is Chair of Global Seabird Programme, of BirdLife International. Life Croxall completed a ...

and Sir Brian Follett. The project's work was ‘pioneering’ and uncovered why

es only breed every two years. Unfortunately the project coincided with the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

which led to the four-man team being stranded on Bird Island as

was then occupied by the Argentine Army. The team was eventually rescued by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

Career

After a spell as an academic and working for various conservation organisations, Hector joined the

in 1993 as a producer where he is credited with bringing ‘live natural history programming to Radio 4’ and

described him as ‘one of the most inventive producers in radio’. He became head of the

and has been the producer of many popular series including '' David Attenborough's Life Stories'', writer and producer of the ''Lakes and Rivers'' episode in the

’s '' Wild Africa'' series, ''Migration Live'', ''

'', ''Saving Species'' and ''Shared Planet'', at all times ‘connecting the natural and human environments to tackle questions of conservation and social justice’. For television, in 2014 he was Executive producer of the ''Tigers about the House'' series. Hector interviewed

at the

Edinburgh International Television Festival The Edinburgh International Television Festival is an annual media event held in Edinburgh, Scotland, each August that brings together delegates from the television and digital world to debate the major issues facing the industry. The Festi ...

(2017) in the 60th year of the NHU about the past, present and future of the NHU and its cultural contribution to the understanding and value of the natural world. In 2019, Hector addressed the UN in Geneva at a panel on Circular Economy, Oceans and Plastics Pollution and talked about the "

Blue Planet II ''Blue Planet II'' is a 2017 British nature documentary series on marine life produced as a co-production between the BBC Natural History Unit, BBC America, Tencent, WDR, France Télévisions and CCTV-9 in partnership with The Open Universit ...

Effect". The series full of emotional storytelling, captivated, entertained and surprised viewers and showed how devastating this very modern polluting phenomenon is having on marine creatures in our shared world. In November 2019, the

Chatham House Prize The Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, is a British think tank based in London, England. Its stated mission is "to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous, and just world". It ...

was jointly awarded by Her Majesty the Queen to Sir David Attenborough and

BBC Studios BBC Studios Limited is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Wor ...

NHU for the impact that ''

'' has had on tackling ocean plastic pollution. In his acceptance speech Hector said, "No one is immune to the upheaval caused by shifting climate. …Winning this prize and recognition for the work that we do at BBC Studio's Natural History Unit feels particularly significant this year, 2019, when the environment is the biggest story of them all." Hector is credited with being one of the most influential chiefs of the Natural History Unit in its history adapting the content to serve audiences changing relationship with nature; growing the NHU business to an unprecedented level; changing the culture to fully reflect an inclusive culture and leaving a legacy that will last many years into the future. Hector was made Honorary Professor at Salford University in March 2022 (announced 17 March 2022)University of Salford, Manchester, Announcement - 'Former Head Of The BBC Studios Natural History Unit Appointed Honorary Professor', 17 March 2022

Personal life

Julian Hector is married to

Mary Colwell use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates ...

and has five children, three from a previous marriage (Rowena, Hannah and Elkie) and two with Mary Colwell (Dominic and Gregory) and six grandchildren. He is a qualified diver, sportive cyclist and sails a Wayfarer class dinghy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hector, Julian 1958 births Living people Alumni of the University of Bristol BBC radio producers BBC executives BBC television producers British conservationists British naturalists People educated at Bedford Modern School