Roger Howard Phillips MBE (16 December 1932 – 15 November 2021) was a British photographer,

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and writer.

Biography

Phillips was born on 16 December 1932 in

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

to Philip and Elsie Phillips (née Williams). He was educated at St Christopher School in

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,990. Letchworth ...

and – after national service with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

in Canada – at Chelsea School of Art. He next joined Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, where he rose to be

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

. He turned freelance in 1968. He took pictures for the album '' Goodbye'' for rock band

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

, on a commission from his friend

Alan Aldridge Alan Aldridge (8 July 1938 – 17 February 2017) was a British artist, graphic designer and illustrator. He is best known for his psychedelic artwork made for books and record covers by The Beatles and The Who and for creating the original desig ...

, and later took pictures for the

Jack Bruce John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish musician. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and ‍bassist ‍of Rock music, rock band Cream (band), Cream. After the group disbanded in 1968, he pursued a ...

albums '' Songs for a Tailor'' and '' Out of the Storm''. He is best known for his photographic books of the British flora. The first, ''Wild Flowers of Britain'' sold 400,000 copies in the first year. It was about the first plant identification book that had photographs, rather than paintings, of flowers. In total, his 20 books sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide. He was also an expert on

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

s and

rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

s who wrote more than forty books on gardening and wild plants and fungi; many with Martyn Rix. He was also an Honorary Garden Manager at Eccleston Square in London, where he lived, and served as chair of the Society for the Protection of London Squares. He presented two six-part television series, 1994's '' The Quest for the Rose'' for

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

and, in 1995, '' The 3,000 Mile Garden'' for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. In later life he also exhibited his paintings. In the

2010 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2010 were announced on 31 December 2009 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Barbados, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Saint Lucia, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Christopher and NevisSaint Chris ...

, Phillips was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE), for his "services to London Garden Squares".

Personal life

Phillips' 1958 marriage to Pammy Wray ended in divorce; they had a son, and she predeceased him. He subsequently had two daughters with his second wife Nicky Foy, whom he married in 2003. He died on 15 November 2021, at the age of 88.

Selected publications

* Phillips, Roger, and Jacqui Hurst. 1983. Wild food: unique photographic guide to finding, cooking and eating wild plants, mushrooms and seaweed London: Pan Books. * Phillips, Roger, Derek Reid, Ronald Rayner, and Lyndsay Shearer. 1981. Mushrooms and other fungi of Great Britain and Europe. London: Pan Books.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Roger 1932 births 2021 deaths British botanists British writers British photographers BBC television presenters People educated at St Christopher School Members of the Order of the British Empire Royal Air Force officers British advertising executives People from Uxbridge