Tony Soper (10 January 1929 – 18 September 2024) was a British

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

, author, and broadcaster.

Life and career

Soper was born on 10 January 1929, in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, the son of Ella (nee Lythgoe), a former shop assistant and member of the local

Townswomen's Guild Members representing their Federation at the 2009 AGM in Birmingham The Townswomen's Guild (TG) is a British women's organisation. There are approximately 30,000 members, 706 branches and 77 Federations throughout England, Scotland, Wales and N ...

, and Bert Soper, a shipping agent. Soon after Soper's birth the family moved to

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

where he attended Hyde Park Elementary School and

Devonport High School for Boys Devonport High School for Boys is an 11–18 boys grammar school and Academy (English school), academy in Plymouth, Devon, England. It has around 1,150 boys, and its catchment area (human geography), catchment area includes southwest Devon and s ...

. He joined 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 ...

at age 17 as a "youth-in-training", subsequently graduating by way of

studio manager Studio manager, studio director, or studio head is a job title in various media-related professions, including design, advertising, and broadcasting. Design and advertising A design or advertising studio manager's responsibilities will typically ...

to features producer in radio, then moved into television. Among the radio programmes that he produced were '' Birds In Britain''. Soper co-founded the BBC Natural History Unit as its first film producer, with Patrick Beech the then South West Controller. Cutting his teeth on the ''LOOK'' series he organised far-flung wildlife filming projects. He presented live television programmes, including ''Birdwatch'', ''Birdspot'', ''Discovering Birds'', ''Discovering Animals'', ''Beside the Sea'', ''Wildtrack'' and ''Nature''. Soper also co-presented '' Animal Magic'' with Johnny Morris for a few years in the 1960s. He also had a supporter of the

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

. As Expedition Leader and a pioneer of wildlife cruising, he spent twenty years between 1992 and 2012 exploring both the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and South polar regions. He held a British yachtmaster's certificate and was a qualified compressed-air and oxygen hard-hat diver. Soper's wife Hilary is a wildlife painter, and they had two sons. Soper died on 18 September 2024, at the age of 95.

Honours

Soper was a recipient of the British Naturalists' Association's Peter Scott Memorial Award. He was awarded the

British Trust for Ornithology The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is an organisation founded in 1932 for the study of birds in the British Isles. The William, Prince of Wales, Prince of Wales has been patron since October 2020. History Beginning In 1931 Max Nicholson ...

's Dilys Breese Medal in 2009.

DVDs

A single 23-minute episode of ''Wildtrack'' is available as a bonus feature on the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

release of

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 ...

's 1979 series '' Life on Earth''.

Selected bibliography

*''The Bird Table Book'' (1965, several editions to 2006)'' *''The Shell Guide to Beachcombing'' (1972) *''Wildlife'' ''Begins at Home'' (1975) *''Everyday Birds'' (1976) *''Wildlife of The Dart Estuary'' (1982) *''Discovering Birds'' (1983) *''Penguins'' ith John Sparks(1987) *''A Passion For Birds'' (1988) *''Owls'' ith John Sparks(1995) *''Wildlife of the North Atlantic'' (2008) *''The Arctic: A Guide to Coastal Wildlife'' (2012) *''The Northwest Passage'' (2012) *''Antarctica: A Guide to the Wildlife'' (2013)Chalfont St Peter:

Bradt Travel Guides Bradt Travel Guides is a publisher of travel guides founded in 1974 by Hilary Bradt and her husband George, who co-wrote the first Bradt Guide on a river barge on a tributary of the Amazon. Since then Bradt has grown into a leading independent ...

References

External links

Tony Soper website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soper, Tony 1929 births 2024 deaths Mass media people from Southampton People educated at Devonport High School for Boys English ornithologists English television presenters English television producers English radio producers BBC radio producers BBC television producers BBC television presenters Royal Society for the Protection of Birds people Mass media people from Plymouth, Devon