Oxford University was stimulating beyond all expectations. It was full of folk excited about their own passions in life and given the encouragement to explore them. As a lecturer entrusted with stimulating a new generation of zoologists, John was delighted to discover so many rich resources to support his teaching there. His first introduction to the university was surprising beyond anything he might have anticipated.

The professor who welcomed him to the department was somewhat embarrassed to announce that Oxford (founded 1049) had somehow never got around to recognizing new universities like Birmingham (founded 1900) and therefore his B.Sc and Ph.D. degrees could not be recognized there. However, the way around that apparently was to be given (well, nearly) a Master of Arts degree from Oxford and through this arrangement, John was welcomed as a member of Worcester College. Shortly afterwards, he found a permanent home at Oriel College where for a decade, he tutored undergraduates in zoology and delighted in warm relations with his colleagues.

Oxford Scientific Films

But in parallel with his teaching position, Oxford revealed another opportunity that could never have been expected. At the communal tea time on his first day as a junior professor, John met another biologist, Peter Parks, who shared his wish to make nature movies. As they left the tearoom, they were astonished to see a notice advertising that that very night two researchers from the university’s forestry department were giving a talk on their pioneering techniques of filming insects.

That meeting lead to an incredible series of seemingly serendipitous life-changing events. It resulted in the two groups combining, leaving their university positions and forming a wildlife film company starting out with a major contract from the BBC. (The company is still going, by now the longest established private company of any type in England!)

Filming a spider that lives in the plumbing behind the bath. Start by cutting a metal bath into quarters and then recruit a volunteer to model the feet of the occupant.

Wildlife Film Making

Like other aspects of his life, John’s two decades of wildlife film making turned out to be a golden carpet that allowed him to do what he loved to do and get paid for it. He had 6 brilliant colleagues who represented a wonderful diversity of talents and personalities but were united in sharing an intense fascination with the workings of nature and persistently seeking new ways to share their passion with the general public.

He and his colleagues won their first Emmy Award back in 1986 for the very first PBS Nova film ever aired. Since moving to America several years later, his own company won two Emmy’s for its National Geographic TV Spectacular titled “The Realm of the Alligator”. Almost as a side line to his many years as a professional movie photographer, he has accumulated a varied portfolio of nature films from around the world from which he selects segments that he narrates live and uses to serve as metaphors for supporting key points in his public presentations.