Tony Soper

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Tony Soper (10 January 1929-September 2024) was a British naturalist, author and broadcaster.

Soper was educated at Hyde Park Elementary School and at Devonport High School for Boys, both in Plymouth. He joined the BBC at 17 as a "youth-in-training", subsequently graduating by way of studio manager to features producer in radio, then moved into television. Among the radio programmes he produced were Birds In Britain.

Soper co-founded the BBC's 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. For many years he also had a regular column in the RSPB members' magazine.

As Expedition Leader and a pioneer of wildlife cruising, he spent twenty years between 1992 and 2012 exploring both polar regions. He holds a British Yachtmaster's certificate and is a qualified compressed air, oxygen, hard hat diver.

Soper died in September 2024.^[1])

Soper's wife Hilary is a wildlife painter, and they had two sons.

He is a recipient of the British Naturalists' Association Peter Scott Memorial Award.^[2]

A single 23-minute episode of Wildtrack is available as a bonus feature on the DVD and Blu-ray release of David Attenborough's 1979 series Life on Earth.

(incomplete)

• 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 [with John Sparks] (1987)
• A Passion For Birds (1988)
• Owls [with 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)^[3]

• Tony Soper's Home page

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