- Date: 12/12/19
- Press Association
Bellamy has died at the age of 86.
Broadcaster and botanist David Bellamy has died at the age of 86 (David Cheskin/PA)
David Bellamy was a prolific broadcaster and respected authority on botany and the natural world when, he says, his views on climate change led to him being banished from television.
Flying in the face of prevailing orthodoxy, he dismissed global warming as “poppycock” and said there is “no actual proof” human activity was causing a rise in temperatures.
Bellamy, who died on Wednesday at the age of 86, blamed his views on climate change for the downfall of his TV career and said he became a pariah.
David Bellamy, the naturalist and broadcaster, has died at the age of 86 (Newscast/PA)
David James Bellamy was born in London in 1933 and was raised in Sutton.
He worked in a factory and as a plumber before meeting his future wife Rosemary. The couple had five children. Bellamy studied and later taught botany at Durham University.
He achieved wider recognition following his work on the Torrey Canyon oil spill in 1967.
TV work offers followed, launching his small screen career.
Thanks to his distinctive voice and screen presence, Bellamy quickly became a popular presenter on programmes such as Don’t Ask Me.
Wildlife presenter David Bellamy was once a respected and sought-after authority on environmental issues (Michael Stephens/PA)
He also fronted his own shows, including Bellamy On Botany, Bellamy’s Britain, Bellamy’s Europe and Bellamy’s Backyard Safari.
In 1979 he won Bafta’s Richard Dimbleby Award.
Bellamy proved an easy target for TV impersonators and was regularly parodied by impressionists, including Sir Lenny Henry.
He famously inspired Sir Lenny’s “grapple me grapenuts” catchphrase.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Thanks David, a real green, unlike all the reds pretending.
Nothing’s forgotten. Nothing is ever forgotten.
And he also had a top 40 hit with brontosaurus! Can’t find the video but the song is on you tube. I really can’t imagine Attenborough doing that…
Bellamy on Botany – is there any way to get videos of that? I love a good presenter and my camera and I see eye-to-eye on how best to present bugs and birds.
It is amazing to find out how many different species there are inhabiting the center of a purple or white coneflower blossom. Some of them are so small, you don’t even see them until the move. Then you see that they have antennae that look like deer antlers and you have to go look that up.
David Bellamy was a real scientist and environmentalist.
His presence on TV was already missed. His presence in the world will be more so.
Goodbye David, and Thank You!
RIP
David loved New Zealand and we loved him when he came here on his many visits. I suspect however that because of a lack of coverage from our biased media here, that most kiwis don’t know the true story of why they haven’t been seeing David on their screens, and just assumed that he had either retired, or perhaps was already dead.
I don’t trust or even watch anything that the BBC puts out now. They disgust me!
The hard left will say “good riddance” to an “old white bloke.”
And some of them will even be old white blokes themselves.
Bellamy knew the difference between conservation and environmentalism.