Adam’s latest book, The Book of Humans: The Story of How We Became Us is due for release this September and re-examines what sets us apart in the animal kingdom. Adam’s previous book, A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived is the story of the whole of human history, retold with DNA as a text, everyone and everything from Neanderthals to serial killers, from redheads to race, dead kings to plague, evolution to epigenetics. Richard Dawkins described it as ‘well-written, stimulating and entertaining. What’s more important, he consistently gets it right.’ Adam’s first book, Creation (Penguin 2014), was about the origin of life on Earth, and the future of life in the era of genetic engineering, synthetic biology and spider-goats. Creation was shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize 2014.
Adam is the presenter of the flagship science programme on BBC Radio 4, Inside Science, as well as The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry, and a host of other Radio 4 documentaries on subjects ranging from the inheritance of intelligence, MMR and autism, epigenetics, human evolution, astronomy and art, science and cinema, scientific fraud, and the evolution of sex. He’s also a regular guest on the Infinite Monkey Cage with Brian Cox and Robin Ince.
On television he’s written and presented many documentaries, including The Beauty of Anatomy – a five-part series for BBC4 (2014) on the story of anatomical art. Horizon: Playing God (BBC2, Jan 2012) on genetic engineering and synthetic biology (winner of Golden Dragon Awards, Shanghai, 2012); The Gene Code (BBC4, Apr 2011), and The Cell (BBC4, Sept 2009) – a three-part series charting the story of biology- (winner Best Documentary at the ABSW awards (2010) & listed in the Daily Telegraph’s list of 10 Classic science programmes.)
Adam’s background is in genetics and evolution. He did a PhD at the Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond St Hospital, studying the role of genes involved in the development of the eye. He worked at the science journal Nature, during which time he launched and presented the award-winning Nature Podcast, and produced and directed many short films, including a music video tribute to the retiring Space Shuttle. As a result, he has an Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath number of 15. Adam has also worked on many films as scientific adviser.
He lectures extensively at UCL, where he has an Honorary Fellowship, and in public all around the world, including prestigious events such as the Douglas Adam’s Memorial Lecture, the British Humanist Association’s Darwin Day Lecture, The BFI, the Hay Festival, and the Cheltenham Literary and Science Festivals. He co-authored a study on the effects of video games on adolescents and violence in 2016.
Having presented Operation Wild for BBC One in 2014, vet Steve has rarely been absent from British TV screens since his talents were spotted at Bristol Veterinary School and he was chosen to appear in BBC One’s highly popular documentary series Vets School and Vets in Practice.
Most recently, Steve guest presented Big Week at the Zoo on Channel 5. His other recent ventures include Trust Me I’m A Vet, Panda Babies, Animal Kingdom, Safari Vet School and Nature’s Newborns for ITV, Britain’s Big Wildlife Revival for BBC One and The Wonder of Dogs for BBC Two. He has also frequently appeared on the Alan Titchmarsh Show as the in-house vet.
Still working as a small animal vet in the family run practice in Cheshire, Steve moves easily between the world of domestic pets and the wider world of wild animals across the globe. He presented major wildlife series for the BBC such as Steve Leonard’s Ultimate Killers, Steve Leonard’s Extreme Animals and Incredible Animal Journeys as well as appearing with Kate Humble in The Hottest Place on Earth. He also co-presented the famously successful series of BBC One’s Orangutan Diary.
Steve revels in sharing his close encounters with spectacular and exotic species and is much in demand as an entertaining and motivational speaker not only for organisations like the National Geographical Society but also for schools and smaller conservation groups. He is also a fervent supporter and active fundraiser for a number of charities close to his heart, including the PDSA, the UK’s largest veterinary charity, Wildlife Vets International, Painted Dog Conservation which helps the survival of African wild dogs and Dog A.I.D. which works with the pets of disabled people.
One of Britain’s most loved television presenters, BAFTA award-winning Michaela Strachan has been a regular face on our screens for over two decades.
Michaela is one of the regular presenting team on Springwatch and has recently been back on BBC Two for Autumnwatch and Winterwatch. Michaela has worked extensively as a presenter on the BBC, spending fifteen years presenting the hugely popular The Really Wild Show and ten years on Countryfile, as well as Orangutan Diaries, Elephant Diaries, Shark Encounters and Orangutan Rescue.
Michaela’s Wild Challenge (Channel 5) was a double BAFTA award-winning production; earning Michaela the BAFTA for Best Children’s Presenter and the programme the BAFTA for Best Children’s Factual. Other programmes for Channel 5 include Michaela’s Zoo Babies, Michaela’s Animal Road Trip, Animal Rescue Squad and Animal Families.
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For National Geographic, Michaela has fronted Safari Live, live from the Kruger National Park, Adopt a Wild Animal, Postcards from the Wild and Big 5 Little 5 which she presented alongside long-standing TV friend Chris Packham. For the Natural History Unit South Africa Michaela volunteered in a sea bird rescue centre for The Great Penguin Rescue. Michaela has also presented two series of Great British Ghosts (Yesterday TV), One Man and his Dog (BBC), The Fossil Roadshow (BBC), Full Bloom (BBC) and Club Vegetarian (Granda TV).
Michaela’s presenting career began on such programmes as TV-am, The Wide Awake Club with Timmy Mallett, Boogie Box, The Hitman and Her and The Really Wild Show.
Michaela is much in demand for personal appearances, award ceremonies and presentations. Her natural effervescence and engaging humour endear her to audiences, corporate and educational audiences alike. With her extensive experience of wildlife conservation all around the world and her gift for communication, Michaela is a popular choice to host wildlife festivals and to host natural history, environmental and ecologist events and present award ceremonies.
Michaela has also been touring zoos, wildlife parks and festivals with her children’s show Michaela Strachan’s Really Wild Adventures, a fun, factual, educational and interactive show which has been adapted from her book of the same name.
Michaela will be appearing in the arena spectacular Walking with Dinosaurs across UK theatres in Summer 2018.
This year, Danielle George has been on our screens presenting Hyper Evolution: Rise of the Robots on BBC Four, Search for a New Earth on BBC Two with Professor Stephen Hawking and Nation of Inventors on BBC One North West. In 2016, Danielle presented Televisions Opening Night: How the Box was Born on BBC Four and in 2014 The Royal Institution Christmas lectures ‘How to hack your Home’.
Danielle studied Astrophysics and worked at Jodrell Bank Observatory. She was awarded a Professorship at the age of 38 and appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 Queen’s honours list for services to engineering through public engagement. In 2016 she received the Royal Academy of Engineering Rooke Medal for services to engineering and in 2017 received the Harold Hartley Medal for outstanding contribution to the field of Measurement and Control.
Danielle’s research is dedicated to solving one the 14 world engineering grand challenges of the 21st century; engineering the tools for scientific discovery. Her expertise in radio frequency engineering and microwave communications is applicable to broad range of scientific and industrial sectors. To date her research has focused on delivering class-leading ultra-low noise receivers for Space and Aerospace applications. She has worked with agriculturists on the development of instrumentation to measure water usage and with a number of multi-national companies such as Rolls Royce where she worked on industrial gas turbine engines.
Her passion for raising public awareness of the positive impact engineering and science has on all aspects of our everyday lives, as well as highlighting to young people the immense depth and breadth of opportunities a career in science and engineering can offer, has led to Danielle’s numerous current high-profile Ambassadorial roles. Following on from the success of Danielle’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures she is the co-founder of the “Manchester Robot Orchestra” with huge success in many countries around the world and generated over 1m hits on social media. Her STEM ‘emoji’ recognizes her dedication to science and engineering stating her most notable fun achievement as ‘turning a sky scraper into a giant game of Tetris’. She has delivered TED and TEDx talks and her hometown of Newcastle recognised her as a ‘Great North Contemporary Great’ in the 2015 Great North Culture Exhibition.
Alice has most recently been on our screens presenting Britain’s Most Historic Towns on Channel 4 and Digging for Britain on BBC Four. Last year, Alice completed her first UK Theatre Tour and presented programmes including The Day the Dinosaurs Died and Food Detectives on BBC Two. She also published her latest book Tamed: Ten Species That Changed The World. Other programmes included Uncovering the mysteries of ‘Britain’s Pompeii and The Greatest Tomb On Earth: Secrets of Ancient China on BBC Four with Dan Snow and Albert Lin, featuring groundbreaking archaeological discoveries in China. She also co-presented The Celts with Neil Oliver and appeared on Britain’s Lost Waterlands: Escape to Swallows and Amazons Country with fellow Coast-er, Dick Strawbridge (with whom she won Celebrity Pointless in 2014).
Alice is an anatomist and biological anthropologist, author and broadcaster, and Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham. In the last decade of the twentieth century, she studied medicine and anatomy (MB BCh BSc) at Cardiff University, and worked as a junior doctor in South Wales. She went on to become a lecturer at Bristol University, where she taught anatomy – of humans and other animals – for eleven years. While at Bristol, she becaame interested in biological anthropology: studying ancient bones and looking for clues about evolution, life, death, and disease in past populations. Her PhD focused on comparing patterns of arthritis in the shoulders of humans and other apes. She also developed a strong interest in public engagement, becoming a television presenter, writing popular science books, and giving public talks. In 2012, Alice became the University of Birmingham’s first Professor of Public Engagement with Science, where she continues to teach anatomy and do some research, as well as encouraging other academics to engage with the public more widely. She has received four honorary doctorates.
Alice has presented a wide range of science and archaeology shows on television. Her television debut came in 2001, as a human bone specialist on Channel 4’s Time Team. She went on to become one of the team of presenters for Channel 4’s Extreme Archaeology, where climbing and caving skills were needed to access archaeological sites.
In 2005, she was part of the original team of presenters on the first series of Coast on BBC Two, and she went on to cover many science and archaeology stories in subsequent series of Coast. She also started to write and present her own series on BBC Two, including two series of Don’t Die Young on BBC Two, looking at the structure and function of the human body, organ by organ. She wrote her first book to accompany this series: Don’t Die Young: An anatomist’s guide to your organs and your health.
In 2009, she solo-presented her first landmark series on BBC Two: The Incredible Human Journey, exploring how clues from genetics, fossils and archaeology have helped us to understand how our Stone Age, hunter-gatherer forebears colonised the globe. She went on to solo-present other big budget, landmark series and programmes on BBC Two, looking at human evolution and palaeobiology more generally, including: Origins of Us, Prehistoric Autopsy, Wooly Mammoth and Ice Age Giants. She has also presented several Horizon programmes, looking at topics of evolution and human diversity and behaviour, tackling such questions as: Are we still evolving? What makes us human? and Is your brain male or female? She also presented the Horizon programme which launched the Longitude Prize 2014, and Sex: A Horizon Guide. She curated an online collection covering 50 Years of Horizon, to celebrate the birthday of this long-running science series in 2014.
In 2010, inspired by Roger Deakin’s Waterlog, and her own love of the great outdoors, Alice made Wild Swimming for BBC4. This lyrical film looked at wildlife, physiology, poetry and mythology – alongside the life-affirming, energising and sensuous experience of swimming ‘wild’ – in lakes, rivers and the sea.
Since 2009, Alice has been an occasional presenter of Radio 4’s environment programme, Costing the Earth. She has written seven popular science and archaeology books: Don’t Die Young, The Incredible Human Journey, The Complete Human Body, Evolution: The Human Story, Human Anatomy, The Incredible unlikeliness of Being (shortlisted for the Wellcome Trust Book Prize in 2015) and The Celts.
Alice is an accomplished public speaker and regularly tours the country giving lectures related to her books and television programmes. She has conducted many panel debates and interviews. In May 2015, she interviewed Sir David Attenborough live on stage at the Science Museum, and later in the year, Richard Dawkins at the RI. As well as being rated the 2nd most influential woman-scientist-on-Twitter, Alice is also an experienced compere, and has hosted numerous awards ceremonies and launch events, including prestigious events at the Natural History Museum and the Royal Society. She has even been known to give after dinner speeches.
Sir Trevor McDonald OBE was born and educated in Trinidad in the West Indies where his career in the media began, first as a radio reporter, news presenter and sports journalist. On his first major assignment there, he was sent to London (1962) to report on talks at Malborough House which culminated in setting a date for Trinidad’s Independence.
Sir Trevor came to London in August 1969 to work as a Producer in the BBC Overseas Regional Service at Bush House in the Aldwych. He went on to produce Current Affairs programmes for the BBC WORLD Service and in that capacity worked on the initiation of a number of shows like THE WORLD TODAY which are still part of the BBC World Service schedule.
In 1973 he joined ITN as a General Reporter. His first major assignment was in Northern Ireland where he covered the Province’s ‘troubles’ for more than a decade. He also reported from Dublin, Rome, Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg on negotiations about the terms of Britain’s membership and earliest days of the then Common Market – now the EU.
Covering sport and politics Sir Trevor travelled to Argentina, Australia and the West Indies before becoming Diplomatic Correspondent and Presenter of Channel Four News in 1982. In that capacity he reported from every Continent, covering events and conducting interviews in Egypt, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, India, Pakistan, Japan, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa, the Soviet Union and Hong Kong. During this time he also worked extensively in the United States reporting on the unfolding events at the United Nations during the Falklands War, from New York and from Washington, as well as covering a number of Presidential and Congressional Campaigns. Sir Trevor reported on Soviet Communist Party Conferences from the time of President Brezhnev and returned to Moscow and to Washington to report on East West Summit meetings, prominently among them… those between Reagan and Gorbachev. His coverage of the ‘ people power ‘ Philippine Elections in 1985 won a BAFTA Award for Channel Four News.
When not working abroad, Sir Trevor began his career as an ITN Presenter. He anchored every ITN News programme – from what used to be the News at One, the News at 5.40 and 6.30 to the flagship and award winning News At Ten. And not just from London, but from news locations around the world.
He became Diplomatic Editor in 1982 and in February 1990, after several visits to Southern Africa, went back to Johannesburg to report on Nelson Mandela’s release and to do the first British Television interview with the ANC leader for ITN. In November of that same year, just before the start of the first Gulf War, he did the first and still the only British television interview with former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. In the ensuing years at ITN, Sir Trevor conducted the most important television interviews of his time: with Libyan President Colonel Gaddafi, with the former PLO leader Yasser Arafat, with President Bill Clinton, and Secretary of State Colin Powell along with a number of American Presidential candidates and Congressional leaders.
Sir Trevor became the first sole Presenter of News At Ten in 1992 and anchored the Late Evening News until December 2005. By then he had received more awards than any other news broadcaster in Britain. His awards include the Richard Dimbleby Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television from BAFTA, the Royal Television Society Gold Medal for his Outstanding Contribution to Television News (1998), the National Television Award for Outstanding Commitment to Television (2003) presented to him on live television by the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the Royal Television Society’s Judges’ Award (2005). He was named Newscaster of the year in 1993, 1997 and 1999 and has regularly topped the polls as the most authoritative and trustworthy news presenter. He has received Honorary Degrees from at least eight Universities
From 1999 to December 2007 Sir Trevor presented ITV’s bi weekly flagship Current Affairs programme, Tonight, during which time he interviewed President Bush on two occasions and political figures like Tony Blair, Secretary of State Rice, Hilary Clinton and other senior politicians. In January 2008 Sir Trevor returned to ITV News, for one year, to co-present the re-launched News at Ten. More recently he has presented a number of documentaries for ITV1; including Secret Caribbean, Secret Mediterranean, The Mighty Mississippi, Inside Death Row, Women Behind Bars, The Mafia and Mafia Women, Death Row: The New Arrivals, James Bulger: A Mother’s Story and Martyn Luther King. Sir Trevor McDonald: Return to South Africa will be broadcast in July. In May this year Sir Trevor will be co-presenting Invitation to A Royal Wedding a documentary on ITV1 about Royal weddings over the years. Sir Trevor has done charitable work for the Prince’s Trust, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the Playing Fields Association, Sight Savers, the Royal National Institute for the Blind, the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Deaf (which became know later as Sound Seekers), Macmillan Cancer Research and the Leukaemia Trust. He serves as Patron, Chairman, President or Vice President in a number of other charitable organisations including National Children’s Homes, the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice, the Friends of Barnes Hospital and De Paul Trust. He has also helped to promote the work of St John Ambulance, and organisations dealing with awareness of the problems surrounding Sickle Cell, Autism and homelessness among young people. He travelled to many parts of the country to speak in his capacity as Chairman of the Better English Campaign under the last Conservative Government, was co chair of a Nuffield Foundation Inquiry into the Teaching of Foreign Languages in British Schools for which he was honoured by the French and German Governments, has been involved in a number of campaigns to encourage young children to read more widely, and speaks regularly to schools and colleges. He has also held the position of Chancellor of London South Bank University.
Sir Trevor was awarded the OBE in 1992 and was awarded a Knighthood in 1999.
Mark is the Washington correspondent for Sky News. He is a multi-award winning broadcast journalist who has spent 35 years reporting and presenting for ITV News and the BBC. In his three decades at ITV News, Austin presented both News at Ten and the Evening News at 6.30pm, often on location from places as far afield as the Antarctic, Iraq, the Israel/Gaza border, Libya, Haiti, Nepal, Mogadishu, Afghanistan and Washington. Along the way, Mark conducted numerous agenda-setting interviews with the likes of Prince William, Nelson and Winnie Mandela, Gordon Brown, Shimon Peres, Tony Blair, Sir Jock Stirrup and Bob Geldof, among many others.
Previously Mark was Senior Correspondent for ITV News, covering major foreign and domestic stories. For fifteen years he was a foreign correspondent based in Africa and Asia and travelling all over the globe.
In 2011 and 2015, ITV News at Ten was named RTS Programme of the Year under Mark’s watch and he won Presenter of the Year at the 2014 and 2015 Royal Television Society for Journalism awards. Mark’s achievements include winning five BAFTA awards; an International Emmy in 2000 for his reporting of the devastating floods in Mozambique, a Golden Nymph in 1999 for covering the war in Kosovo, a Gold Medal at the 1996 Film & Television Festival of New York for his coverage of the Bosnian war and being named TRIC’s Newscaster of the Year in 2010.
Mark started his career in local newspapers before joining BBC News as a reporter, becoming one of the youngest national reporters ever appointed by the BBC.
In 2017, Mark presented several programmes for LBC.
Wasting Away: The Truth About Anorexia, a documentary he made with his daughter Maddy, tackling the subject of anorexia and how the NHS deals with this and other mental health issues was broadcast on Channel 4 last year.
Mark regularly hosts corporate events and also speaks on mental health issues.
Mark is currently writing his memoirs for Atlantic Books.
Jeremy Paxman is an award-winning journalist, author and television presenter.
Beginning his career covering The Troubles in Northern Ireland for three years, he then spent 8 years reporting from around the world for the BBC, before becoming anchorman of the BBC’s nightly news analysis programme Newsnight in 1989, a post he held for 25 years. He has been chairman of University Challenge since 1994.
In May 2015 and June 2017, he anchored Channel 4’s Election Night coverage. He is the author of numerous documentaries and documentary series – including the history of the British Empire, on the poet Wilfred Owen, on Victorian art, on Churchill’s funeral and on the effect of the First World War on Great Britain.
In the last two years, he has presented 3 current affairs documentaries for BBC1 Paxman on Brussels: Who Really Rules Us?; Paxman on Trump v Clinton: Divided America, and Trump’s First 100 Days and a 4-part film series for Channel 4 about British rivers in 2016 and 2017. Jeremy presented Have I Got News For You for the first time in April this year.
His 2014 one-man show PAXO at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was a critically acclaimed sell-out.
Jeremy Paxman was born in Yorkshire in 1950, educated at Malvern College in Worcestershire and received his degree (in English) from St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. He is an honorary fellow there, and a Fellow by Special Election at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He holds honorary doctorates from Leeds, Bradford, Exeter, Northumberland, and the Open University.
He is the author of ten books, including The English – Portrait of a People; The Political Animal; On Royalty; The Victorians; Empire – What Ruling the World Did to the British. Great Britain’s Great War was published in October 2013. His memoirs A Life in Questions appeared in October 2016.
He is a contributing editor at the Financial Times.
His charitable interests include homelessness, mental health and education.
In his spare time, he goes fly-fishing and is the editor of Fish, Fishing and the Meaning of Life (the book is mainly about the first two topics.)
He has a dog called Derek from Battersea Dogs’ Home and makes good rhubarb jam which he has trouble getting to set properly.
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