The wonderful world of cetaceans

Mark Carwardine is a zoologist, an outspoken conservationist, a TV and radio presenter, a bestselling author, a magazine columnist, and a widely published wildlife photographer.He presented the popular six-part BBC-TV series Last Chance to See, with actor and comedian Stephen Fry in which the unlikely duo travelled the world in search of a motley collection of endangered species (following in the footsteps of a similar year-long journey Mark had made for a book with Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, 20 years earlier). He also co-presented the BBC-TV series Museum of Life and, for many years, presented the weekly half-hour programme Nature on BBC Radio 4.

Mark has written more than 50 books on a variety of wildlife, travel and conservation subjects, including several bestsellers (his field guide Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises is one of the bestselling natural history books of all time). His most recent book (which he claims is his final one) is Handbook of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises. He is on the Advisory Board of BBC Wildlife magazine and has been writing a monthly conservation column in the magazine since 2004; he is also Contributing Editor of Wanderlust magazine.

He was Chairman of the Judging Panel of the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition for seven years and was selected as one of ‘The World’s 40 Most Influential Nature Photographers’ in Outdoor Photography magazine.

In his spare time, Mark specialises in being shown up by endangered species. First, he was shagged on TV by Sirocco the Kakapo (a rare nocturnal parrot in New Zealand); more recently, while reporting for the BBC’s Big Blue Live, he was surprised by a Blue Whale surfacing just in front of his boat, after complaining on camera that there were none to be seen…

Join us as we discuss cetaceans!