Backshall makes nature 'cool' to inspire children

Wildlife presenter Steve Backshall has told how he sets out to make nature "adventurous" and "cool" for children rather than preach to them.

The presenter, known for programmes including Deadly 60, wants as many youngsters as possible to be exposed to the natural world.

He spent his own childhood in a house in Surrey filled with rescue animals and said it helped inspire the passion for wildlife that later shaped his career.

Speaking in London ahead of his Deadly Live show in Brighton on 29 October, he said what made his work exciting and worthwhile was seeing that there are "thousands and thousands of kids out there who have a passion for natural history".

Reflecting on how childhood has changed, Backshall said: "I feel very strongly, and I think the scientific evidence backs it up too, that there are many things in an old-fashioned childhood that were much more healthy for kids than the childhoods they have today."

He said: "There are immense amounts of benefit to be gained from being outside, being interested in animals, being connected to nature, being active."

But he said he didn't want to preach or sound like an "old fuddy duddy bloke", adding: "I've got to make nature and everything that comes with it as adventurous, as cool as it can possibly be."

The presenter has previously spoken about how his childhood in Surrey prompted his love of nature.

He said his parents took on a smallholding in their 30s, adding: "We filled it with rescue animals, about which we had no idea, we were making everything up as we went along."

Backshall recalled it as a "crazy version" of the TV sitcom The Good Life.

He said: "That was my childhood and it was absolutely incredible."

Backshall studied at Canterbury Christ Church, carrying out research into venoms from amphibians, and later received an honorary doctorate from the university.

Explaining his focus on the world's most formidable predators in his TV series Deadly 60, he said: "We deliberately deal with animals like birds of prey and sharks and crocodiles and snakes and spiders and scorpions, big cats, that kind that everyone is fascinated by.

"Regardless of whether they think they like wildlife or not, they're going to be vaguely interested in those things."

Laughing, he added: "Even if they're not, they might watch anyway in the vague hope that I might get savaged by something."

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