David Bellamy

Bellamy was influenced by Gene Stratton-Porter's 1909 novel A Girl of the Limberlost and Disney's 1940 film Fantasia.

David Bellamy was born on January 18, 1933 in London, England as David James Bellamy.

He gained an honours degree in botany at Chelsea College of Science and Technology (now part of King's College London) in 1957 and a PhD at Bedford College in 1960.

Bellamy married Rosemary Froy in 1959, and the couple remained together until her death in 2018. They had five children; Henrietta (died 2017), Eoghain, Brighid, Rufus and Hannah. Bellamy lived with his wife in the Pennines, in County Durham.

In 1960 he became a lecturer in the Botany department of Durham University.

Bellamy published many scientific papers and books between 1966 and 1986 (see #Bibliography). Many books were associated with the TV series that he worked on.

The work that brought him to public prominence was his environmental consultancy on the Torrey Canyon oil spill in 1967, about which he wrote a paper in the leading scientific journal, Nature.

In the early 1970s, Bellamy helped to establish Durham Wildlife Trust, and remained a key player in the conservation movement in the Durham area for a number of decades.

During the 1980s he replaced Big Chief I-Spy as the figurehead of the I-Spy range of children's books, to whom completed books were sent to get a reward.

He was an actor, known for The Lenny Henry Show (1984), The Animal Game (1973) and Grange Hill (1978). He was married to Rosemary Froy.

The New Zealand Tourism Department, a government agency, became involved with the Coast to Coast adventure race in 1988 as they recognised the potential for event tourism. They organised and funded foreign journalists to come and cover the event. One of those was Bellamy, who did not just report from the event, but decided to compete. While in the country, Bellamy worked on a documentary series Moa's Ark that was released by Television New Zealand in 1990, and he was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.