Steve Leonard

Last updated

Stephen Leonard
Born (1972-09-04) 4 September 1972 (age 52)
Occupation(s) Veterinarian, Wildlife presenter
Height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)

Stephen Leonard (born 4 September 1972 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish veterinarian and television personality.

Contents

Early life

Leonard's family moved to Cheshire from Northern Ireland when he was six weeks old. He was educated at The King's School, Chester. [1]

Career

Steve Leonard studied veterinary science at Bristol University Veterinary School. In the final year of his degree, the BBC approached the college to film a group of final-year students. Originally seeing the idea of appearing on TV as "a bit of a laugh," he agreed to participate in the filming. The series, Vets' School (1996), was a huge success, and was swiftly followed by Vets in Practice . He went on to present Vets in the Wild (200002) with Trude Mostue. [2]

He quit full-time veterinary employment and found himself travelling all over the world with the BBC Natural History Unit, filming for Ultimate Killers. [3] He travelled to places as far away as Indonesia and India. Filming Ultimate Killers involved stunts, such as tandem skydiving out of a balloon at 10,000 feet over Spain, and climbing into an eagle's eyrie in Panama.[ citation needed ]

Steve Leonard also presented Extreme Animals, and Animal Camera (2004), an intimate look at the animal kingdom through cutting-edge miniature camera filming techniques. More recently, he explored the origins and evolution of life on Earth in Journey of Life and followed animal migrations on Incredible Animal Journeys.[ citation needed ]

Steve and his elder brother Tom Leonard are currently working at the Leonard Brothers Veterinary Centre in Whitchurch, Shropshire, and Crewe, Cheshire. During the programme Return to... Vets in Practice , shown in July 2008, Steve explained that he had decided to return to being a vet full-time, and to fit his filming commitments around his veterinary career. He has recently returned from Borneo where he filmed a second series of Orangutan Diary with co-presenter Michaela Strachan.

In March 2009, Steve helped launch the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) network soil and earthworm survey, a scheme that aimed to get the public more involved in science and nature.

Leonard presented the ITV series Animal Kingdom. Filmed in Erindi Game Reserve, Namibia, the series was aired in 2011 and spanned six episodes.[ citation needed ]

Steve passed his BSAVA Certificate in Small Animal Medicine in 2017 with Distinction.[ citation needed ]

Filmography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loch Ness Monster</span> Mythical creature in Scotland

The Loch Ness Monster, also known as Nessie, is a mythical creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protruding from the water. Popular interest and belief in the creature has varied since it was brought to worldwide attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with a number of disputed photographs and sonar readings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Veterinary medicine</span> Deals with the diseases of non-human animals

Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all animal species, both domesticated and wild, with a wide range of conditions that can affect different species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Scott</span> British ornithologist and conservationist (1909–1989)

Sir Peter Markham Scott was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and sportsman. The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, he took an interest in observing and shooting wildfowl at a young age and later took to their breeding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Herriot</span> British veterinary surgeon (1916–1995)

James Alfred Wight, better known by his pen name James Herriot, was a British veterinary surgeon and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Veterinarian</span> Health professional who treats non-human animals

A veterinarian (vet) is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal reproduction, health management, conservation, husbandry and breeding and preventive medicine like nutrition, vaccination and parasitic control as well as biosecurity and zoonotic disease surveillance and prevention.

David Conrad Taylor, BVMS, FRCVS, FZS, was a British veterinary surgeon. He was the first veterinary surgeon to specialise in zoo and wildlife medicine. Taylor worked with zoo and wild animals from 1957, acting as a consultant on the treatment of some of the rarest species on Earth. He was world-renowned as an expert in marine mammal medicine. From 1968, he was the vet in charge of Cuddles, the first captive orca to be kept in the UK, at Flamingo Park, North Yorkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nature documentary</span> Documentary genre

A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures. Nature documentaries usually concentrate on video taken in the subject's natural habitat, but often including footage of trained and captive animals, too. Sometimes they are about wildlife or ecosystems in relationship to human beings. Such programmes are most frequently made for television, particularly for public broadcasting channels, but some are also made for the cinema. The proliferation of this genre occurred almost simultaneously alongside the production of similar television series which is distributed across the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies</span>

The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, commonly referred to as the Dick Vet, is the University of Edinburgh's vet school. It is part of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Backshall</span> British naturalist (born 1973)

Stephen James Backshall is a British naturalist, explorer, presenter and writer, best known for BBC TV's Deadly 60.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trude Mostue</span> Norwegian veterinary surgeon and television presenter

Trude Mostue is a Norwegian veterinary surgeon and television presenter. She is best known for her appearances in the BBC documentary series Vet School in 1996, and later in the follow-up series Vets in Practice. She went on to present and co-present a number of television series. After leaving England, Mostue has returned to veterinary practice full-time in Norway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Dinsdale</span> Welsh cryptozoologist and writer

Timothy Kay Dinsdale was a British cryptozoologist who attempted to prove the existence of the Loch Ness Monster.

William Goodchild is a composer, orchestrator and conductor who produces music for film, television and the concert hall.

<i>Orangutan Diary</i> British nature documentary series

Orangutan Diaries is a nature documentary series on the BBC, which follows the lives of Bornean orangutans in the care of Lone Drøscher Nielsen, a member of the Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) foundation. The program tries to detail the threat that the orangutans face in day-to-day life. The presenters Michaela Strachan and Steve Leonard follow the careers of the orangutans daily to see what the centre has to deal with.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Gunton</span> British television producer

Mike Gunton is a British television producer and a senior executive at the BBC Natural History Unit, the world's largest production unit dedicated to wildlife film-making. In November 2009 he became the Unit's first Creative Director.

Noel Fitzpatrick is an Irish veterinary surgeon, based in Eashing, Surrey, who came to prominence through the television programme The Supervet. Originally from Ballyfin, in Laois, Ireland, he moved to Guildford, Surrey, in 1993, where he is director and managing clinician at Fitzpatrick Referrals. His veterinary practice includes two hospitals specialising in orthopaedics and neurosurgery in Eashing, Surrey, and another specialising in oncology and soft tissue surgery in Guildford. He is director of a number of biotechnology companies spun off from his practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Animal Rescue</span> Animal protection and conservation non-profit organisation

International Animal Rescue (IAR) is a British wildlife protection and conservation non-profit organization. IAR aims to implement strategies which protect and mitigate the threats to wildlife and habitats.

Vets in Practice is a BBC fly-on-the-wall documentary series that followed a group of trainee veterinary surgeons. The first episode, Animal Magic, aired at 8 pm on 26 August 1997. Series one attracted 8.09 million viewers. It made celebrities of Trude Mostue and Steve Leonard, who became TV presenters.

Horace Edward Dobbs, and commonly referred to as Horace Dobbs is a British scientist, researcher, author, and television producer, who is regarded as an expert on dolphins and their behaviour. In 1978, Dobbs sets up the International Dolphin Watch. He also founded the Oxford Underwater Research Group.

References

  1. "Inspirational Alumni Members". The King's School Chester. Archived from the original on 15 December 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  2. "Vets in the Wild - BBC One London - 4 January 2000". BBC Genome. 4 January 2000. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  3. "Steve Leonard's Ultimate Killers - BBC One London - 10 June 2001". BBC Genome. 10 June 2001.
  4. "Sharks: Great Whites in Great Britain? - BBC One London - 30 July 2006". BBC Genome. 30 July 2006.
  5. "Journey of Life - BBC One London - 15 April 2005". BBC Genome. 14 April 2005.
  6. "Steve Leonard's Search for the Loch Ness Monster - BBC One London - 27 July 2003". BBC Genome. 27 July 2003.
  7. "Holiday - BBC One London - 13 January 1998". BBC Genome. 13 January 1998.