Anthony Smith

The death has been announced , at the age of 88 , of UK-based Anthony Smith . Described as a bestselling author , broadcaster , balloonist and octogenarian rafter .

The Zoo link was his presentation of the series 'Great Zoos of The World' in 1967/68 , which I can vaguely remember . Also he was the author of the 1977 published 'Animals on View' - an illustrated guide to Britain's Safari Parks , Zoos , Aquariums and Bird Gardens . The book was in collaboration with Jill Southam who is credited with picture research . This book is on my shelves and is still a useful for reference . It gives quite a bit of basic information on all the collections , as well as a descriptive text which varies from a couple of lines to a couple of pages .

He also wrote many more books and presented a variety of of Television and radio programmes on many topics .

 

I remember one bit of that series. It was the first time I'd ever seen movie film/footage of the (then) famous Basel gorilla group.

 

Sad news .
Animals on View ( in a very well thumbed paperback version ) inspired me all the way through my teens ... I now have a proper hardback copy on the bookshelf and it was partly this book that set me off on my attempt to visit as many of the collections in Britain over a year as possible ( hoping to get some time to start writing up the journey so far soon ) .
Wish I`d seen some of the television work ... I`ll take a look see if there`s anything on youtube ...

 

I have only the faintest memories of his zoo TV work, but I did enjoy his series on the Rift Valley (I think it was called The Great Rift), which dealt with wildlife from Israel to mouth of the Limpopo. When the book of the series was remaindered I was keeping quite a few cichlids from Lake Tanganyika and I bought 3 copies, one for me and the others as Xmas presents for friends who kept cichlids from Lake Malawi and Lake Victoria.

Alan

 

This is very sad news.

I remember first seeing Animals on View in W.H.Smiths, in Bognor Regis, saving my money, and then purchasing a copy. I doubt whether I have ever thumbed any volume as much as I thumbed that one over the next ten years or so. He had a lovely turn of phrase; even now, when I am writing about zoos, I sometimes find myself using Smithisms.

I was in contact with him about 15 years ago. He was utterly charming, very self-deprecating, and massively encouraging.

I have only seen the London programme from the TV series, but would chew off my left arm to be able to see the whole lot (even if that London one serves to illustrate as much as anything the advances that have been made in TV production values over the past 40 years).

 

I remember watching "Great Zoos of the World" as a child, the only image I can bring to mind though is of elephants at what was just about always referred to then as West Berlin Zoo. I too have the hardback and paperback version of "Animals on View". I purchased the paperback copy first in 1980/81 from W H Smith in Huddersfield and then many years later found an ex-library copy in a second-hand book shop - in Scarborough I think but it was ex-Kirklees Libraries so it too could have come from Huddersfield. I do enjoy reading his comments about zoo directors in his general discourse on zoos.

Rest in peace Mr Smith.

 

I can't really add much to what others have said but really love his Animals on View book. It was one of the first books I obtained after becoming re-engaged with zoos around 15 years ago and I will always treasure it as a detailed snapshot of the UK zoos at the time it was published -I still refer to it often and imagine I will forever continue to do so, there are very few books I can say that about!

You still fairly frequently see copies in second-hand book shops (which is testament to how popular zoos were and how many copies were originally sold when first published) and I urge any UK members to try and hunt down a copy at some point -truly indispensable.

 

Only just seen this today,I tracked him down about a year ago to see if he had a set of "Great Zoos of the World" which I had been told had been wiped at the beeb.He didn't ,but eventually I tracked the whole series down and in the last few months meant to copy him the set[despite the BBC saying I shouldn't copy them -in his case I thought it was warranted].Sadly its too late now,that series had a major impact on the youthful me and the intro to it,which is FANTASTIC ,still sends a shudder of appreciation down my spine.Smith ,who like Peter Scott was a true adventurer ,has a fish named after him,Nemacheilus smithi,the Iranian Blind Cave Fish.That alone is quite a legacy,but he did so,so,so,much more and was a true gentleman to boot.