RIP Terry Nutkins: unassisted hair and a genuinely private private life
RIP Terry Nutkins. You were the Windsor Safari Park general manager who in 1985 fed fish to dolphin mother Honey, on the occasion of her one year old baby Juno (r) birthday celebrations at the safari park. Before that, the eight-year-old Nutkins used to bunk off school, break into London Zoo and feed the elephants. (You used to be able to get into the Zoo by jumping the small fence by the canal, so I am, er, told).
At the age of 14, an otter bit off two of his fingers. At the time, Nutkins was living with the writer Gavin Maxwell (author of the classic Ring of Bright Water, the story of a smooth-coated otter he brought back from Iraq and reared in Scotland), described in the Telegraph as “a dysfunctional Peter Pan figure who eschewed adult company”.
Nutkins was famous because he was on the telly, fronting Animal Magic with Johnny Morris (and his bucket of fish) and creating The Real Wild Show. Back then a man with unassisted hair and a genuinely private private life could present very good children’s telly on the BBC without a need to go on a gameshows of trace his family tree. Back then humanity wasn’t always the baddie on nature programmes.
Looking at today’s telly stars, Nutkins was from another planet.
Terry Nutkins is survived by his wife, Jackie, and by their eight children.
Nutkins by name…
Posted: 7th, September 2012 | In: Celebrities Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
