A biography for Steve Backshallhasn’t been written yet.
“Certainly jellyfish are seasonal, and owing to a complex range of environmental features there are years when they will appear in far greater numbers.”
“The night sky, seen from a deserted foothold where no man-made light shines, is more spectacular than any giant cinema screen could ever display.”
“If there remain places on the planet that are un-known, unspoilt corners, a laboratory for evolution still exists - a snapshot of what the rainforests, polar deserts and high mountains were once like, before man.”
“I read most often when I am on the road, travelling on my journeys. In cars, on planes, trains... I'm very lucky that I don't get car sick when I am reading and I can spend really long journeys immersed in a book!”
“I guess I'm a dog person, so the canids have a special power for me. And yet wolves are everything our own pet pooches are not; untameable, primal, doing all they can to avoid people and wandering the wildest corners of our globe.”
“I made my first conservation series for National Geographic in 2000. Ever since I've been finding ways of making my own life as sustainable as it possibly can be.”
“I come from an area of southern England that is utterly homogenous. All the history near me is about royalty and fealty, things which leave me cold. I lack roots, and have great warmth for places that have them.”
“I was always really into the facts and figures and the statistics about nature and I always loved learning about it and having a new fact on hand. For me it was non-stop dirt, climbing trees and catching lizards and beetles. That was my thing as soon as I could crawl.”
“Living my life in conservation, I see far greater tragedies and crimes against wildlife than the loss of a few thousand badgers. The real reason so many people are so unsettled by the cull is its sinister reflection on the democratic process, on our government's attitude to conservation and to science.”
“And I'm completely into the idea of being a dad. If the opportunity arises for us to switch roles and let Helen get back into competition, then yes I'd take on the role of a stay-at-home dad. I'd be all over it.”
“I am very driven by things that scare and frighten me, and things that might be tough for me.”
“The flesh-eating cockroaches and venomous centipedes in the Gomantong cave in Borneo were pretty unsavoury. They turn the floor of the cave, which is itself the world's largest pile of bird and bat poo, into a seething mass of invertebrate horror!”
“A crocodile just swung around and hit me with its teeth. It took a big chunk off my leg.”
“If I could be any animal I'd probably be a wandering albatross, the bird with the largest wing span. Being able to cover huge distances of sea every single day would be wonderful!”
“I think most schoolboys are most excited by scorpions, spiders and snakes, and I never really grew up. I've always had the same fascinations. I think that we as human beings are the most fascinated by those creatures that we consider dangerous.”
“I surround myself with books, kind of hoping the vast knowledge will just seep into my mind through osmosis.”
“I'm actually getting to the stage where places I travelled to for the first time in the early 1990s are now unrecognisable. I go to coral reefs that I went to ten years ago when they were swarming with fish and sharks, and now they are barren deserts.”
“I know plenty of people who live in the country who have never seen a badger. They are definitely there, but these nocturnal delights remain elusive, and thus are still a thrill.”
“There's nothing more paralysing or more likely to make people fall into a malaise of believing they are powerless than just hearing that everything's negative and everything's shot to bits. It's really important that we know we can change this planet for the better and that every single one of us, no matter how small we may feel, has that power.”
“I had a good deal of power work - lots of plyometrics, callisthenics, tossing big tyres. It's all geared towards having that explosiveness available when you need it.”