Chris Packham – Favourite Things

Each week Reaction Weekend brings you Favourite Things – interviews with interesting people about the skills, hobbies, pleasures and pastimes that make them who they are.

Chris Packham CBE is an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author. He is best known for his television work including the CBBC children’s nature series The Really Wild Show which he presented from 1986 to 1995. Packham’s autobiography, Fingers in the Sparkle Jar: A Memoir, was released to critical acclaim in 2016, reaching number 1 in The Sunday Times Bestsellers List and his latest book, Back to Nature: How To Love Life And Save It, is available in paperback from May 13th. Since 2009, he has presented the BBC’s BAFTA award-winning Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch. Springwatch will return to BBC2 at the end of May. 

These are a few of his favourite things…

Sid and Nancy (my poodles)

I have a really close bond with my companion animals and have been involved in some research for Lincoln University in regards to the benefit of autistic people keeping animals. Dogs are frequently used as companions and assistants for autistic people and are especially effective with young people. Of course, as a young person, I didn’t realise I was autistic, but with the benefit of hindsight it explains why I have always had such a close relationship with my dogs. Sid and Nancy are black miniature poodles, they are a bit more rough and tumble than you’d expect but I do allow them a pom-pom on their tails. Other than that they’re always cut short. I have only ever had poodles. Itchy and Scratchy were the last pair and Scratchy was put down on the day Sid and Nancy were being born. They are relatives of his so it seemed to be set in the stars – not that I believe in those sorts of things. I miss the Itch and Scratch but Sid and Nancy have found a place in my heart. If you harnessed the energy of the two poodles you could power the whole South of England. The thing about poodles is they are extraordinarily energetic and really clever. They learn incredibly quickly, they’re quite challenging and they’re very loyal, so they make the perfect companions for me and I would never have any other dog. 

Blade Runner 

I am massively into Sci-Fi and, for me, it is difficult to top the original Blade Runner. I find it a very challenging film and respond to it in an emotional way. It speaks to me a lot about our attitudes to life and death – prescriptive and real. Obviously, as a piece of cinema, it was years ahead of its time and beautifully written, it has a lot of charming and poetic lines in it. I have always liked Sci-Fi and apocalyptic films, I am not too fond of the human species so watching them meet their (usually self-generated) nemesis is always pleasurable.

Ivon Hitchens Paintings

I am massively into art. It was always a great dilemma whether I would go to art college or study science. The grass is always greener so I have hankered after art ever since. I spend a lot of time of my time in art galleries; looking at art, talking about art, reading about art, boring people about art, buying art and pretending to sell art but never really selling it because I don’t want to. It has been my fantasy to break into a gallery during covid-19 and enjoy it all alone. I like losing myself in a painting, it is something my mother taught me how to do when I was little. My favourite enduring artist is Ivon Hitchens. He was an abstract expressionist landscape painter who lived for quite a long time in West Sussex. The landscapes he painted are therefore very similar to the ones that I live amongst; South English deciduous woodlands. I like all of the other abstract expressionists too, I like the distillations of form and their power to communicate emotionally. But Ivon Hitchens paintings, I can almost taste them and can be in them. I really feel a connection to them due to his masterful use of colour and the familiar landscapes. Put it this way, there was an exhibition in 2019 and I went four times.

Japanese Whisky

I have whole periods of time where I don’t drink any alcohol at all. People come over to my house and see this fine selection of Japanese whiskies and say, “what on earth have you got that for, you don’t drink?” I do drink but I am not someone who has a sip on a Tuesday, I am either not drinking anything or I am drinking. A few years ago, my Father and everyone else I knew was always going on about single malts and scotches and for some reason I bought a very expensive Japanese whisky. It was absolutely superb. I got ripped apart by people calling me a traitor to the Scottish scotch but I stuck with it. I won’t say I am a connoisseur but I like enjoying them. I haven’t had whisky for some time but this conversation is making me hanker for some…

Rewilding 

I am a trained conservationist, I mix with other conservationists and I listen, look and learn from all the practises we have evolved to try and protect our landscapes. I am very much of the opinion that amongst the portfolio of things we need to implement, rewilding is one of them. At some point, in the very near future, large sections of our landscapes will be rewilded because we have recognised this as one of the most effective conservation tools that we have. We are in a desperate situation, we have lost 68 per cent of the world’s wildlife since 1970 and 90 million birds from the British countryside in that time too. So, I am a great fan of rewilding. I recommend anyone who isn’t to get on a bus to Knepp Estate in Sussex and see how in twenty years we have the only growing population of nightingales and turtle doves. And, having had none at all, we now have the largest population of purple emperor butterflies. All from a relatively small rewilding project. [This favourite is in response to our columnist Jenny Hjul’s latest piece arguing against rewilding in the Scottish Highlands. Read her piece here]