Animal Man - George Candsdale

Cansdale always with a surprise up his sleeves

Many, many years ago, long even before Sir David Attenburgh famously refused his pensioner's bus pass because it wasn't valid for off-peak travel in the  equatorial rainforest, there was an even older and equally loved television animal expert than Sir David, named George Cansdale.

Born in Brentwood, Essex in 1909, George Cansdale was a British zoologist, writer and television personality. He was Superintendent of the Zoological Society of London and in the 1950s became a BBC television presenter of wildlife programmes.

Cansdale's programmes reached both young and adult audiences. His 'Looking at Animals' series gained worldwide popularity and he became a regular contributor to Chidlren's Hour. Cansdale was a pioneer of natural history programming, inspiring a long list of tv naturalists (I'm hoping that's the correct word) who would follow in his paw-prints, er, foot-prints, each stamping their own personality on the fascinating pastime of wildlife watching. 

Let's see, there was twitching-Goodie Bill Oddie; fearless French shark-whisperer Jacques Cousteau; the exceptionally really-wild Michaela Strachan; the really-serious when it comes to suing for libel, Chris Packham (note to self - don't); crocodile-wrestling Aussie Steve Irwin; the venomous-snake grabbing Mark O'Shea; Manc monkey authority Karl Pilkington and of course the greatest of them all, Johnny Morris. Morris was to hold the highest accolade in being the only human apart from Dr Dolittle (who didn't even exist by the way) who could actually talk to the animals, even though most times it was along the lines of a grumpy hippo at Bristol Zoo moaning about the tedious buckets of makeral for dinner "oh come on Johnny, can't we have a few nice rump steaks of drowning-wildebeast for a change?"

In his role as head of London Zoo, Cansdale famously feuded with fellow naturalist Gerald Durrell, perhaps over a difference in the principles and methods of their two zoos or maybe something to do with the shooting of a chain smoking chimpanzee named Cholmondely. But now is probably not the time or place to go into that old chestnut. I don't need Chris Packham wading in on me, even though his critique would no doubt be the most valid of all. My word how times change don't they chidren.     

From the 1960s onwards, George Cansdale became the regular animal expert on Blue Peter, even naming the tortoise after him. Described by the Baxter General as "....television's zoo man - the large, avuncular studio guest who would show the presenters how to bath six-foot pythons, produce bush-babies from his trouser pockets and tarantulas out of his turn-ups....Children loved him because he was quirky, authoritative and uncondescending."

But for those of us too young to remember all that clearly,
the treat of George pulling bush- babies out of his trouser pockets, it may surprise us to learn that he was also author of many wildlife books including a couple of the famous mini Ladybird books, The Ladybird Book of Pets and the Ladybird book of British Wild Animals. 

I remember both of these lovely books very well and in the words of Sir David "thanks to Cansdale's bringing animals to the television studios, a great many people, young and old, acquired their first insights into taxonomy and comparative anatomy from what he said. He spoke good natural science."

Taxonomy huh? So that's what happened to the poor old tortoise. 

In 1988 George the tortoise escaped after someone left his cage door open. He was eventually found three miles away by a Jack Russel dog who 15 minutes later also found the World Cup in someone's front garden. George was allegedly returned home where he went into celebratory hibernation. In the meantime, Valerie had cheered everyone up by baking a crusty steak and kidney pie which her ever-ravenous Yorkshire co-presenter John Noakes and his dog Shep swiftly devoured. 

"Crust were a bit hard Val" said Noakes spitting out what resembled a reptillian claw, "but makes a change from a bowl of Spillers don't it our Shep?"

Special Blue Peteresque puzzle - can you find the hidden truths and the cheeky lies?