David Bellamy RIP

Sad to hear news of the death of David Bellamy, the naturalist, broadcaster and campaigner who was a major presence on TV – and a major force for good –  until he fell foul of the Climate Inquisition for daring to voice some doubts over what was then called 'global warming'. This heresy (along with his almost equally heretical support for the Referendum Party) effectively cost him the remainder of his career and cast him into the outer darkness where 'deniers' like him belong, according to BBC protocols (and a range of other interested parties).
  I always had a soft spot for Bellamy, partly because he was a local lad (Sutton and Cheam, just down the road from Carshalton) who, like me – and indeed the great Ray Mears – spent his early years exploring the wildlife of the North Downs. He deserved better – far better – than to be hounded out of public life for expressing an unwelcome view. Broadcasters – and, worse, scientists – have since learnt the lesson from cases like his: keep your head down, toe the line, remember 'the science is settled'.
  The ebullient Bellamy did more than most to spread the love of natural history, and he was a tireless campaigner in countless sound environmental causes (he was even imprisoned for his activities once, in Australia). In a just world, he'd have ended up revered and beatified like the secular saint David Attenborough. But a just world it is not. Let's hope that he is now blissfully roaming the celestial North Downs.