16 Facts About Richard Mabey

Richard Thomas Mabey was born on 20 February 1941 and is a writer and broadcaster, chiefly on the relations between nature and culture.

Richard Mabey then went to St Catherine's College at the University of Oxford where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Richard Mabey spent most of his life among the beechwoods of the Chilterns.

Richard Mabey appeared in a 1975 episode of the BBC Television series The World About Us, "In Deepest Britain", with John Gooders and other naturalists, giving an unscripted narration of the wildlife observed during a country walk.

Richard Mabey wrote and narrated the 1996 BBC television series Postcards from the Country, for whose eight, 40-minute episodes he was series producer, as well as being the producer-director on four.

Richard Mabey writes regularly for The Guardian, the New Statesman, The Times and Granta.

Richard Mabey has written a personal column in BBC Wildlife magazine since 1984, and a selection of these columns has been published as A Brush with Nature.

Between 2000 and 2002 Richard Mabey suffered from depression, and his book Nature Cure, describing his experiences and recovery in the context of man's relationship with landscape and nature, was short-listed for three major literary awards: the Whitbread Biography of the Year, the Royal Society of Literature's Ondaatje Prize for evoking the spirit of place and the JR Ackerley Prize for Autobiography.

Richard Mabey has edited and introduced editions of Richard Jefferies, Gilbert White, Flora Thompson and Peter Matthiessen.

Richard Mabey was the first president of the London Wildlife Trust and later a vice-president; Richard Mabey's Meadow, named for him by the London Wildlife Trust, was one of his favourite haunts, and is described in his book The Unofficial Countryside.

Richard Mabey has been awarded two Leverhulme Fellowships, and honorary doctorates by St Andrews, Essex and East Anglia for his contributions to nature writing.

Richard Mabey was awarded a Civil List Pension in 2008 for services to literature.

Richard Mabey was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2011.

Richard Mabey is a trustee of the arts and conservation charity Common Ground, vice-president of the Open Spaces Society, patron of the John Clare Society and president of the Waveney and Blythe Arts.

Richard Mabey was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs in 1997.

Richard Mabey sat for sculptor Jon Edgar in Norfolk during 2007, as part of the Environment Triptych along with Mary Midgley and James Lovelock.