Iolo Williams
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Iolo Tudur Williams (born 1962, in Builth Wells) is a Welsh nature observer and televison presenter, best known for his BBC and S4C nature shows.
Williams was born in Builth Wells in 1962 and spent the first three months of his live in the village of Beulah. When his father got the job as headmaster of Eglwys Wen Primary School, the family moved to Pembrokeshire. They returned to Powys when Iolo was five and he grew up in Llanwddyn near Lake Vyrnwy. He attended the village primary school before going on to Llanfyllin High School where he sat two A levels in Biology and French (and did very badly at both, he says).
As a teenager, he almost joined the British Army but instead went to college in London to study ecology. After graduating, he worked on a farm for eight months then spent time working in the timber trade.
At the beginning of 1985, Iolo got a job with the RSPB and spent the next 14 years working for the organisation. During this time, he became a regular on the media - on tv, radio and in newspapers - making a name for himself as a leading expert on Welsh birdlife.
His big tv break came in 1997 when BBC Wales approached him to work on a new series called "Visions of Snowdonia" which followed the lives of six people living and working on the slopes of the country's highest mountain. He was offered a second series - this time, Iolo was "Birdman" and it's a name that has stuck.
In 1999, Williams decided to leave the RSPB and pursue a full-time career in the media. He has since filmed several more series with BBC Wales, including "Wild Wales", "Wild Winter", "Iolo's Special Reserves", "Iolo's Natural History of Wales" and his latest 2005 series "Iolo's Welsh Safari". He's also presented programmes made by independent tv company Telesgop for S4C.
In July 2003, Williams walked 270 miles from North to South Wales in eleven days to raise money for two children's hospices, Ty Hafan and Ty Gobaith.
Iolo still lives in Powys - near the town of Newtown, not far from where he grew up. He is married and has two sons.
