| Adam Hart-Davis | |
|---|---|
| Born | 4 July 1943 Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Fields | Chemistry |
| Institutions | Oxford University Press University of Alberta |
| Alma mater | Merton College, Oxford University of York |
Adam John Hart-Davis (born 4 July 1943) is an English polymath, comprising scientist, author, photographer, historian and broadcaster, well-known in the UK for presenting the BBC television series Local Heroes and What the Romans Did for Us, the latter spawning several spin-off series involving the Victorians, the Tudors, the Stuarts, and the Ancients. He was also a co-presenter of Tomorrow's World, and presented Science Shack. Currently he presents How London Was Built and Just Another Day on History UK.
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He was born and brought up in Henley-on-Thames, the youngest child of the publisher Sir Rupert Hart-Davis[1] (1907–1999) and his second wife Catherine Comfort Borden-Turner.
He attended Eton College and studied chemistry at Merton College, Oxford. He then took a DPhil degree in organometallic chemistry at the University of York and spent three years as a post-doctoral scholar at the University of Alberta in Canada. Subsequently, he worked at the Oxford University Press, editing science texts and chess manuals.
In 2004 he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Letters) from the University of Bath.
He was married (1965–1995) to Adrienne Alpin, with whom he had two sons Damon Hart-Davis and Jason Hart-Davis, and now lives with psychologist Dr. Susan Blackmore, whom he married on 19 June 2010. His siblings are the journalist Duff Hart-Davis and Bridget, the dowager Lady Silsoe. He is an uncle of the journalist Alice Hart-Davis and IT author Guy Hart-Davis.
He is a direct descendant of King William IV and his mistress Dorothea Jordan and is therefore fifth cousin once removed of Elizabeth II, second cousin once removed of the British Prime Minister David Cameron and first cousin once removed of the historian John Julius Norwich.
In June 2009 he reported that he and his family contracted Swine flu earlier in the year.[2]
Hart-Davis's work in broadcasting began in 1977 when he joined Yorkshire Television (YTV) as a researcher, working on material for Magnus Pyke, David Bellamy, Miriam Stoppard as well as Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World.
In 1985 he was promoted to production work, producing the Fred Harris-fronted TV show Me & My Micro and the Johnny Ball-fronted Fun & Games, amongst other things. He also devised and produced the school science show Scientific Eye.
In the early 1990s Hart-Davis moved in front of the camera to present two series for YTV: On The Edge and Local Heroes. The latter programme involved him cycling around the North of England in his trademark fluorescent pink and yellow cycling clothes, seeking out places associated with the great innovators of science and technology. The bicycles were his own: he is a keen cyclist, owning an early Burrows Windcheetah as well as a mountain bike fitted with an early front monoblade. This series was subsequently transferred to BBC2, where its scope became national, a different region being the subject of each episode. Big Questions [1], a five part Channel 4 science series for young people that he presented received a BAFTA nomination in 2002.
Since then, he has essentially become the face of the BBC's output on science and the history of science, but at the same time is heavily critical of the standard of science output on British television (including, to a certain extent, his own programmes), which he sees as dumbed down.
A new television series for the BBC called 'The Cosmos – A Beginner's Guide was broadcast on 7 August 2007 by BBC Two, and explored the latest ideas and experiments in cosmology. It was accompanied by a book of the same name.
He also appeared in TV advertisements for HM Revenue & Customs with the catchphrase "tax doesn't have to be taxing". Following a statement from Mr Hart-Davis, in which he mentions the level of complexities within the UK tax system, his contract with HM Revenue & Customs has ended.[3][4]
Hart-Davis has a passion for raising awareness of simple benefits that science may bring to the quality of living, particularly in the developing world. One such innovation is the design of smoke-hoods from galvanized iron or mud in order to prevent the deadly effects of smoke inhalation from cooking fires inside houses in the developing world.[5]
He has written many books, including a history of the toilet, entitled Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper, and Taking The Piss (A Potted History of Pee).
Published works include:
