Simon Barnes

After learning his craft writing for local newspapers in Surrey, he worked out of Hong Kong for four years, and joined The Times on his return to the UK - writing in particular about cricket, football and tennis over a 32 year span. He is the author of some 20 books, most of them about wildlife or birdwatching - a lifelong interest. These include the best-selling How to be a Bad Birdwatcher, and Ten Million Aliens, a book about the entire animal kingdom. He contributes regularly to the RSPB magazine, Nature’s Home, is a council member of the World Land Trust, which buys land for wildlife conservation in the developing world, a patron of Save the Rhino, and honorary vice-president of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. He was awarded the Rothschild Medal for services to conservation.