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Professor Ben Garrod

Professor Ben Garrod is an academic, author, and broadcaster. He is a multi-disciplinary scientist, with a focus spanning evolution, zoology, and conservation. Ben is an award-winning broadcaster, presenting and co-presenting a wide range of television and radio science documentaries and series, and has written numerous Children’s books, with a mission to inspire young readers to be passionate, inquisitive, and confident about science.

Ben is Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Science Engagement at The University of East Anglia, in Norwich. He has a master’s degree in Wild Animal Biology from the Royal Veterinary College, London, and his PhD at UCL, ‘Primates of the Caribbean’, focused on studying the early stages of speciation in island-living monkeys through molecular and anatomical changes.

In 2014, Ben presented his first TV documentary, with the award-winning BBC4 series Secrets of Bones. Since then, he has presented a wide range of science and wildlife documentaries and series, including Secrets of Skin (2019) and Baby Chimp Rescue (2020). He has worked alongside Prof. Alice Roberts, presenting The Day the Dinosaurs Died (2017), and with Prof. Danielle George in the series Hyper-evolution: the Rise of Robots (2017). He also co-presented Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur (2016) and Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard (2021) alongside Sir David Attenborough. Ben has also presented several segments for The One Show.

Across radio and other digital audio platforms, Ben has fronted various series and stand-alone documentaries, including A Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs and A Grown-Up Guide to Oceans (both for Audible Original), and a whole host of BBC Radio 4 projects, including Super Senses, Bone Stories, and The Human Hive, alongside three series of the hugely successful anatomy series Wild Inside with veterinarian and broadcaster Dr. Jess French. He has also been featured on A Life Scientific and has guest presented on BBC Inside Science.

Ben grew up on the Norfolk coast and, from a very early age, was fascinated by the natural world, juggling a love for local wildlife with a desire to work in tropical biology. Ben is an accomplished field biologist and has, over the last twenty years, lived and worked all over the world, studying primates in the field. Destinations have included: Uganda, Madagascar, Gabon, Liberia, Cameroon, with chimpanzees, gorillas, and lemurs; in Indonesia, working with critically endangered Sumatran orangutans; and across various Caribbean islands researching introduced green monkeys.

Additionally, his work has included investigating archaeological animal remains in Chinese Imperial tombs, assisting in anatomical assessments of stranded sperm whales, and excavating some of the largest dinosaur remains ever discovered, in Argentina.

Ben is a prolific author and loves to write for children and young adults. He has written about his work with great apes in The Chimpanzee and Me and has written two eight-part, non-fiction series: Ultimate Dinosaurs and Extinct – the story of life on Earth. Ben’s first children’s fiction series, The Adventures of a Dog Called Jack-Jack, features his own dog, who grew up in Africa helping orphaned chimpanzees, but now enjoys coffee shops and croissants.

Ben represents numerous charities close to his heart, in a range of different capacities. He is Patron for the British Hen Welfare Trust, a Patron for Humanists UK, President for the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists Society, Vice President for the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, a Patron for the Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA), Ambassador for the Marine Conservation Society, Patron for the Youth STEMM Award, and a Patron for the Norwich Science Festival.

Ben is an experienced public speaker and educator. He has appeared at numerous festivals (including the Hay Literary Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe, the NI Science Festival, and the Norwich Science Festival), hosted several charity events, and has given various corporate talks.

Ben is a keen trail and ultra-marathon runner, but still enjoys a good Park Run and a slow dog walk near his Norfolk home, too.

Stanley Johnson

Broadcaster, journalist, author, conservationist – Stanley Johnnson’s achievements are numerous, traveling the world in pursuit of animal welfare and spearheading environmental projects. Stanley has had many books published and regularly writes for newspapers and magazines on a range of topics – from politics and travel to society at large. He appears frequently on television and radio, in news, current affairs and feature programmes. Stanley was part of the primetime BBC Two documentary A Week in the Wild, where three celebrities took on the iconic challenge of exploring Mexico’s famous Copper Canyon. He also featured in Channel 4’s recent series The Baby Boomer’s Guide to Growing Old.

Stanley was born in Cornwall in August 1940, and was educated at Ravenswood School, near Tiverton, Devon, Sherborne School, Dorset, and studied at Exeter College, Oxford, where he won a Stapeldon Scholarship in Classics. Since 1951 his family has farmed on Exmoor, and Stanley still manages the farm there today. He also has a home in London.

Upon leaving Oxford in 1963, Stanley was awarded a Harkness Fellowship to the United States. He is a former Conservative member of the European Parliament (MEP) where he served (1979-1984) as Vice Chairman of the Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection. He has also worked in the European Commission (1973-1979) as Head of the Prevention of Pollution division and (1984-1994) as Senior Adviser to DG Environment and as Director of Energy Policy. Before joining the Commission, Stanley served on the staff of the World Bank and the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

Stanley has been an adviser to Price Waterhouse Coopers, a director of ERM, an environmental consultancy, a trustee of the Earthwatch Institute and Plantlife International and an environmental adviser to Jupiter Asset Management. He is currently Honorary President of the Gorilla Organisation (www.gorillas.org) and an Ambassador for the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) (http://www.cms.int/)

He has had eleven books published dealing with environmental issues, including the Politics of the Environment, the Earth Summit and the Environmental Policy of the European Communities. He has also had nine novels published, including The Commissioner which was made into a film starring John Hurt. Stanley’s book, Where the Wild Things Were, is a collection of travel and environmental journalism.

The first volume of his memoir, Stanley I Presume, was published to critical acclaim (‘hilarious and rip-roaring’) in 2009.  The second volume, Stanley I Resume: further

In 1984 he was awarded the Greenpeace Prize for Outstanding Services to the Environment, and in the same year the RSPCA Richard Martin award for services to animal welfare. In 2014, he received the WWF Silver Medal, and in 2015 he also received the RSPB Medal and WWF-International’s Leader of the Living Planet Award for his work on the EU Habitats Directive and Natura 2000, the Europe-wide network of protected areas. In 1962 he won the Newdigate Prize for Poetry.

Stanley has four children by his first marriage to the painter Charlotte Johnson-Wahl: Boris, Rachel, Leo and Joseph. He also has two children, Julia and Maximilian, by his second marriage to Jennifer.

Marc Abraham

Dr Marc Abraham OBE, or ‘Marc the Vet’ as he is usually known, is a multi-award-winning veterinary surgeon, broadcaster, author, and animal welfare campaigner; regularly appearing on shows including BBC Breakfast, Sky News and ITV’s Tonight. In 2025, Marc released his film Dogspiracy which follows his travels to the US to explore the controversies surrounding the trade and sale of puppies in American pet stores. He explored the same topic in 2015 as a producer on the US documentary, Dog by Dog. Marc has experience across a range of different veterinary work and volunteers abroad, bringing a unique perspective to both broadcast and corporate work.

Marc is the author of four books for adults: Vet on Call, Pets in Need, Lucy’s Law: The Story of a Little Dog Who Changed the World, and most recently #BeMoreMosquito: How you can campaign and create change. In 2026, Marc released his first book for children, Leon’s Reef. The picture book aims to teach children that working together to look after ourselves and our environment makes life better.

Marc writes blogs and articles to raise awareness for animal welfare across local, national, and international media, is the resident vet on BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey and shares tips on his popular X and Facebook accounts. Marc has successfully collaborated with a whole host of household brands and events and is often invited to speak at public engagements as well as at meetings in Parliament.

His passion for animal welfare has also seen Marc volunteer overseas for numerous animal welfare organisations. These include vaccinating dogs against rabies in the Mumbai Slums, rescuing dancing bears in Ukraine, saving cats and dogs in post-tsunami Thailand, rescuing dogs from dogmeat farms in South Korea, neutering pets deep in the Amazon Jungle, working with pit-bulls in US prisons, operating on street dogs in Udaipur, India, going undercover to investigate Finnish fur farms, rescuing ex-breeding dogs and puppies from U.S puppy mills, as well as performing dental work on a rescued Moonbear in Chengdu, China.

Marc campaigns extensively for animal welfare issues both in the UK and US, including promoting rescue pet adoption and responsible dog and cat breeding. In 2009 he set up Pup Aid, a national puppy farming awareness campaign, featuring an annual celebrity-judged dog show in London’s Primrose Hill. Responsible for three of the biggest pet welfare government e-petitions of all time, Marc is also the co-founder and secretariat of the All-party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group (APDAWG) and helped source rescue dog Dilyn for Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie.

After leading a 10-year campaign, including 300+ visits to Westminster to lobby MPs and Ministers, the Government passed Lucy’s Law, banning the commercial third-party trade in puppies and kittens. This made all dog and cat breeders accountable by providing a legislative framework to help investigation and prosecution, in turn providing support and transparency for prospective pet owners. The campaign was also successful in changing the law in Wales, Scotland, and later in Northern Ireland.

Based in Brighton, Marc currently works at The Mewes Vets in nearby Rottingdean and regularly visits local primary and secondary schools to talk with pupils about caring for animals and looking out for one another. He is the proud ambassador for, and patron of, several animal charities including All Dogs Matter, Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home, Humane Society International UK, SPANA, Oldies Club, Friends of Animals Wales, Nowzad Dogs, Compassion in World Farming, and Together Co.

In recognition of his work at home and worldwide, Marc was awarded an OBE for Services to Animal Welfare by King Charles III at Windsor Castle, after being announced in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Awards

Winner ‘Prime Minister’s Points of Light’ Award 2020

Winner ‘Best Public Awareness Cause Campaign’ PR Week Campaigns for Good Awards 2019

Winner ‘Golden Sabre for Animal Care’ #SABREAwardsEMEA 2019

Winner ‘Voluntary Sector Campaign of the Year’ PRCA Public Affairs Awards 2018

Winner ‘Special Award’ Daily Mirror/RSPCA Animal Hero Awards 2018

Winner ‘Vet of the Year’ 2014, 2015, 2016

Angela Rippon

Angela Rippon has been a familiar face and voice in British broadcasting for 60 years. She is an award-winning journalist who has embraced an impressive variety of programmes on both radio and television for commercial and BBC channels in Britain, America and Australia.

The scope and quality of her work have been recognised by the Royal Television Society who entered her into their Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2002 she was voted European Woman of Achievement and at the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 2004 she was awarded an OBE in recognition of her services to Broadcasting, Charity and the Arts. Angela was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) at the 2017 New Year Honours for services to dementia care in her role as development lead with Dementia Friendly Communities.

Trained as a journalist in her hometown of Plymouth, Angela worked for both BBC Plymouth and the ITV station Westward Television before joining BBC National News in 1973. She was appointed the first woman journalist newsreader in 1975 and made two memorable appearances in the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Shows. She was a founding member of the commercial breakfast service TV-am in 1982; in 1984 she moved to America to work for CBS in Boston.

Angela co-presented BBC One’s flagship consumer programme Rip-Off Britain for 15 years before stepping down in 2024. She also regularly contributes to The One Show and Morning Live, both BBC One, and various programmes on GB News. In May 2026, Angela presented the four-part Channel 5 documentary series Angela Rippon’s River Cruises, which followed her travels along the Danube and Mekong rivers in partnership with Scenic Luxury Cruises and Tours. She appeared in the 2023 series of Strictly Come Dancing, making it to Blackpool and winning the admiration of viewers with her high kicks!

She has presented a vast range of programmes from hard news and current affairs to quiz shows and magazine programmes for both BBC and commercial radio and television. Titles include Come Dancing; Top Gear, Antiques Roadshow, Masterteam, Crufts Championship, Holiday Hit Squad, The Holiday Programme, How to Stay Young, The Truth About Dementia, Britain’s Greatest Invention and HealthCheck UK Live, BBC One’s series offering health advice and tips, as well as companionship during the COVID-19 lockdown. Angela was also the voice of the question master on the hit BBC One game show The Wall, with Danny Dyer. In 2025, Angela joined Alexander Armstrong in presenting 10 episodes of Pointless.

Angela is committed to several charities, including the British Red Cross of which she is Vice President and The Alzheimer’s Society. In February 2025, Angela launched her Let’s Dance campaign, encouraging the public to enjoy the physical and mental health benefits of dance.

Angela has written 14 books including Fabulous at Fifty and Beyond.

Lucrezia Millarini

Lucrezia Millarini is journalist and anchor for ITV News, presenting across all main programmes including Lunchtime News, Evening News and News at Ten.

Lucrezia also presents ITV London’s flagship show and is a regular reporter for ITV’s documentary series On Assignment. With more than 15 years live broadcast experience, Lucrezia took part in the RTS award-winning coverage of the 2017 Grenfell Tower Fire, anchored ITV’s breaking news of the Duke of Edinburgh’s death and was part of ITV team covering the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Other prime-time credits include co-hosting a Mortgage Crisis Special and Mental Health Special for ITV’s The Martin Lewis Money Show: Live, appearing as a guest commentator on This Morning and fronting a documentary for current affairs programme Tonight: Botched? Inside the Beauty Business. Lucrezia has also appeared in scripted television – she has played a newsreader ITV’s The Tower, Red Eye, and Unforgotten.

Not afraid of a challenge, Lucrezia has taken part in ITV’s Dancing on Ice, the multi-discipline athletics challenge The Games, and C4’s hugely popular Celebrity Hunted for Stand Up to Cancer. She is also a Celebrity Mastermind champion and competed in Celebrity Puzzling.

As former Entertainment Correspondent for ITV London, Lucrezia is as comfortable on the red carpet as she in the studio. From politicians to national treasures, she has interviewed everyone from Blondie to Beyonce, Dame Joan Collins to Sr Elton John, Stephen Spielberg to Meryl Streep. She remains one of the few journalists to quiz Tom Cruise about Scientology and even presented Rihanna with her first Oyster card!

Aside from her day job, she has chaired conferences and hosted several corporate events and award ceremonies, including the Media Freedom Awards, the PRCA Public Affairs Awards, and Murphy at 75 Roadshows. Clients have noted her warmth and natural presence.

A keen supporter of animal rights, Lucrezia is patron to the charities Dogs on the Street and Support Dogs. She’s also backed campaigns for Alzheimer’s Society.

Lucrezia studied law at Bristol and trained as a barrister before becoming a journalist.

She was born in London and lives there with her husband and highly demanding dog, Milo.