Oxford News
BBC presenter remembered for ‘curiosity and creativity’
The TV star, who hosted the popular show Zoo Time, rose to fame in 1967 when his book The Naked Ape became an international bestseller.
He died on Sunday at the age of 98.
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His son Jason said: “His was a lifetime of exploration, curiosity and creativity.
“A zoologist, manwatcher, author and artist, he was still writing and painting right up until his death.
“He was a great man and an even better father and grandfather.”
Mr Morris was formerly club director at Oxford United and he came up with the current ox-head symbol, based on a Minoan-style bull’s head, for the club’s badge.
The Wiltshire-born author joined the British Army in 1946 and fulfilled two years of national service, before later pursuing his interest in the arts and studying natural history.
Mr Morris began his academic career studying zoology at the University of Birmingham, and later completed a doctorate in animal behaviour at Oxford University, where he remained to study the reproductive behaviour of birds.
He became the face of ITV Granada’s hit nature series Zoo Time in 1956, which ran from 1956 until 1967 and featured animal experts and zoo staff and explored the behaviour of animals.
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Mr Morris also hosted many art exhibitions throughout his career, including one at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 1957 which combined his interest in both animals and painting, showcasing a series of works created by chimpanzees.
He also co-organised an exhibition titled The Lost Image in 1958 which compared images created by infants, human adults and apes and was on display at the Royal Festival Hall in London.
Mr Morris became the Zoological Society’s curator of mammals at London Zoo in 1959, a post he held for eight years.
He started his career with the BBC in 1965, hosting its Life In The Animal World programme, and later went on to headline many documentaries for the corporation.
In 1967, Mr Morris penned his most popular book, The Naked Ape: A Zoologist’s Study Of The Human Animal, which led to his global recognition.
Following its success, he wrote many follow-up books including The Human Zoo (1969), Manwatching (1977) and The Naked Man (1977), and contributed to more than 90 titles in his decades-long career dedicated to the study of animals and zoology.
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During his tenure as a broadcaster, he hosted BBC documentaries including Manwatching (1977), TV And Natural History (1986) and The Human Animal (1994), and he had regular appearances on shows such as The Animals Roadshow and Friday Night And Saturday Morning.
In recent years, Mr Morris continued to dedicate his life to his academic endeavours and his work as a surrealist artist, having held many exhibitions showcasing his work.
The BBC also released a programme titled The Secret Surrealist in 2017 showcasing Mr Morris and his artwork as it examined his “double life” as a painter.
Walls around the Kidlington superstore in Oxford Road have been sprayed with graffiti, while litter is being left strewn over the floor and shrubs are left uncut.
Kidlington district and town councillor Fiona Mawson has called on Sainsbury’s to take “more pride” in the appearance of the area.
She has accused supermarket bosses of “relying on the council to clean up for them”.
In a recent meeting, Ms Mawson heard that Gosford and Water Eaton Parish Council has been paying to trim hedges and litter pick in the alley adjacent to the store’s car park which is within the parish even though it is commonly referred to as the Kidlington store.
Sainsbury’s previously had to apologise after volunteers, including Green councillor Ian Middleton, collected plastic bags and other pieces of litter covering paths, trees and alleyways surrounding the Kidlington store in 2020.
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Ms Mawson, who said she often takes part in litter picks in the area, has attempted to contact the store to ask for another clean-up but has been unable to get a satisfactory reply.
She said: “I’ve received numerous reports from local residents about the state of this area and have attempted to engage with Sainsbury’s about it, but they don’t seem to be interested.
“I understand that the local parish council has also tried to get the store to take responsibility and clean up the area but they’ve had a similar response.
“It’s outrageous that huge companies like these are seemingly perfectly happy for local taxpayers to foot the bill for maintaining their store estate.
“They are also relying on the good will of local volunteer litter-pickers to do the their jobs for them.
“Whilst I appreciate that things like littering and graffiti are out of the control of the store management, it is their property and they should be taking more care of it.
“This lack of maintenance reflects poorly on Sainsbury’s and suggests they don’t take their responsibility to the community that they rely on for custom seriously.
“As a former high street retailer myself, I know how important the state of your storefront is and I’d suggest that a company the size of Sainsbury’s should take a similar approach and clean-up their act, rather than relying on hard pressed local councils and volunteers to do it for them.”
Sainsbury’s has been approached for a response.
The latest mess in Kidlington comes after the Bicester superstore in Pioneer Square was under fire for the increasingly poor condition, prompting a petition to be started to get the chief executive to visit.
Series one of the detective drama starring David Mitchell was a huge hit in 2024, becoming the channel’s biggest new scripted show since 2022. It attracted more than 9.5 million viewers across 28 days.
Now a second series is expected to be shown soon, although a transmission date has yet to be revealed.
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David Mitchell will return as John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor, while Anna Maxwell Martin will also be back as his sister-in-law, Lucy Betts-Taylor.
Best known for his role in the comedy Peep Show, David Mitchell was born in Headington and was a pupil at Abingdon School, before going to university at Oxford University’s New College.
Ludwig is set in Cambridge, with Mitchell playing a reclusive puzzle-setter who assumes the identity of his missing twin brother, DCI James Taylor, to investigate his disappearance.
During the first series John Taylor became surprisingly adept at solving murders, despite his lack of experience.
The synopsis for season two, which has once again been written by show creator Mark Brotherhood, says: “Picking up from the end of series one, master puzzle-setter John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor (Mitchell) is now a crime scene consultant, working alongside DCI Russell Carter on ‘impossible’ crimes for the Cambridge Police Authority.
“No longer having to masquerade as his brother, he’s openly more ‘Ludwig’ than ever – brilliant at solving puzzles but hopeless at everything else.
“But John’s identical twin brother, James, is still missing, and now that he’s an official employee of the station, John is forbidden from using any police resources to look for his brother or uncover exactly what he was investigating.
“Of course, John won’t stop and neither will Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin), John’s sister-in-law and wife of his missing brother James – a puzzle needs solving and a husband and father needs bringing home.
“One masquerade may have ended, but a new one has just begun.”
Dipo Ola is expected to return as DCI Russell Carter, Dylan Hughes as Henry Betts-Taylor, Dorothy Atkinson as DCS Carol Shaw, Ralph Ineson as Chief Constable Ziegler.
New additions to the cast will include Line of Duty’s Mark Bonnar as newspaper editor Gareth Fisher, Fleabag’s Sian Clifford as local MP Joanne Kemper, Black Mirror’s Ben Ashenden as DC Ethan Cole and After the Flood’s Rumi Sutton as DC Caitlin Sullivan.
Speaking about series two, Mr Mitchell said earlier this year: “When you watch the second series, you realise there’s still quite a lot of obfuscation involved in his role, because not everyone in the police force is entirely on side with his appointment.
“And of course, he’s still got to cover up the fact that for a long time he was solving cases while impersonating a police officer.
“And if that ever gets out, well, five murderers will walk free, and he won’t walk free himself.”
Benjamin Thompson, previously of Coombe Hill Crescent, Thame, was sentenced at Oxfordshire Crown Court for three breaches of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).
The court heard the 32-year-old pleaded guilty to the offences which were committed on January 9.
Thompson was made the subject of the order in January last year when he was given a suspended sentence for six counts of possession of an indecent images of children and one count of possession of a prohibitive image of a child.
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On the new offences Sandra Beck, prosecuting, told the court that Thompson’s offender manager had gone through the conditions of the SHPO with him.
The barrister said: “He knew he couldn’t delete history from his phone. He had used up all the storage on his phone in two months.”
The three breaches of the order were deleting apps and internet history, using online aliases and accessing X and an AI chatroom app called Chai Research.
Ms Beck said: “He was trying to wean himself off his addiction to child pornography by using AI chatrooms.
“The order had been explained to him on a number of occasions.”
Gareth James, mitigating, said: “He struggles to retain information.
“This didn’t cause a serious risk of harm or distress. He realises he should not have been behaving in this way.
“He needs rehabilitative work.”
Thompson was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.
He must also complete 15 rehabilitation activity days and pay costs of £150.
The Judge said: “There will be no further charges.”
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