- Nigel Marven
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Nigel Marven 
Nigel Marven at the Webosaurs official launch in Dallas (2009)Born 27 November 1960
United KingdomOccupation television presenter of nature documentary Spouse Gill Marven Website http://www.nigelmarven.com/ Nigel Marven (United Kingdom, 27 November 1960) is a British wildlife presenter, television producer, author, and ornithologist.
Contents
Career
Marven studied botany at Bristol University until the age of 22 when he left to begin his career at the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol. Over the following years he worked firstly as a wildlife documentary researcher for such programmes as My Family and Other Animals then went on to produce such series as The Land of the Russian Bear. He enjoyed a 12-year professional collaboration with David Attenborough whom he holds in high esteem. In 1998, he moved to ITV where, to his surprise, he found himself being asked to present wildlife documentaries as well as producing them.
He is known[citation needed] for his unorthodox, spontaneous, and daring style of presenting wildlife documentaries as well as for including factual knowledge into the proceedings. This has led some people to compare him to Steve Irwin[citation needed]. In his first television series for ITV, Giants, he swam with a great white shark without the protection of a cage. Other scenes included him having a goliath birdeater spider, arguably the largest spider in the world, walk over his face, and grappling with a fifteen-foot rock python deep in its underground lair. This style of presenting has won him many viewers[citation needed] to his succeeding series and to date he has presented 21 wildlife series for TV.
In 2003 the Impossible Pictures production company asked him to present in the Walking with Dinosaurs episodes Chased by Dinosaurs: The Giant Claw & Land Of Giants, and then Sea Monsters. Then he moved on to Prehistoric Park on ITV, a fictional series about travelling back in time to rescue examples of extinct creatures such as a Tyrannosaurus, Woolly Mammoth, Arthropleura and other prehistoric animals. 2009 saw Nigel feature in season 3, episode 4 of hit action drama Primeval, where he is seen playing with a baby Velociraptor before encountering a Giganotosaurus. Both of these series were also made by Impossible Pictures.
During a simulated prehistoric mammal encounter in Prehistoric Park, Marven declared himself a 'vegetarian'. Throughout the series he applies the same term to naturally herbivorous animals. In December 2007 his latest series Polar Bear Adventures with Nigel Marven appeared on Channel Five.
Fundraising
Nigel Marven ran the 2008 London marathon in 4 hours 4 minutes to try to raise £20,000 for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society UK.[1]
Television
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- Wildlife of Iran: Secrets of the North]] (1998)
- Giants (1999)
- Shark Week (2000 onwards)
- Bloodsuckers (2000)
- Giant Creepy Crawlies (2001)
- Big Cats (2001)
- Nigel's Wild Wild World (2001–02)
- Rats (2002)
- Alligators (2002)
- Chased by Dinosaurs (2003)
- A Walking with Dinosaurs' Special: The Giant Claw (2002)
- A Walking with Dinosaurs' Special: Land Of Giants (2002)
- Sea Monsters: A Walking with Dinosaurs Trilogy (2003)
- Nigel Marven Nature Specials (2007)
- Anacondas (2003)
- Piranhas (2003)
- Bull Sharks (2004)
- Meerkats (2003)
- The Human Senses (2003)
- Chased by Sea Monsters (2003)
- Scream! If You Want to Get Off (2004)
- Nigel Marven's Animal Detectives (2005)
- Nigel Marven's Venom Hunters (2005)
- Rhinos (2006)
- Ugly Animals (2006)
- Prehistoric Park (2006-)
- Penguin Week (2006)
- Micro Safari: Journey to the Bugs (2007)
- Killer Whale Islands (2007)
- Hider in the House (2007 - on Week 20)
- Arctic Exposure (2007) USA
- Polar Bear Week With Nigel Marven (2007) UK
- Jaguar adventure with Nigel Marven (2008)
- Help! I'm No Bigger Than A Bug (2008)
- Primeval - Episode 3.4 (2009) UK
- Invasion of the Giant Pythons: Florida with Nigel Marven (2009) UK
- Shark island with Nigel Marven (2010) UK
- Panda week with Nigel Marven: panda adventures (2010) UK
- Untamed China with Nigel Marven (upcoming) UK
Bibliography
- Identifying snakes: the new compact study guide and identifier - by Ken Preston-Mafham, Nigel Marven and Rob Harvey, Chartwell Books, 1996, ISBN 0785803718
- Incredible Journeys - BBC Books, 1997, ISBN 056338736X
- Giants - Collins, 1999, ISBN 0002201577
- Around the World Making Wildlife Films - Oxford University Press, 2000, ISBN 0198338422
- Nigel Marven’s Animal Vampires - Scholastic, 2000, ISBN 0439999472
- Nigel Marven’s Giant Creepy Crawlies - Scholastic, 2000, ISBN 0439999480
- Sea Monsters by Nigel Marven and Jasper James - BBC Books, 2003, ISBN 0563488980, 167 pages, hardback
- Bugs, Beetles, Spiders Snakes Complete Identifier - by Ken Preston-Mafham, Nigel Marven and Rob Harvey, Brockhampton Press Inc., 2004, ISBN 1845660099
- Chased By Sea Monsters by Nigel Marven and Jasper James, DK ADULT, 2004, ISBN 978-0756603755
- Dinosaurs - Kingfisher publications 2007, ISBN 9780753414743, 63 pages, hardback
- Prehistoric Park with Poster - adapted by Susan Evento, created by Jasper James, Meredith Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0696236914, 48 pages.
References
- ^ Marven, Nigel. "Nigel Marven's Fundraising Page". http://www.justgiving.com:80/nigelmarven.
- ^ http://www.nigelmarven.com/meet4.asp - accessed 24 April 2008
- ^ www.amazon.co.uk accessed 24 April 2008
- ^ www.amazon.com accessed 24 April 2008
External links
Categories:- English television presenters
- English vegetarians
- 1960 births
- Living people
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