Steve Leonard
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| Born: | 1972 Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, UK |
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| Occupation: | Veterinarian, Wildlife presenter |
Steve Leonard (born Stephen Leonard in 1972, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, UK), is a veterinarian. He was also the host of BBC's series Ultimate Killers and also hosted Vets In The Wild with fellow wildlife presenter, Trude Mostue.
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[edit] Early life
Steve Leonard moved with his family across the Irish Sea to settle in Cheshire when he was six weeks old.
[edit] Family
Being a vet runs in the family; following his father and two older brothers before him, Steve decided to study veterinary science at Bristol University Vet School. His younger brother, Keith, enrolled on a veterinary course at Liverpool a year later.
[edit] Career
As Steve entered the fifth and final year of his degree, the BBC approached the college to gain permission to film a selection of final-year students. Originally viewing the potential TV appearance as "a bit of a laugh", Steve agreed to participate in the filming. The resulting series, Vets' School, was a huge success, and was swiftly followed up by Vets In Practice. From his very first day of work, including his first diagnosis as a new graduate (which was, unfortunately, completely wrong - although he did improve) Steve has lived with cameras following his day-to-day life.
He went on to present Vets In The Wild with Trude Mostue, while holding down a full-time job at a veterinary practice in Lancaster. He quit full-time veterinary employment in September 1999 after three years in Lancaster. Originally planning to locum around the country, he instead found himself travelling all over the world with the BBC Natural History Unit, filming for Ultimate Killers.
Covering more than 150,000 miles, Steve saw more of the planet in the one year of filming than he expected to in a lifetime. He went to places as far flung as Indonesia and India in his quest to find the ultimate killers of the animal world. He was chased by a cheetah, was bitten by a cobra, he swam with piranhas,and great white sharks, was stung by killer bees and was horribly mauled by a rabbit!
Filming Ultimate Killers also involved some complicated stunts, such as tandem skydiving out of a balloon at 10,000 feet in Spain, and climbing into an eagle's nest in Panama, 120 feet up a very wobbly tree.
Steve also presented Extreme Animals and, in 2004, Animal Camera which took an intimate look at the animal kingdom through cutting edge miniature camera filming techniques.
More recently, Steve has explored the origins and evolution of life on Earth in Journey of Life for BBC1 and is already busy on his next projects, Incredible Journeys and Jaws in Britain, both with the Natural History Unit.
[edit] Selected filmography
- Journey of Life (2005)
- Spy on the Wild (2004)
- Search for Loch Ness (2003)
- Animal Camera (2003)
- Steve Leonard's Extreme Animals (2002)
- Vets In The Wild West (2001)
- Polar Bear Special (2000)
- Steve Leonard's Ultimate Killers (1999-2001)
- Vets In The Wild (1998-1999)
- Holiday (1997)
- Vets In Practice (1996-2000)
- Vets' School (1996)
