death_date birth_place nationality honorific_suffix birth_date article_title education name occupation alma_mater
01 march 2009 london , england english dfc 24 august 1921 eric simms -lrb- ornithologist -rrb-
 latymer upper school eric arthur simms ornithologist pilot / bomb-aimer naturalist writer teacher sound recordist broadcaster conservationist raf merton college , oxford
eric simms -lrb- ornithologist -rrb-

eric arthur simms , dfc -lrb- 24 august 1921 -- 1 march 2009 -rrb- was an english ornithologist , naturalist , writer , sound recordist , broadcaster and conservationist , as well as a decorated wartime bomber command pilot / bomb-aimer .
he was born on 24 august 1921 , the youngest of three brothers , in 1921 in london , where his father was head gardener at the private gardens in ladbroke square .
he won a scholarship to latymer upper school and in 1939 began to read history at merton college , oxford , where he also took up bird ringing and joined the university air squadron , and , without completing his studies , was sent for aircrew training in canada and the united states in 1941 .
he was called up , joining the royal air force in 1941 and by 1943 leading aircraftman , and was then commissioned as a pilot officer on probation in the royal air force volunteer reserve on 19 march 1943 , serving as a bomb aimer and second pilot in lancaster bombers , in which he flew 27 raids over germany .
on 14 november 1944 he was awarded distinguished flying cross , the citation praising his `` skill and determination which have been an inspiration to the crews with which he flies '' and a `` complete disregard for danger in the face of the heaviest enemy defences '' .
after demobilisation , he worked as a teacher in warwickshire , and served on the research committee of the west midland bird club .
he then worked for the bbc , initially as a wildlife sound recordist , before making more than 7,000 radio broadcasts and hundreds of television appearances .
he was a passionate believer in bringing natural history to a wider audience , and was a resident naturalist at the bbc .
he is credited with starting the `` countryside '' radio programme in 1952 .
as a guest on `` desert island discs '' in 1976 , one of his eight choices was a recording of a blackbird he had made near his london home .
simms also appeared in sir john betjeman 's 1973 tv documentary `` metro-land '' , about the metropolitan railway line running northwest out of london .
he was featured birdwatching in gladstone park , near to his home in dollis hill .
in 1980 he and his wife thelma -lrb- who was section officer thelma jackson , waaf , when they married -rrb- retired to south witham , near grantham , lincolnshire .
he died on 1 march 2009 .
thelma had died in 2001 .
they had a daughter and a son , amanda and david , and four granddaughters .
