Pettifer, Julian

Born in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, Julian Pettifer built a broadcasting career of remarkable longevity and range, spanning six decades and taking him to some of the most consequential events of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

His television career began in the early days of ITV, when he was among the founding team of announcers at Southern Television.

He was aboard a yacht in the Solent on the station’s launch night, 30th August 1958. He subsequently appeared as a presenter and reporter on the local news programme Day by Day when it launched in April 1961.

In 1962, he joined BBC Television in London, embarking on a distinguished career as a globe-trotting reporter for current affairs programmes that included:

• Tonight (1962 – 1965);
• 24 Hours (1965 – 1969);
• Panorama (1969 – 1977 and 2001);
• Pettifer in America (BBC One, 1972);
• Reporter at Large (BBC One, 1973);
• Midweek (BBC One, 1973 – 1974);
• The Chinese Way (BBC Two, 1978);
• Reporting China (BBC Two, 1978);
• Albion in the Orient (BBC Two, 1979).

His coverage of the Vietnam War in 1968 earned him the BAFTA Reporter of the Year award as well as the BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award – both in the same year, an exceptional double recognition.

His broader television credits encompassed:

• Midweek (BBC One, 1974);
• The End of the Ho Chi Minh Trail (BBC Two, 1975);
• Country Game (BBC Two, 1977);
• Seems Like Yesterday (BBC One, 1977);
• Beyond the Great Wall (BBC Two, 1978);
• The Other World of Jacques Cousteau (BBC One, 1978);
• It’s Patently Obvious (BBC Two, 1980);
• Fit for a King (BBC Two, 1984);
• Busman’s Holiday (Granada TV, 1985 – 1988);
• See for Yourself (BBC One, 1991 – 1992);
• Biteback (BBC One, 1991 – c. 1992);
• Ocean Challenge (BBC Two, 1992);
• Assignment (BBC Two, 1996);
• Global Sunrise (BBC One, 1st January 1997);

He provided narration for:

• The World About Us (BBC Two, 1977 – 1978 and 1980);
• The Regiment (BBC One, 1977);
• The Shogun Inheritance (BBC Two, 1981);
• Worlds Apart (BBC Two, 1982);
• Biteback (BBC One, 1991 – 1992).

He contributed to Did You See…? (BBC Two, 1982) and Scoop (BBC Two, 1982) and served as a panellist on Call My Bluff (BBC Two, 1982 – 1985 and 1987).

Pettifer wrote and presented a number of documentaries across both the BBC and ITV:

• Diamonds in the Sky, examining international air travel (BBC Two, 1979);
• Automania (ITV), a history of the motor car;
• Cuba — 25 Years of Revolution (ITV, 1984);
• Missionaries (BBC Two, 1990).

As his engagement with environmental issues deepened, he wrote and presented an expanding body of work on wildlife and conservation:

• Naturewatch (Central TV, 1981 – 1982, 1985 – 1986, 1998 and 2000);
• World Safari (BBC Two, 1986);
• The Natural World (BBC Two, 1986);
• The Living Isles (BBC One, 1986);
• The New Battle for Britain (BBC One, 1988);
• Africawatch (BBC One, 1989 and BBC Two, 1994);
• Safari UK (BBC One, 1991);
• Nature (BBC Two, 1992).

He continued to contribute current affairs reporting through Assignment (BBC Two, 1991 and 1993 – 1994) and Correspondent (BBC Two, 1995 – 1998), and received considerable acclaim for a Channel 4 film that revisited and reassessed the reporting of the Vietnam War.

His radio output was equally extensive:

• The Orient Express (BBC Radio 4, 1982);
• Breakaway (BBC Radio 4, 1990 – 1995);
• The Gardening Quiz (BBC Radio 4, 1991 – 1993);
• Vietnam Revisited (BBC Radio 4, 1993);
• Inspiration! (BBC Radio 4, 1994);
• Asiafile (BBC Radio 4, 1996 – 1998);
• Slaves to Nature (BBC Radio 4, 1997);
• Last Boat Home (BBC Radio 4, 1997);
• In the Shadow of El Niño (BBC Radio 4, 1998);
• Crossing Continents (BBC Radio 4, 1998 – 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008);
• Global Witness (BBC Radio 4, 1999);
• The Sixties (BBC Radio 2, 2000);
• The State of Africa (BBC Radio 4, 2003);
• The Age of the Park (BBC Radio 4, 2004);
• Vietnam Notebook (BBC Radio 2, 2005).

He also stood in for the lunchtime slot on BBC Radio 2 in 1990 and September 2000, and served as stand-in chairman on Gardeners’ Question Time (BBC Radio 4, 2003).

Beyond broadcasting, Pettifer served as a trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1993 – 1996), as president of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and as vice president of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts – positions that reflected his deepening commitment to conservation.

He was appointed OBE in the 2010 Queen’s Birthday Honours, in recognition of his contributions to both journalism and wildlife conservation.

Personal information

Clips of Julian on The TV Room

Julian may be featured in video/audio clips on our other websites. Click the links below to display a listing (a 404 error will appear if no clips are found):

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Online presence

Acknowledgements