Eric Simms WW2 Bomber BBC Radio Broadcaster Hand Signed Letter

CHAU4668  A vintage rare opportunity to secure this 1976 letter from Eric Simms, English ornithologist, naturalist, writer, sound recordist, broadcaster and conservationist, as well as a decorated wartime Bomber Command pilot on his official headed paper approx 9" x 7" which is in its protective sleeve easily removed but scanned with this on to keep it absolutely mint (please disregard the white header at the top of the scan as this is just the owners identification and part of its outer packaging) There is just a middle fold where it was posted some 50 years ago but otherwise it is mint condition and you will never get a better autograph opportunity than a full hand written letter on Eric Simm's official home headed paper.

"...Eric Arthur Simms, DFC (24 August 1921 1 March 2009)was an English ornithologist, naturalist, writer, sound recordist, broadcaster and conservationist,as well as a decorated wartime Bomber Command pilot.  He was 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".

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. The theme tune used for the programme was Rivers of the North of England by Lambert Williamson. 

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.He narrated the 1972 BBC LP "A Year's Journey" (catalogue number RED135M), which was subtitled "Wildlife recordings from the BBC TV Series for schools". 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. He died on 1 March 2009..."