Frank Pope
| Frank Pope | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 May 1973 Oxford, England |
| Residence | Kenya |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
| Occupation | Writer and television presenter |
| Spouse | Saba Douglas-Hamilton |
| Children | Selkie |
Frank Pope (born 13 May 1973) is the Ocean Correspondent for The Times newspaper, author and television presenter. He is the world's only Ocean Correspondent working for a national newspaper.
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[edit] Biography
Born in Oxford, where his father taught Classics at the university. Educated at Winchester College and graduated with a degree in zoology from the University of Edinburgh. Pope began working with Coral Cay Conservation in Belize, Central America, but soon became absorbed by the world of shipwreck investigation. It was a fascination sparked by his father Maurice Pope, a classicist and decipherer of ancient texts, who had taken part in the first ever academic underwater investigation in 1953 off Chios (reported by Richard Garnett and John Boardman (archaeologist) in "The Annual of the British School at Athens" in 1956).
From 1992 onwards, Pope worked under the auspices of Oxford University's MARE (Maritime Archeological Research and Excavation). MARE was founded in 1982 by Mensun Bound in order to undertake the excavation of the then-oldest shipwreck ever to have been discovered, the Giglio Island shipwreck.
He subsequently worked on maritime archaeological projects in Uruguay, the Cape Verde Islands, Greece, Italy, Vietnam and Mozambique on wrecks including the San Salvador, Graf Spee off Montevideo and Lord Nelson's flagship HMS Agamemnon in Uruguay, Princess Louisa in Cabo Verde and the San Sebastian Wreck in Mozambique.[1]
In 2007 Pope published a book on the excavation of the Hoi An Wreck off Vietnam called Dragon Sea: A True Tale of Adventure, Archeology & Greed Off The Coast of Vietnam.
In 2008 Pope presented the BBC2 Series 'Thames Wrecks: A Race Against Time', revealing the work of Wessex Archaeology in the investigation of seven shipwrecks that lay in the path of a new deep-water channel in the Thames Estuary. Among them were HMS London wreck in the River Thames, accidentally blown up in 1665, the Dovenby (1914), HMS Aisha (1940), and the Letchworth (1944).
In 2008 he began as Ocean Correspondent for The Times, with a brief to cover stories arising from the increasing conflict between the different demands being made upon the ocean by mining, energy, and food security. There is ever-increasing scientific evidence of the crucial role that the ocean plays in regulating the global ecosystem, from nutrient cycling to heat distribution, making ocean policy a vital new arena.
In 2010 he co-presented Britain's Secret Seas, a four-part series for BBC2 exploring the hidden wildlife and untapped potential of the UK's coastal waters with explorer Paul Rose and marine biologist Tooni Maahto.
In early 2011 Orion will publish his second book, 72 Hours, an account of the British Submarine Rescue Service and their heroic mission to save the lives of seven Russian submariners in 2005.
He is married to wildlife film-maker Saba Douglas-Hamilton. They have three daughters.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ HuntGrubbe, Charlotte (2008-06-08). "Best of Times, Worst of Times: Frank Pope". The Times (London). http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article4066732.ece. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
