In October 2021, a Land Rover was blown up outside Packham’s house, destroying the gates to his property. Going back four billion years, Earth was a lifeless rock before it was hit by asteroids, which led to volcanic eruptions, gas clouds and the arrival of rain, as the atmosphere was created. Mass extinction followed: Packham, squatting nimbly by a cliff face, demonstrates it by hammering a lump out of a thin seam of coal, left there when a lot of organic matter died suddenly. Chris Packham’s confidently grand new series Earth, a guide to “five pivotal moments” in the planet’s history, might look like an exception, since its first episode is set 252 million years ago. Physical, planetary forces have changed life but life has had an impact on the atmosphere, the climate, the sea and the Earth’s surface.

Earth: Over 4 Billion Years in the Making : Packham, Chris

I remember my sister shouting at me one day in the 1980s when we were living in a bedsit in London: ‘The biggest problem you’ve got is you’re not aware of your own sexuality. For all ebook purchases, you will be prompted to create an account or login with your existing HarperCollins username and password. I would also lose part of my mind, if not all of it, because that environment is not suitable for someone like myself. He has long been a vociferous opponent of foxhunting, and Wild Justice, the not-for-profit company he co-founded in 2018, has mounted a number of legal challenges against the government and its agencies, fighting the illegal shooting of birds of prey, badger culling and sewage discharge in rivers, among other things. I’d like to think the answer is yes, because our passion for the natural world has almost complete commonality.

Well, people are breaking the law because the government has made it almost impossible not to do so.

Earth by Chris Packham, Andrew Cohen (9780008507206/Hardback Earth by Chris Packham, Andrew Cohen (9780008507206/Hardback

This is a lovely book about science and explains many aspects of life on earth, using beautiful photographs and graphics which make it a pleasure to look at. While algae originated in the sea, asteroid crashes three billion years ago caused land masses to form and plants gradually came ashore, but a freeze threatened their future. In his gorgeously unkempt back garden, which is gradually evolving into woodland, the milk thistle and mallow, ragwort and red campion lead down to a river. When I started TV, somebody said to me, ‘You can either be confident or not give a shit,’ so I think it’s not giving a shit.

We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Photograph: Ben Quinton/The Guardian Chris Packham: ‘I didn’t want to be a freak, and it made me really angry. There are people who would argue that that would be a big step, it would send a message, the whole Mandela thing.

Earth: Over 4 Billion Years in the Making by Chris Packham

They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site.In his early 20s, he worked as a camera assistant on nature documentaries such as The Living Planet. Chris Packham and Andrew Cohen have come together to tell a story, one that should be read and heard by all. A piece of pumice thrown several miles into the air by a volcano helps to explain what happens when tectonic plates collide. An onlooker replied: "I so agree if only we could at the very least turn the volume of the music down.