Mills, Stephen 1952–

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MILLS, Stephen 1952–

(Stephen Paul Mills)

PERSONAL:

Born July 1, 1952, in Oxford, England; son of Robert Walter (a businessman) and Betty Mills; married Patricia Phillips (an author), December 21, 1978; children: Turlough, Kate. Education: Merton College, Oxford, B.A., 1974, M.A., 1978; California Institute of the Arts, M.F.A., 1980.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Forest Hill, Oxford, England.

CAREER:

Writer, naturalist, and independent film producer.

MEMBER:

International Association of Wildlife Filmmakers (member of governing committee; served as chairman).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Scholarship to Merton College, Oxford, 1971-74; Winston Churchill fellow, 1975; Harkness fellow, 1978-80.

WRITINGS:

Nature in Its Place: The Habitats of Ireland, Bodley Head (London, England), 1988.

Tiger, Firefly Books (Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada), 2004.

Author of numerous television documentary scripts, including Tiger's Crisis, and Man-Eater: To Be or Not to Be, and radio scripts for British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) World Service; photographer for eleven television films.

Contributor to periodicals, including Times Literary Supplement, New Scientist, BBC Wildlife, and Oryx.

SIDELIGHTS:

Author, naturalist, and filmmaker Stephen Mills is a prolific author of articles on natural history topics, with more than 300 pieces to his credit, noted a biographer on the British Broadcasting Corporation Press Office Web site. He is a writer, producer, and cameraman for nature films and, "as a leading wildlife film-maker he has been nearly eaten or nearly trampled on by most of the world's big animals," the BBC Web site biographer remarked. Mills has worked on BBC series such as The Private Life of Plants and Land of the Tiger. Much of Mills's creative effort has focused on the plight of the endangered tiger. He has spent more than twenty years studying tigers in India and wrote and filmed the BBC film, Man-Eater: To Be or Not to Be. In his book Tiger, Mills presents a "very useful primer" on tiger behavior, ecology, and conservation, noted Booklist contributor Nancy Bent. Mills explores the tiger's hunting techniques and the characteristics that make it such a superb predator. He also looks at the tiger's lifestyle, its social habits, its mating behavior, and how tigers raise their young. He also addresses myths about tigers, in particularly about the man-eating variety. For those interested in undertaking their own study, Mills offers a list of places where tigers can be observed in the wild. Complementing the text with full-color photographs, Mills's "tone is always respectful and often personal" in what Brenda Dillon, writing in Resource Links, called "a beautiful book." Kliatt reviewer Nola Theiss remarked that Mills's book "hits the perfect spot between a popular treatment and an overly academic study."

Mills told CA: "Natural history is the main inspiration for my poetry, research, journalism, and film work. I use film as a means of raising public interest in wildlife and ecology. My own conservation research for the World Wildlife Fund and the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society has taken me to Scandinavia, Spain, Morocco, and the United States, including Hawaii. Highlights of my travels include not being eaten by a polar bear on an ice floe in the Arctic Ocean, filming the very rare Spanish imperial eagle in Spain after sitting in a hide for forty-eight hours, and traveling right round the United States twice."