Science writer Colin Tudge was born on 22 April 1943 in London, and was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge. He worked as a journalist and was features editor for New Scientist magazine between 1980 and 1984, before joining the BBC where he worked on science programmes for BBC Radio, presenting the regular programme 'Spectrum'. He is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines including The Independent, The Times, Natural History and the New Statesman. He is a former member of the Council of The Zoological Society of London and since 1995 has been a visiting Research Fellow of the Centre for Philosophy at the London School of Economics. Two of his books have been shortlisted for the COPUS/Rhone Poulence Science Book of the Year: Last Animals at the Zoo (1991) and The Engineer in the Garden (1993). The Day Before Yesterday (1995) won the B.P. Conservation Book of the Year Award. His latest book is The Secret Life of Trees (2005).