Becoming Dr Jones

’Inspirational’ - Professor Alice Roberts

’Engrossing’ - Professor Ben Garrod

Rhys Jones was brought up on a council estate in South Wales where expectations for what life held in store for you were slim. As he recalls, he was born fighting and never stopped. His perspective on what life could offer him changed forever in the early 1980s when his grandfather took him to the local cinema to see Stephen Spielberg’s blockbuster Raiders of the Lost Ark. The dream of emulating his hero Indiana Jones and travelling to the farthest reaches of the planet to explore exotic locations and its wildlife now burned deep inside him.

As he progressed at school this passion to escape and explore was further kindled through the pages of an old natural history encyclopaedia given to him by his grandmother. Devouring the pages, the encyclopaedia would help craft his chosen path in life. Like his hero and namesake Indiana Jones, Rhys’s journey has now taken him to all corners of the globe with friends and colleagues at every port; from the Australian outback to the furthest outpost of the Maasai tribe in Eastern Africa.

In Becoming Dr Jones Rhys will take the reader on an inspiring journey through his life. One filled with highs, lows, humour and poignancy, as well as reverent insights into some of the amazing residents of our beloved natural world. If adventure had a name it would be Jones, and Dr Rhys Jones has taken that mantle to a whole new level!

Dr Rhys Jones, BAFTA nominated International Wildlife presenter and star of BBC One’s Rhys Jones’s Wildlife Patrol will take you on his fascinating journey from humble beginnings to evolutionary biologist, television star, and the Russell Group University Associate Professor he is today.