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Geopark Patron - Dr Iain Stewart
Television's favourite geologist Dr Iain Stewart is patron of the English Riviera Geopark. Iain is the presenter of Journeys from the Centre of the Earth, and the award winning BBC series Earth - The Power of the Planet. He hopes that as patron he will be able to encourage more to share his enthusiasm for the dramatic events and changes which have shaped the English Riviera Geopark over millions of years and to gather support in the wider community for the European Geopark Network. "The English Riviera Geopark is one of the most exciting initiatives I have seen in terms of the quality of the geology and the enthusiasm of the team. I am proud to act as its Patron. I think rocks themselves can be boring. You can pick up a totally nondescript pebble, but when you realise that pebble is there because it was washed down in a desert flood 300million years ago, that's an exciting story." Iain's Biography Born near Glasgow in 1964, Iain attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama before being cast as a ‘Gorbals Diehard' in the award-winning BBC series Huntingtower. An equity card, miscellaneous television work and various repertory work followed, before his thesbian career ended, age 16, cut short by successful school exam results! Iain went on to study Geography and Geology at the Strathclyde University in Glasgow, graduating in 1986 with first-class honours. He then proceeded to doctoral studies at the University of Bristol on the earthquake geology of Greece and Turkey, gaining his PhD in 1990. The same year, he was appointed lecturer in earth science at the West London Institute of Higher Education, which later merged into Brunel University. After 12 years at Brunel University's Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Iain returned north in 2002 to take up an Honorary Research Fellow's position at the University of Glasgow, before heading south in 2004 to be a Senior Lecturer in Geodynamics at the University of Plymouth |