William Brunsdon Yapp


William Brunsdon Yapp OBE was a zoologist and author who worked as a senior lecturer in zoology at the University of Birmingham.
Yapp was born in Bristol where his father had moved to from Hereford so as to provide education to his daughters. After studies at Bristol Grammar School, Yapp went to Downing College, Cambridge where he went by the nickname of Brunny. Graduating in the natural sciences, he went on to teach at Hailebury and then at Manchester before joining Birmingham University. He published several well-known textbooks in zoology and had very strong views on how biology should be taught. He served on the National Parks Commission and attended the first world conference on national parks held in the USA in 1962. He also served on the committee that helped establish long-distance walking paths in England. After his retirement he served as a scientific expert for Shell chemicals during the 1987-88 trials over dieldrin and its toxicity to wildlife. He supported an informed debate on matters of nuclear energy. In 1957, he gave his address as Stourbridge; and from 1961, he lived at Church End House, Twyning, Tewkesbury.
He was, for a time, Chairman of the research committee of the West Midland Bird Club.

Notable papers

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