Gordon Buchanan is a wildlife documentary maker and photographer who has hosted numerous shows on the BBC, often following the lives of animals from close quarters - leading to some unforgettable moments with wolves, bears, elephants and much more.

He spoke to Tes about how his time at school shaped him, a memorable trip to Germany, why he still hates his times tables, and why taking home economics led to a lifelong passion for cookery.

1. Where did you start your education?

I started primary school in Dumbarton, not far from Glasgow, and I went to Aitkenbar Primary School. Then we moved to [the Isle of] Mull for Primary 3 [Year 2], so most of my primary schooling was at Tobermory Primary School.

2. Were there any teachers there whom you remember well?

The first teacher I had when I went to Primary 3 in Tobermory was Miss Shepard, who then got married and became Mrs Hickson.

She was my favourite teacher because she was very motherly, very creative and artistic, and there was a lot of stuff that she did with the kids that was using their imagination, and I responded to that.

She would call you “my flower” or “my lovely” - she was just that kind of loving, attentive teacher.

3. Have you ever spoken to her since leaving school?

Funnily enough, a few years back, I bumped into her not far from my house in Glasgow and she was just about to retire.

Soon after that, somebody got in touch to ask if I’d write a few words that could be read out at her retirement do.

So I did that and I can’t remember what I said but it was very complimentary - it’s easy to speak honestly and genuinely about a teacher that you had an amazing time with and so it was nice to be able to do that.

4. More generally, were you a good pupil at school?

I was a chronic daydreamer and switched off for a lot of education. Because I wasn’t one of the kids that caused problems, the teachers overlooked me as “he’s not particularly bright but he’s not causing any problems”.

But I had quite a lot of stress and anxiety with times tables because they were the thing that I really struggled with - even now, I have almost this residual anxiety, so if somebody said “do your 8 times table”, I would have the same panic now as I did then.

But I did have a workaround for that - which was not very advisable - which was to cheat! I would make sure I’d sit beside somebody who would know the answer and I would copy [them].

There were other cheaters in the class and a couple of disruptive boys, so it was quite easy to fly under the radar.

But that meant I left my primary education not knowing my times tables and, once you get off to a bad start, it’s very difficult to catch up.

5. Do you have any nice non-times-table-related memories?

In my last year of primary, there was a big school trip to Germany and that was extraordinary. Never having been abroad, we got on a bus in Oban and it was 40 hours driving [and a ferry crossing] to get to Germany - and it was amazing.

I don’t think, even in adult life, I’ve have had that sense of something so new and so different, because you leave the island [of Mull] and you’re in a new world even when you’re on the mainland, so to go to a different country - with a different culture and different language - was an amazing experience.

6. How did you find the move to secondary school?

I went to Tobermory Secondary School and I remember having a huge amount of relief that we weren’t going to have to do times tables tests again.

What I loved about high school was that there were periods of the day where it was subjects that I really did enjoy.

I loved craft and design, so woodwork and metalwork I really enjoyed because it was creative and it was practical, and the things that I was learning, I thought: “Well, these are good life skills.”

7. Were there any other subjects that you enjoyed?

I did home economics and I actually carried that right through high school up until I left. It was mostly cooking - there was some sort of written work but the bulk of it was just learning to cook.

And, funnily enough, just the other day, I was back on Mull and I bumped into my old home economics teacher, Margaret Broad, and she was one of my favourite teachers in school because she was teaching me all this practical stuff.

I was chatting away to Mrs Broad and I said [to my family]: “This is who you’ve got to thank for all of my wonderful food that I produce!”

8. So her lessons really inspired you?

Yeah, you had to do it for first and second year, and then most people would drop it.

After the second year, you had to do a science and I just wasn’t engaged in [biology, chemistry or physics] so me and a friend went to see the headmaster because he had said: “Home economics, that’s a domestic science.”

So we went to him and told him we both wanted to be chefs, and could we do home economics? And he said: “Yeah, OK.”

We got out of doing chemistry and biology and just made Bakewell tarts and lasagne - and loved it!

9. You’re on tour next year discussing your 30-year wildlife career. What has been your most memorable moment?

We built this polar-bear-proof hide so that we could get closer to polar bears without being at risk.

But this one female bear walked past and realized there was something inside that she might like to snack on, so she spent a good 40 minutes trying to figure out a way of getting in.

During that time, people have said to me: “Oh, you appeared very calm.”

I think I just thought: “Here is an opportunity to talk about this apex predator up close, so what would David Attenborough do if he was in this situation?” He would probably be very calm and just deliver as much information as he could, which is what I tried to do.

10. Of the two, then - if you had to be back in that ‘cage’ with a polar bear trying to break in or sitting a times-table test again, which would you prefer?

In a cage with a polar bear trying to get in - every time.

Gordon Buchanan is on a tour of the UK next year with his show, 30 Years In the Wild, from 30 January until 27 February 2022. Tickets can be purchased at gordon-buchanan.co.uk. He was talking to Tes senior editor Dan Worth

This article originally appeared in the 1 October 2021 issue