![]() And he says: "It doesn't look like it's getting any closer."Īs eminent a scientist and naturalist he is now, Dr Veron's life could have turned out very differently.įor a start, his given name is John, not Charlie. But he's not going to be able to do this forever."įor his part, Dr Veron - often called the godfather of coral - is only half joking when he says he has been trying to retire for "at least 20 years". ![]() "Very old school and not much stops him, a tough old bugger. "He's very agile, like a young diver," Mr Miller says. Not just the rate at which species are dying, but because Charlie Veron is 77 years old. If we don't do it, it's all over."ĭr Veron has been awarded the prestigious Darwin Medal for his work on coral evolution, and he has discovered more than 20 per cent of the world's coral species.īut it is a race against time. "They can be used when the technology is right to repopulate the reefs," Dr Veron says. Now Dr Veron is at the heart of a bold plan to collect one of every species of coral on the Great Barrier Reef to create a coral biobank or "coral ark". There had to be a way of preserving the reef. There was elation, there was hope and there was inspiration. "This place is not done yet that is for sure." "It is incredible," Dr Veron said coming out of the water. There, among all the dead coral, they found a perfect living coral garden. He was in a state of depression about the degraded, dying reef when, four years ago, he joined a scientific expedition to the remote far northern Great Barrier Reef, a 1,000-kilometre stretch from Port Douglas to Cape York. Now, in places, it is silent, "like a tomb. All you can hear are the bubbles from your regulator". When he first started diving the Great Barrier Reef in 1972, Dr Veron says, it was an "otherworldly experience", a place teeming with life. ( Supplied: Facebook/Great Barrier Reef Legacy) The panel awarded Charlie the payout for sexual harassment.Dr Veron says a living reef is "really noisy". Gems TV, which broadcasts on Sky, was also cleared of deliberate victimisation. She also agreed the presenter, from Bath, Somerset, had been abused in her earpiece.īut the firm was cleared of unfair dismissal as it had acted “within the range of reasonable responses” by sacking her for misconduct. Gems TV’s lawyers denied the abuse allegations and said she was only employed as a freelance.īut Charlie insisted she was an employee for two years and had been sent to India by the firm to handle gems as part of her training.Īfter a two-day hearing Miss Dean said the tribunal agreed she had been an employee and that she had been sexually harassed. In it, Charlie was seen laughing nervously as she handled the jewellery, only to then become angry and flick her middle finger. Tribunal judge Victoria Dean was shown a 10-minute extract of the programme dealing with antique copper and bronze items. This was taken to a different level and I did my best to carry on despite what was going on.”Ĭharlie, who now works on Channel 5’s Live With Gabby, was sacked by TV firm Genuine Gemstone Company of Redditch, Worcs, for bringing the firm into disrepute.Ĭharlie told the Birmingham tribunal she had not realised her finger gesture had been seen by viewers, who were unaware of the abuse that she was hearing. I’ve never been insulted by such crude language. “There’s always the odd distraction joke among the camera crews but it’s usually innocent and friendly. The ex-children’s TV presenter, who worked at CBBC and GMTV, told a tribunal: “I was shocked and extremely offended to be called a f***ing big whore and a bitch. ![]() She was axed after a viewer complained her daughter aged 12 had seen the rude gesture.īut Charlie claimed her dismissal was unfair and also that she was victimised and sexually harassed. A TV shopping channel host sacked for giving the finger on air to studio staff who called her a “big whore” through an earpiece has won £3,250.Ĭharlie Vernon, 28, was presenting the show Jewellery Maker on Gems TV when she reacted to remarks allegedly made by colleagues.
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