Steve Irwin’s Birthday
On this date in 1962, Steve “The Crocodile Hunter” Irwin was born — no doubt in little tan shorts. I have no idea how he got the nickname “Crocodile Hunter” as he didn’t actually kill the crocs he found. I guess “Crocodile Finder” didn’t have that much of a ring to it and “Mad Aussie” had already been taken.
In case you’ve been off the planet for the last couple of years, Steve Irwin was killed in a freak accident involving a startled stingray while filming a nature documentary. At least he died instantly and doing something he loved.
Anyway, he was a lovely man who, according to many people who’ve interviewed him, could verify that he really said “Crickey!” a lot. The world is a less interesting place without him. Although there are many mad Australian naturalists on television these days, none of them quite have the charm that Steve Irwin did. And none of them could pull off wearing the outfit.
This is from 1991 on a children’s show in Australia where Steve Irwin came on with a python. I love how he’s more concerned about offending the hostess than he is about getting bitten by the python.
Irwin had his own zoo in Australia, called (funnily enough) Australia Zoo, which included a live crocodile show where the crocodile didn’t have to do a whole heck of a lot except be a crocodile. Here’s a clip from one of those shows. His wife is doing most of the narration:
And Steve wasn’t above making fun of himself, as seen on this ESPN promo:
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