He was known for his children's programmes for the BBC on the topic of zoology, most notably Animal Magic, and for narrating the Tales of the Riverbank series of stories.

[2][3] Morris was discovered telling stories in a pub by the then BBC Home Service West Regional producer Desmond Hawkins.

The show used slowed-down footage of real animals filmed doing humanised things such as driving a car or boat, and living in houses.

Morris's ability to create a world which children could relate to through his mimicry led to his best-known television role, that of the presenter, narrator and 'zoo keeper' for Animal Magic.

For more than 400 editions, from 1962 until 1983, and with inserts shot at Bristol Zoo Gardens, Morris would create comic dialogues with the animals, whom he also voiced.

Although latterly criticised in the 1990s for his anthropomorphic technique of introducing television viewers to animals[citation needed], Morris was active in environmentalism, and in his eighties demonstrated against the building of the Newbury bypass near his home.

[2] In June 2004, Morris and Bill Oddie were jointly profiled in the first of a three part BBC Two series, The Way We Went Wild, about television wildlife presenters.

A diabetic, Morris collapsed at his home in Hungerford, Berkshire, in March 1999 when he was about to star in a new animal series Wild Thing on ITV.

[7] Admitted to the Princess Margaret Hospital, Swindon, Wiltshire for tests, he was discharged to a nursing home in the Devizes and Marlborough district, where he died on 6 May 1999.