SHE is probably one of the few links between Hampshire and Hollywood. To the casual observer she is just another lecturer; to those in the know at Sparsholt College, she is much more than that.

After a career working on films such as Gorillas in the Mist, Anna and the King, and Fierce Creatures, Rona Brown has an impressive pedigree.

The animal trainer, who lives near Stockbridge, has worked with every creature you can think of — from lions to leopards, birds to badgers.

Her latest film, Creation, about Charles Darwin, required her to train — among others — orang-utans, pigeons, foxes, rabbits and even beetles.

So what brings such a renowned Hollywood figure to Sparsholt College?

She is the writer, course tutor, assessor and lecturer of one its quirkiest courses — the national vocational qualification in animal training.

The course, the only one of its kind in the country, currently has 28 students, ranging from circus to zoo workers.

“I’m positive about teaching,”

said Rona.

“If you don’t teach youngsters how to care for the animals, their work with the animals will suffer.

“But it’s a huge, huge commitment. It’s not a jolly or something that’s great to do and then laugh about in the pub.”

She added: “You have to be respectful and accountable.”

Her passion for animals was fired as a child growing up in Torquay, Devon.

Among the creatures in her parents’ home were four greyhounds that her father raced.

She got her big break in the late ’50s when she was working at Southampton Zoo.

Walt Disney visited to pick some animals for one of his productions, and Rona was asked to accompany him to Pinewood Studios and care for them.

“I learnt on the job really,”

she said.

“I knew how to train animals, but I did not know how to train them for the movies.

“But if you’ve got an empathy with the animals already, it’s something you can pick up relatively quickly.”

She likened animal training to ballet dancing — you can learn both, but to succeed you have to have an inherent, intrinsic talent.

“I learnt you had to be the voice of the animals, they relied on me for everything,” she said.

“You can’t let them down, if you do, it gives them stress.”

When she took time off to have children — her son Chris is also an animal trainer — she began looking after wild animals.

This led to another career highlight in the 1980s when she trained the chimpanzees in the popular PG Tips television adverts.

“After that I started to get more and more movies,” she said.

“I became known as a chimpanzee expert in entertainment.”

Filming for Creation happened over a four-month period last year. After being shown storyboards by the director, she set about casting animals and setting up training sessions.

She said selecting animals was as much about assessing the owner as it was the creature itself.

“You want an animal you pick to be able to do the job,” said Rona, who has lived in the Stockbridge area since 1975.

“The animal has to come from a good place, with a good background.

“If the owner says the money will be used to buy a new car, I’d run a mile. I want to see the owner investing any payment in an enrichment programme for the animals.”

So what’s the secret to successful animal training?

“They have to like you,” she said.

“If they like you and they trust you and you never let them down, you can get them to do anything you want.”

Reflecting on her long career, she added: “I have had the most wonderful time, it’s something I love doing and I have been paid to do it.

“If I had my time again I would do exactly the same thing.”