Who is David Attenborough?

• David Attenborough, a leading voice on climate change and biodiversity loss, marked his 100th birthday on May 8.

• He is a popular natural history broadcaster.

• He was honoured with the ‘UN Champions of the Earth Lifetime Achievement Award’ in 2022.

• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, prominent figures from the world of science, politics and the arts have also congratulated Attenborough on his birthday.

Iconic naturalist

• Attenborough was born in London on May 8, 1926.

• His fascination with nature developed when he was a young boy, riding his bicycle into the surrounding countryside where he collected fossils. 

• Attenborough graduated from Cambridge University in 1947 with a degree in natural sciences. 

• He made his way to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) just as television was creeping into homes.

• His first TV appearance came on December 21, 1954, in ‘Zoo Quest’, a globe-trotting series that introduced rapt Britons to exotic creatures, like orangutans and Komodo dragons.

• During a career that began with the dawn of television, he has penned and presented some of the most influential documentaries on the state of the planet, including nine-part Life series.

• The first part of the series titled ‘Life on Earth’, an epic that charted the history of the living world, from the first microbes to humankind, was released in 1979.

• The series took three years to make and Attenborough travelled 1.5 million miles during filming. With its scope and ambition, Life on Earth would redefine the natural history documentary and be viewed by some 500 million people.

• He spent decades revealing the beauty of the natural world, and laying bare the threats it faces.

• Attenborough’s work and activism would see him knighted (twice) and become the namesake of dozens of species, from attenborosaurus (a prehistoric swimming reptile) to nepenthes attenboroughii (a carnivorous plant).

• The Natural History Museum of Britain has decided to name a recently discovered parasitic wasp ‘Attenboroughunculus tau’ in honour of Attenborough.

• In recent years, Attenborough has continued to lend his voice to natural history documentaries, earning a pair of Emmy nominations in 2021 for narration. In his career, he has won three Emmys and eight BAFTAs.

• For decades, Attenborough has been sought by world leaders looking for solutions to the crises facing the natural world.

• The United Nations has recognised Attenborough’s outsized impact on the global environmental movement, presenting him with the UN Champions of the Earth Lifetime Achievement Award. 

• The award is the UN’s highest environmental honour and celebrates those who have dedicated their lives to tackling crises like climate change, species loss and pollution.

• He has also collaborated with UNEP for at least four decades, lending his voice to a series of campaigns and short films that have cast a spotlight on the organisation’s efforts to counter the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and pollution.

• His elder brother, Richard Attenborough (1923-2014), was an actor, film producer and director. He directed ‘Gandhi’ in 1982.