Alistair Cooke Alistair Cooke (born Alfred Cooke; 20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a British-American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the United States.America''. Attenborough thought that the story of evolution would be a natural subject for such a series. He shared his idea with

Christopher Parsons Christopher Eugene Parsons OBE (23. August 1932 in Winchester, Hampshire – 8 November 2002 in Littleton-upon-Severn, Gloucestershire) was an English wildlife film-maker and the executive producer of David Attenborough's '' Life on Earth'', wi ...

, a producer at the Natural History Unit, who came up with a title '' Life on Earth'' and returned to Bristol to start planning the series. Attenborough harboured a strong desire to present the series himself, but this would not be possible so long as he remained in a management post. While in charge of BBC Two, Attenborough turned down

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 week ...

's job application to be a presenter on the channel, stating that there weren't any suitable vacancies. The channel already had an Irish announcer, with Attenborough reflecting in 2016: "To have had two Irishmen presenting on BBC Two would have looked ridiculous. This is no comment whatsoever on Terry Wogan's talents." Attenborough has also acknowledged that he sanctioned the

wiping Lost television broadcasts are mostly those early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives (or in personal archives) usually because of deliberate destruction or neglect. Common reasons for loss A significant prop ...

of television output during this period to cut costs, including a series by

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

, which he later regretted. In 1969, Attenborough was promoted to director of programmes, making him responsible for the output of both BBC channels. His tasks, which included agreeing budgets, attending board meetings and firing staff, were now far removed from the business of filming programmes. When Attenborough's name was being suggested as a candidate for the position of

Director-General of the BBC The director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and (from 1994) editor-in-chief of the BBC. The position was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC (for the period of 1927 to 2007) and then t ...

in 1972, he phoned his brother Richard to confess that he had no appetite for the job. Early the following year, he left his post to return to full-time programme-making, leaving him free to write and present the planned natural history epic. After his resignation, Attenborough became a freelance broadcaster and started work on his next project, a trip to Indonesia with a crew from the Natural History Unit. It resulted in the 1973 series ''Eastwards with Attenborough'', which was similar in tone to the earlier ''Zoo Quest''; the main difference was the introduction of colour. Attenborough stated that he wanted to work in Asia, because previous nature documentaries had mostly focused on Africa. That year, Attenborough was invited to deliver the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on ''The Language of Animals''. After his work on ''Eastwards with Attenborough'', he began to work on the scripts for ''Life on Earth''. Due to the scale of his ambition, the BBC decided to partner with an American network to secure the necessary funding. While the negotiations were proceeding, he worked on a number of other television projects. He presented a series on

tribal art Tribal art is the visual arts and material culture of indigenous peoples. Also known as non-Western art or ethnographic art, or, controversially, primitive art, Dutton, Denis, Tribal Art'. In Michael Kelly (editor), ''Encyclopedia of Aesthetics. ...

('' The Tribal Eye'', 1975) and another on the voyages of discovery ('' The Explorers'', 1975). He presented a BBC children's series about

cryptozoology Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness ...

entitled ''Fabulous Animals'' (1975), which featured mythical creatures such as

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes ass ...

s and

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...

s. Eventually, the BBC signed a co-production deal with

Turner Broadcasting Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (lat ...

and ''Life on Earth'' moved into production in 1976.

''Life'' series

Beginning with '' Life on Earth'' in 1979, Attenborough set about creating a body of work which became a benchmark of quality in wildlife film-making, and influenced a generation of documentary film-makers. The series established many of the hallmarks of the BBC's natural history output. By treating his subject seriously and researching the latest discoveries, Attenborough and his production team gained the trust of scientists, who responded by allowing him to feature their subjects in his programmes. Innovation was another factor in ''Life on Earths success: new film-making techniques were devised to get the shots Attenborough wanted, with a focus on events and animals that were up till then unfilmed. International air travel enabled the series to be devised so that Attenborough visited several locations around the globe in each episode, sometimes even changing continents in one sequence. Although appearing as the on-screen presenter, he restricted his time on camera to give more time to his subjects. Five years after the success of ''Life on Earth'', the BBC released ''

The Living Planet ''The Living Planet: A Portrait of the Earth'' is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 19 January 1984. The sequel to his pioneering '' Life on Earth'', it is a study of t ...

''. This time, Attenborough built his series around the theme of ecology, the adaptations of living things to their environment. It was another critical and commercial success, generating huge international sales for the BBC. In 1990, '' The Trials of Life'' completed the original Life trilogy, looking at

animal behaviour Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour, usually with a focus on behaviour under natural conditions, and viewing behaviour as an evolutionarily adaptive trait. Behaviourism as a term also describes the scientific and objectiv ...

through the different stages of life. In the 1990s, Attenborough continued to use the "Life" title for a succession of authored documentaries. In 1993, he presented ''

Life in the Freezer ''Life in the Freezer'' is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the United Kingdom from 18 November 1993. A study of the seasonal cycle of Antarctica, it was the first of Attenborou ...

'', the first television series to survey the natural history of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

. Although past normal retirement age, he then embarked on a number of more specialised surveys of the natural world, beginning with plants. They proved a difficult subject for his producers, who had to deliver hours of television featuring what are essentially immobile objects. The result was ''

The Private Life of Plants ''The Private Life of Plants'' is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first shown in the United Kingdom from 11 January 1995. A study of the growth, movement, reproduction and survival of plants, it was ...

'' (1995), which showed plants as dynamic organisms by using

time-lapse photography Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus ...

to speed up their growth, and went on to earn a Peabody Award. Prompted by an enthusiastic ornithologist at the BBC Natural History Unit, Attenborough then turned his attention to birds. As he was neither an

birdwatcher Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

nor a bird expert, he decided he was better qualified to make ''

The Life of Birds ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' (1998) on the theme of behaviour. The documentary series won a second Peabody Award the following year. The order of the remaining "Life" series was dictated by developments in camera technology. For '' The Life of Mammals'' (2002), low-light and

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

cameras were deployed to reveal the behaviour of nocturnal mammals. The series contains a number of memorable

two shot A two shot is a type of shot in which the frame encompasses two people (the subjects). The subjects do not have to be next to each other, and there are many common two shots which have one subject in the foreground and the other subject in the b ...

s of Attenborough and his subjects, which included chimpanzees, a

blue whale The blue whale (''Balaenoptera musculus'') is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of and weighing up to , it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can ...

and a grizzly bear. Advances in macro photography made it possible to capture the natural behaviour of very small creatures for the first time, and in 2005, '' Life in the Undergrowth'' introduced audiences to the world of

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s. At this point, Attenborough realised that he had spent 20 years unconsciously assembling a collection of programmes on all the major groups of terrestrial animals and plants – only reptiles and amphibians were missing. When '' Life in Cold Blood'' was broadcast in 2008, he had the satisfaction of completing the set, brought together in a DVD encyclopaedia called ''

Life on Land ''David Attenborough's Life on Land: A DVD Encyclopaedia'' is a DVD box set of nature documentaries made by the BBC Natural History Unit. It comprises six series spread across 15 discs, all of them written and presented by David Attenborough, ...

''. He commented: "The evolutionary history is finished. The endeavour is complete. If you'd asked me 20 years ago whether we'd be attempting such a mammoth task, I'd have said 'Don't be ridiculous!' These programmes tell a particular story and I'm sure others will come along and tell it much better than I did, but I do hope that if people watch it in 50 years' time, it will still have something to say about the world we live in."''Radio Times'' 26 Jan–1 February 2008: "The Last Word", interview with Jeremy Paxman However, in 2010 Attenborough asserted that his '' First Life'' – dealing with evolutionary history before ''Life on Earth'' – should be included within the "Life" series. In the documentary '' Attenborough's Journey'', he stated, "This series, to a degree which I really didn't fully appreciate until I started working on it, really completes the set."

Beyond ''Life on Earth''

Alongside the "Life" series, Attenborough continued to work on other television documentaries, mainly in the natural history genre. He wrote and presented a series on man's influence on the natural history of the Mediterranean Basin, '' The First Eden'', in 1987. Two years later, he demonstrated his passion for fossils in '' Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives''. In 1990, he worked on the BBC's ''Prisoners of Conscience'' series where he highlighted the case of Mahjoub Sharif. Attenborough narrated every episode of '' Wildlife on One'', a

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

wildlife series that ran for 253 episodes between 1977 and 2005. At its peak, it drew a weekly audience of eight to ten million, and the 1987 episode "Meerkats United" was voted the best wildlife documentary of all time by BBC viewers. He has narrated over 50 episodes of ''

Natural World ''Natural World'' is a strand of British wildlife documentary programmes broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Two HD and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history series. It is the longest-running documentary in its genre on British televis ...

'', BBC Two's flagship wildlife series. Its forerunner, '' The World About Us'', was created by Attenborough in 1969, as a vehicle for colour television. In 1997, he narrated the ''

BBC Wildlife Specials The ''BBC Wildlife Specials'' are a series of nature documentary programmes commissioned by BBC Television. The series premiered in 1995, and 22 specials have been produced to date, with most of the more recent ones consisting of multiple episo ...

'', each focussing on a charismatic species, and screened to mark the Natural History Unit's 40th anniversary. As a writer and narrator, Attenborough continued to collaborate with the BBC Natural History Unit in the new millennium.

Alastair Fothergill Alastair David William Fothergill (born 10 April 1960) is a British producer of nature documentaries for television and cinema. He is the series producer of the series ''The Blue Planet'' (2001), ''Planet Earth'' (2006) and the co-director of ...

, a senior producer with whom Attenborough had worked on ''The Trials of Life'' and ''Life in the Freezer'', was making ''

The Blue Planet ''The Blue Planet'' is a British nature documentary series created and produced by the BBC. It premiered on 12 September 2001 in the United Kingdom. It is narrated by David Attenborough. Described as "the first ever comprehensive series on t ...

'' (2001), the Unit's first comprehensive series on marine life. He decided not to use an on-screen presenter due to difficulties in speaking to a camera through diving apparatus, but asked Attenborough to narrate the films. The same team reunited for ''

Planet Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...

'' (2006), the biggest nature documentary ever made for television and the first BBC wildlife series to be shot in high definition. In 2009, he co-wrote and narrated ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'', a ten-part series focussing on extraordinary animal behaviour, and narrated ''

Nature's Great Events ''Nature's Great Events'' is a wildlife documentary series made for BBC television, first shown in the UK on BBC One and BBC HD in February 2009. The series looks at how seasonal changes powered by the sun cause shifting weather patterns and oce ...

'', which showed how seasonal changes trigger major natural spectacles. In January 2009, the BBC commissioned Attenborough to provide a series of 20 ten-minute monologues covering the history of nature. Entitled '' David Attenborough's Life Stories'', they were broadcast on Radio 4 on Friday nights. In 2011, Fothergill gave Attenborough a more prominent role in ''

Frozen Planet ''Frozen Planet'' is a 2011 British nature documentary series, co-produced by the BBC and The Open University. It was filmed by the BBC Natural History Unit. The production team, which includes executive producer Alastair Fothergill and ser ...

'', a major series on the natural history of the

polar regions The polar regions, also called the frigid zones or polar zones, of Earth are the regions of the planet that surround its geographical poles (the North and South Poles), lying within the polar circles. These high latitudes are dominated by floa ...

; Attenborough appeared on screen and authored the final episode, in addition to performing

voiceover Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations. ...

duties. Attenborough introduced and narrated the Unit's first 4K production '' Life Story.'' For ''

Planet Earth II ''Planet Earth II'' is a 2016 British nature documentary series produced by the BBC as a sequel to ''Planet Earth'', which was broadcast in 2006. The series is presented and narrated by Sir David Attenborough with the main theme music composed ...

'' (2016), Attenborough returned as narrator and presenter, with the main theme music composed by

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Oscars and four Grammys, and has been nominated for two Emmys and a Tony. Zimmer was also named on the list of Top 100 Living G ...

David Attenborough Great Barrier Reef screening

In October 2014, the corporation announced a trio of new one-off Attenborough documentaries as part of a raft of new natural history programmes. "Attenborough's Paradise Birds" and "Attenborough's Big Birds" was shown on BBC Two and "Waking Giants", which follows the discovery of giant dinosaur bones in South America, aired on BBC One. The BBC also commissioned

Atlantic Productions Atlantic Productions is a British production company based in London that produces television programmes for broadcasters in Europe and the United States. Overview Founded in 1992, Atlantic Productions leads a group of companies which make telev ...

to make a three-part, Attenborough-fronted series ''

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

'' in 2015. The series marked the 10th project for Attenborough and Atlantic, and saw him returning to a location he first filmed at in 1957. On radio, Attenborough has continued as one of the presenters of BBC Radio 4's '' Tweet of the Day'', which began a second series in September 2014. Attenborough forged a partnership with

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

, working on documentaries for the broadcaster's new 3D network,

Sky 3D The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

. Their first collaboration was '' Flying Monsters 3D'', a film about

pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 ...

s which debuted on Christmas Day of 2010. A second film, '' The Penguin King 3D'', followed a year later. His next 3D project, '' Conquest of the Skies'', made by the team behind the BAFTA award-winning '' David Attenborough's Natural History Museum Alive'', aired on

during Christmas 2014. Attenborough has narrated three series of ''

David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities ''David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities'' is a British nature documentary series first broadcast on Eden in January 2013, Produced by Humble Bee Films, Sir David Attenborough presents the series which puts a spotlight on some of nature's evolu ...

'' for

UKTV UKTV Media Limited, simply known as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through ...

channel

Watch A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached b ...

, with the third series showing in 2015. He has also narrated ''A majestic celebration: Wild Karnataka'', India's first blue-chip natural history film, directed by Kalyan Varma and Amoghavarsha. '' Blue Planet II'' was broadcast in 2017, with Attenborough returning as presenter. The series was critically acclaimed and gained the highest UK viewing figure for 2017 of 14.1 million. The series is thought to have triggered a long-lasting increase in public, media and political attention to

plastic pollution Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are catego ...

. Attenborough narrated the 2018 five part series ''

Dynasties A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A d ...

'', each episode dealing with one species in particular. In 2021 he presented the three part series '' Attenborough's Life in Colour'', and ''The Mating Game'', a five part series. Attenborough returned to prehistoric life with '' Dinosaurs: The Final Day'' and '' Prehistoric Planet'' aired in April and May 2022 respectively.

Environmentalist advocacy

By the turn of the millennium, Attenborough's authored documentaries were adopting a more overtly

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

stance. In ''

State of the Planet ''State of the Planet'' is a three-part environmental documentary series, made by the BBC Natural History Unit, transmitted in November 2000. It is written and presented by David Attenborough, and produced by Rupert Barrington. It includes inter ...

'' (2000), he used the latest scientific evidence and interviews with leading scientists and conservationists to assess the impact of human activities on the natural world. He later turned to the issues of

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

('' The Truth about Climate Change'', 2006) and human population growth (''How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth?'', 2009). He contributed a programme which highlighted the plight of endangered species to the BBC's ''

Saving Planet Earth ''Saving Planet Earth'' is a season of nature documentaries with a conservation theme, screened on BBC Television in 2007 to mark the 50th anniversary of its specialist factual department, the BBC Natural History Unit. The series featured fil ...

'' project in 2007, the 50th anniversary of the Natural History Unit. In 2019, Attenborough narrated ''

Our Planet ''Our Planet'' is a British nature documentary series made for Netflix. The series is narrated by David Attenborough and produced by Silverback Films, led by Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey, who also created BBC documentary series ''Plane ...

'', an eight-part documentary series, for

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

. In contrast to much of his prior work for the BBC, this series emphasised the destructive role of human activities throughout the series. Before, he would often note concerns in a final section of the work. He also narrated '' Wild Karnataka'', a documentary about the

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

forest area. In 2019, Attenborough's one-off film documentary about climate change for BBC One called ''

Climate Change – The Facts ''Climate Change – The Facts'' is a 2019 British documentary presented by David Attenborough that discusses climate change and possible solutions to counteract it. The one-hour programme made its debut on BBC One in the United Kingdom at 9pm ...

'' was aired; the tone of the documentary was significantly graver than previous work for the BBC. This was followed by '' Extinction: The Facts'', which is partly based on the 2019

IPBES The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is an intergovernmental organization established to improve the interface between science and policy on issues of biodiversity and ecosystem services. It ...

report A report is a document that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and purpose. Although summaries of reports may be delivered orally, complete reports are almost always in the form of written documents. Usage In ...

on the decline of biodiversity. In 2020, Attenborough narrated the documentary film '' David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet''. The film acts as Attenborough's witness statement, reflecting on his career as a naturalist and his hopes for the future. It was released on Netflix on 4 October 2020. Further work for Netflix includes the documentary titled '' Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet'', released on 4 June 2021. In October 2020, Attenborough began filming in Cambridge for '' The Green Planet''. In 2021, Attenborough narrated '' A Perfect Planet'', a five-part earth science series for BBC One. Attenborough was a key figure in the build-up to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), and gave a speech at the opening ceremony. In his speech he stated that humans were "the greatest problem solvers to have ever existed on Earth" and spoke of his optimism for the future, finishing by saying "In my lifetime I've witnessed a terrible decline. In yours, you could and should witness a wonderful recovery." In 2022, the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on th ...

recognised Attenborough as a Champion of the Earth "for his dedication to research, documentation, and advocacy for the protection of nature and its restoration".

Views and advocacy

Environment

Attenborough's programmes have often included references to the impact of human society on the natural world. The last episode of ''The Living Planet'', for example, focuses almost entirely on humans' destruction of the environment and ways that it could be stopped or reversed. Despite this, he has been criticised for not giving enough prominence to environmental messages. In 2018 while promoting ''Dynasties'', he said that repeated messages on threats to wildlife in programming could be a "turn-off" to viewers. Some environmentalists feel that programmes like Attenborough's give a false picture of idyllic wilderness and do not do enough to acknowledge that such areas are increasingly encroached upon by humans. However, the increased urgency of environmental messaging in films such as '' Extinction: The Facts'', which depicts the continuing

sixth mass extinction The Holocene extinction, or Anthropocene extinction, is the ongoing extinction event during the Holocene epoch. The extinctions span numerous families of bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, ...

, ''

'' and ''A Life on Our Planet'' from 2019 and 2020 received praise. In ''

Seven Worlds, One Planet ''Seven Worlds, One Planet'' is a documentary series from the BBC Natural History Unit. The seven-part series, in which each episode focuses on one continent, debuted on 27 October 2019 and is narrated and presented by naturalist Sir David Atten ...

'', Attenborough discusses the devastating impact that

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...

is having on the planet and the species. In 2005 and 2006, Attenborough backed a BirdLife International project to stop the killing of albatross by

longline fishing Longline fishing, or longlining, is a commercial fishing angling technique that uses a long ''main line'' with fish bait, baited fish hook, hooks attached at intervals via short branch lines called ''snoods'' or ''gangions''.< ...

boats. He gave support to WWF's campaign to have 220,000 square kilometres of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

's rainforest designated a protected area. He serves as a vice-president of The Conservation Volunteers, vice-president of

Fauna and Flora International Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is an international conservation charity and non-governmental organization dedicated to protecting the planet's threatened wildlife and habitats. Founded in 1903, it is the world's oldest international conserv ...

, president of Butterfly Conservation and president emeritus of

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust The Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust (LRWT) is one of 46 wildlife trusts across the United Kingdom. It manages nature reserves in Leicestershire and Rutland, and was founded in 1956 as the Leicestershire and Rutland Trust for Nature Con ...

. In 2003, he launched an appeal on behalf of the

World Land Trust The World Land Trust is a UK registered charity. It raises money to buy and then protect environmentally-threatened land in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. In 2018 it claimed to have raised more than £25 million and to have bought ...

to create a rainforest reserve in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

in memory of Christopher Parsons, the producer of ''Life on Earth'' and a personal friend, who had died the previous year. The same year, he helped to launch

ARKive ARKive was a global initiative with the mission of "promoting the conservation of the world's threatened species, through the power of wildlife imagery", which it did by locating and gathering films, photographs and audio recordings of the worl ...

, a global project instigated by Parsons to gather together natural history media into a digital library. ARKive is an initiative of

Wildscreen Wildscreen is a wildlife conservation charity based in Bristol, England. The charity was founded in December 1987 from a trust which had operated since 1982, with the initial aim of encouraging and applauding excellence in the production of na ...

, of which Attenborough is a patron. He later became patron of the World Land Trust. In 2020, he backed a Fauna and Flora International campaign calling for a global moratorium on

deep sea mining Deep sea mining is a growing subfield of experimental seabed mining that involves the retrieval of minerals and deposits from the ocean floor found at depths of or greater. As of 2021, the majority of marine mining efforts are limited to shal ...

for its impact on marine life. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Attenborough advocated on behalf of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 ...

(ZSL) and its conservation efforts, which have been impacted by the economic fallout from the pandemic. In 2020, Attenborough was named as a member of the Earthshot prize Council, an initiative of

Prince William William, Prince of Wales, (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. Born in London, William was educa ...

to find solutions to environmental issues. He is a patron of the Friends of Richmond Park and serves on the advisory board of BBC Wildlife magazine. Attenborough was initially sceptical about the human influence on

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

, and stated that a 2004 lecture finally convinced him humans were responsible. He remained silent on the issue until 2006. Attenborough attended and spoke at

COP26 The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, was the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, from 31 October to 13 November 2021. The ...

as the "People's Advocate" for the event, and urged world leaders to act to reduce emissions. He supported

Glyndebourne Glyndebourne () is an English country house, the site of an opera house that, since 1934, has been the venue for the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The house, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England, is thought to be about six hun ...

in their successful application to obtain planning permission for a

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each yea ...

in an

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

, and gave evidence at the planning inquiry arguing in favour of the proposal. In his 2020 documentary film '' David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet'', Attenborough advocates for people to adopt a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

diet or to reduce meat consumption to save

wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...

, noting that "the planet can’t support billions of meat-eaters."

Human population

Attenborough has linked anthropogenic effects on the environment with

human population growth Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...

. He has attracted criticism for his views on

human overpopulation Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedality, bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex Human brain, brain. This has enabled the development of ad ...

and human population control. He is a patron of

Population Matters Population Matters, formerly known as the Optimum Population Trust, is a UK-based charity that addresses population size and its effects on environmental sustainability. It considers population growth as a major contributor to environmental degr ...

, a UK charity advocating for family planning, sustainable consumption and proposed sustainable human population. In a 2013 interview with the '' Radio Times'', Attenborough described humans as a "plague on the Earth", and described the act of sending food to

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...

-stricken countries as "barmy" for population reasons. He called for more debate about human population growth, saying that since he "first started making programmes 60 years ago, the human population has tripled." According to Attenborough, improving

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

around the world is an effective way "to limit our birth rate." He said that "anyone who thinks that you can have infinite growth in a finite environment is either a madman or an economist."

Religious views

Attenborough considers himself an agnostic. When asked whether his observation of the natural world has given him faith in a creator, he generally responds with some version of this story, making reference to the ''

Onchocerca volvulus ''Onchocerca volvulus'' is a filarial (arthropod-borne) nematode (roundworm) that causes onchocerciasis (river blindness), and is the second-leading cause of blindness due to infection worldwide after trachoma. It is one of the 20 neglected tr ...

'' parasitic worm:

My response is that when Creationists talk about God creating every individual species as a separate act, they always instance hummingbirds, or
orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...
, sunflowers and beautiful things. But I tend to think instead of a parasitic worm that is boring through the eye of a boy sitting on the bank of a river in West Africa, wormthat's going to make him blind. And ask them 'Are you telling me that the God you believe in, who you also say is an all-merciful God, who cares for each one of us individually, are you saying that God created this worm that can live in no other way than in an innocent child's eyeball? Because that doesn't seem to me to coincide with a God who's full of mercy'.

He has explained that he feels the evidence all over the planet clearly shows

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

to be the best way to explain the diversity of life, and that "as far as

e's is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and drawn by Satoru Yuiga. It was originally serialized in ''Monthly GFantasy'' from 1997 through 2005, and later published in 16 ''tankōbon'' volumes by Square Enix from March 18, 2003 to Februa ...

concerned, if there is a supreme being then he chose organic evolution as a way of bringing into existence the natural world". In a BBC Four interview with Mark Lawson, he was asked if he at any time had any religious faith. He replied simply, "no". He said "It never really occurred to me to believe in God". In 2002, Attenborough joined an effort by leading clerics and scientists to oppose the inclusion of creationism in the curriculum of UK state-funded independent schools which receive private sponsorship, such as the Emmanuel Schools Foundation. In 2009, he stated that the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning" ...

, by saying that the world was there for people to control, had taught generations that they can "dominate" the environment, and that this has resulted in the devastation of vast areas of the environment. He further explained to the science journal ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'', "That's why Darwinism, and the fact of evolution, is of great importance, because it is that attitude which has led to the devastation of so much, and we are in the situation that we are in". Also in early 2009, the BBC broadcast an Attenborough one-hour special, '' Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life''. In reference to the programme, Attenborough stated that "People write to me that evolution is only a theory. Well, it is not a theory. Evolution is as solid a historical fact as you could conceive. Evidence from every quarter. What is a theory is whether natural selection is the mechanism and the only mechanism. That is a theory. But the historical reality that dinosaurs led to birds and mammals produced whales, that's not theory." He strongly opposes creationism and its offshoot "

intelligent design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...

", saying that the results of a survey that found a quarter of science teachers in state schools believe that creationism should be taught alongside evolution in science lessons was "really terrible". In March 2009, Attenborough appeared on ''

Friday Night with Jonathan Ross ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' is a British chat show presented by Jonathan Ross and broadcast on BBC One between 2001 and 2010. The programme features Ross' take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews (usually three per show) ...

''. Attenborough stated that he felt evolution did not rule out the existence of a God and accepted the title of agnostic saying, "My view is: I don't know one way or the other but I don't think that evolution is against a belief in God". Attenborough has joined the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and other top scientists in signing a campaign statement co-ordinated by the

British Humanist Association Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious b ...

(BHA). The statement calls for "creationism to be banned from the school science curriculum and for evolution to be taught more widely in schools".

BBC and public service broadcasting

Attenborough is a lifelong supporter of the BBC,

public service broadcasting Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

and the

television licence A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence ...

. He has said that public service broadcasting "is one of the things that distinguishes this country and makes me want to live here", and believes that it is not reducible to individual programmes, but "can only effectively operate as a network ..that measures its success not only by its audience size but by the range of its schedule".“The future of public service broadcasting”
. BBC. Retrieved 15 September 2019

... the BBC per minute in almost every category is as cheap as you can find anywhere in the world and produces the best quality. ..The BBC has gone through swingeing staff cuts. It has been cut to the bone, if you divert licence fee money elsewhere, you cut quality and services. ..There is a lot of people who want to see the BBC weakened. They talk of this terrible tax of the licence fee. Yet it is the best bargain that is going. Four radio channels and god knows how many TV channels. It is piffling.

Attenborough expressed the view that there had often been people wanting to remove the BBC, adding "there's always been trouble about the licence and if you dropped your guard you could bet our bottom dollar there'd be plenty of people who'd want to take it away. The licence fee is the basis on which the BBC is based and if you destroy it, broadcasting... becomes a wasteland." He expressed regret at some of the changes made to the BBC in the 1990s by its Director-General, John Birt, who introduced an internal market at the corporation, slimmed and even closed some departments and outsourced much of the corporation's output to private production companies. Although he said Birt's policies had poor results, Attenborough also acknowledged "the BBC had to change." In 2008, he criticised the BBC's television schedules, positing that the two senior networks,

and BBC Two – which Attenborough stated were "first set up as a partnership" – now "schedule simultaneously programmes of identical character, thereby contradicting the very reason that the BBC was given a second network."

Politics

In 1998, Attenborough described himself as "a standard, boring left-wing liberal" and expressed the view that the market economy was "misery". In 2013, Attenborough joined rock guitarists

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury and ...

and Slash in opposing the government's policy on the cull of badgers in the UK by participating in a song dedicated to badgers. Attenborough was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' expressing their hope that

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in the 2014 referendum on that issue. Prior to the

2015 UK general election The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 7 May 2015 to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. It was the first and only general election held at the end of a Parliament under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. Local ...

, Attenborough was one of several celebrities who endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

's Caroline Lucas. In a 2020 interview, Attenborough criticised excess

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

as a driver of ecological imbalance, stating "the excesses the capitalist system has brought us, have got to be curbed somehow", and that "greed does not actually lead to joy", although he added "That doesn't mean to say that capitalism is dead". He also lamented the lack of international cooperation on climate change, and said "there should be no dominant nation on this planet." In 2021, Attenborough told the leaders of the

47th G7 summit The 47th G7 summit was held from 11 to 13 June 2021 in Cornwall, England, during the United Kingdom's tenure of the presidency of the Group of Seven (G7), an inter-governmental political forum of seven advanced nations. The participants includ ...

that "tackling climate change was now as much a political challenge as it was a scientific or technological one" and urged more action. Attenborough also stated that "(we) are on the verge of destabilising the entire planet."

Achievements, awards and recognition

Attenborough's contribution to broadcasting and wildlife film-making has brought him international recognition. He has been called "the great communicator, the peerless educator" and "the greatest broadcaster of our time." His programmes are often cited as an example of what public service broadcasting should be, even by critics of the BBC, and have influenced a generation of wildlife film-makers.

Honorary titles

By January 2013, Attenborough had collected 32 honorary degrees from British universities, more than any other person. In 1980, he was honoured by the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

, with which he has had a close association throughout his career. He has honorary

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

degrees from Durham University (1982) and the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

(1984) and honorary

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degrees from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

(1988) and the

University of Ghent Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the ...

(1997). In 2006, the two eldest Attenborough brothers returned to their home city to receive the title of Distinguished Honorary Fellows of the University of Leicester, "in recognition of a record of continuing distinguished service to the University." David Attenborough was previously awarded an honorary

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Docto ...

degree by the university in 1970, and was made an honorary Freeman of the City of Leicester in 1990. In 2013, he was made an Honorary Freeman of the City of Bristol. In 2010, he was awarded Honorary Doctorates from

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Nelson Mandela University (formerly known as ''Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU)'' ) and before that - the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE), the Port Elizabeth Technikon and Vista University's Port Elizabeth campus. This South Afr ...

and Nottingham Trent University. Attenborough has received the title Honorary Fellow from Clare College, Cambridge (1980), the Zoological Society of London (1998), the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

(1999), the

Institute of Biology The Institute of Biology (IoB) was a professional body for biologists, primarily those working in the United Kingdom. The Institute was founded in 1950 by the Biological Council: the then umbrella body for Britain's many learned biological societie ...

(Now the Royal Society of Biology) (2000), and the Society of Antiquaries (2007). He is Honorary Patron of the

North American Native Plant Society The North American Native Plant Society (NANPS) is a volunteer-operated registered charitable organization concerned with conserving native plants in wild areas and restoring indigenous flora to developed areas. It is noted for its work in educat ...

and was elected as a Corresponding Member of the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soc ...

Recognition

Weston Library Opening by John Cairns 20

Attenborough has been featured as the subject of a number of BBC television programmes. ''Life on Air'' (2002) examined the legacy of his work, and ''Attenborough the Controller'' (2002) focused on his time in charge of BBC Two. He was also featured prominently in ''The Way We Went Wild'' (2004), a series about natural history television presenters, and ''100 Years of Wildlife Films'' (2007), a programme marking the centenary of the nature documentary. In 2006, British television viewers were asked to vote for their '' Favourite Attenborough Moments'' for a UKTV poll to coincide with the broadcaster's 80th birthday. The winning clip showed Attenborough observing the mimicry skills of the

superb lyrebird The superb lyrebird (''Menura novaehollandiae'') is an Australian songbird, one of two species from the family Menuridae. It is one of the world's largest songbirds, and is renowned for its elaborate tail and courtship displays, and its excell ...

. Attenborough was named the most trusted celebrity in the UK in a 2006 ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...

'' poll, and in 2007 he won ''

The Culture Show ''The Culture Show'' is a British magazine programme about books, art, film, architecture, music, visual fashion and the performing arts. The show was broadcast weekly on BBC Two between 2004 and 2015. Early history Launched in November 2004, t ...

s Living Icon Award. He has been named among the

100 Greatest Britons ''100 Greatest Britons'' is a television series that was broadcast by the BBC in 2002. It was based on a television poll conducted to determine who the British people at that time considered the greatest Britons in history. The series included in ...

in a 2002 BBC poll and is one of the top ten "Heroes of Our Time" according to ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...

'' magazine. In September 2009, London's

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

opened the Attenborough Studio, part of its Darwin Centre development. In 2012, Attenborough was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life. The same year, Attenborough featured in the BBC Radio 4 series '' The New Elizabethans'' to mark the

diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II The year 2012 marked the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II being the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. The only diamond jubilee celebration for any of Elizabeth's predecessors was in 1897, for the 60th an ...

. A panel of seven academics, journalists and historians named him among the group of people in the UK "whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands". A British polar research ship was named RRS ''Sir David Attenborough'' in his honour. While an Internet poll suggesting the name of the ship had the most votes for '' Boaty McBoatface'', Science Minister Jo Johnson said there were "more suitable names", and the official name was eventually picked up from one of the more favoured choices. However, one of its research sub-sea vehicles was named "Boaty" in recognition of the public vote.

Species named after Attenborough

At least 20 species and genera, both living and extinct, have been named in Attenborough's honour. Plants named after him include an alpine hawkweed ('' Hieracium attenboroughianum'') discovered in the Brecon Beacons, a species of Ecuadorian flowering tree (''

Blakea attenboroughi ''Blakea attenboroughii'' is a species of plant in the genus '' Blakea''. It is endemic to Ecuador and is named after the naturalist and television presenter, David Attenborough. The species was discovered by Lou Jost, an American botanist, in 2 ...

''), one of the world's largest-pitchered carnivorous plants ('' Nepenthes attenboroughii''), along with a genus of flowering plants ('' Sirdavidia''). Several Arthropods are named after Attenborough including a butterfly, Attenborough's black-eyed satyr ('' Euptychia attenboroughi''), a dragonfly, Attenborough's pintail ('' Acisoma attenboroughi''), a millimetre-long goblin spider ('' Prethopalpus attenboroughi''), an ornate Caribbean smiley-faced spider ('' Spintharus davidattenboroughi''), an Indonesian flightless weevil ('' Trigonopterus attenboroughi''), a Madagascan ghost shrimp ('' Ctenocheloides attenboroughi''), and a soil snail (''Palaina attenboroughi''). The

Monogenea Monogeneans are a group of ectoparasitic flatworms commonly found on the skin, gills, or fins of fish. They have a direct lifecycle and do not require an intermediate host. Adults are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female repro ...

n '' Cichlidogyrus attenboroughi'', a

parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

from a deep-sea fish in the Lake Tanganyika, is probably the only parasite species named after him. Vertebrates have also been named after Attenborough, including a Namibian lizard ('' Platysaurus attenboroughi''), a bird (''

Polioptila ''Polioptila'' is a genus of small insectivorous birds in the family Polioptilidae. They are found in North and South America. The genus ''Polioptila'' was introduced by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1855. Although he listed several m ...

attenboroughi''), a Peruvian frog ('' Pristimantis attenboroughi''), a Madagascan stump-toed frog (''Stumpffia davidattenboroughi''), and one of only four species of long-beaked echidna ('' Zaglossus attenboroughi''). Sitana attenboroughii David Raju

In 1993, after discovering that the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

reptile ''Plesiosaurus conybeari'' did not belong to the genus ''Plesiosaurus'', the palaeontologist

Robert Bakker Robert Thomas Bakker (born March 24, 1945) is an American paleontologist who helped reshape modern theories about dinosaurs, particularly by adding support to the theory that some dinosaurs were endothermic (warm-blooded). Along with his mentor ...

renamed the species ''

Attenborosaurus ''Attenborosaurus'' is an extinct genus of pliosaurid from the Early Jurassic of Dorset, England. The type species is ''A. conybeari''. The genus is named after David Attenborough, the species after William Conybeare (geologist), William Conybear ...

conybeari''. A fossilised armoured fish discovered in Western Australia in 2008 was named '' Materpiscis attenboroughi'', after Attenborough had filmed at the site and highlighted its scientific importance in ''Life on Earth''. In 2015, a species of tree from Gabon (in the

Annonaceae The Annonaceae are a family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs, or rarely lianas commonly known as the custard apple family or soursop family. With 108 accepted genera and about 2400 known species, it is the largest family in the Ma ...

family) '' Sirdavidia'' was named with his title. The ''Materpiscis'' fossil is believed to be the earliest organism capable of internal fertilisation. A miniature marsupial lion, ''

Microleo attenboroughi ''Microleo attenboroughi'' is a very small species of the Thylacoleonidae family of marsupials from the Early Miocene of Australia, living in the wet forest that dominated Riversleigh about 18 million years ago. The genus ''Microleo'' is curren ...

'', was named in his honour in 2016. The fossil grasshopper '' Electrotettix attenboroughi'' was named after Attenborough. In March 2017, a 430 million year old tiny

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...

was named after him. Called ''Cascolus ravitis'', the first word is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

translation of the root meaning of "Attenborough", and the second is based on a description of him in Latin. In July 2017, the Caribbean

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...

Myotis attenboroughi Sir David Attenborough's myotis (''Myotis attenboroughi'') is a species of small bat in the family Vespertilionidae that is endemic to the Caribbean island of Tobago. Its presence on nearby Trinidad is as yet uncertain. It is the only mammal spe ...

'' was named after him. A new species of fan-throated lizard from coastal

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

southern India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...

was named ''

Sitana attenboroughii ''Sitana marudhamneydhal'' is a species of agamid lizard. It is endemic to India. In 2021, the species ''Sitana attenboroughii'' was synonymised with ''S. marudhamneydhal''.Balan, A., Jude, D., Narayanan, S.,Varma, S. & Deepak, V. 2021. Morph ...

'' in his honour when it was described in 2018. In 2018, a new species of phytoplankton, '' Syracosphaera azureaplaneta'', was named to honour ''The Blue Planet'', the TV documentary presented by Attenborough, and to recognise his contribution to promoting understanding of the oceanic environment. The same year, Attenborough was also commemorated in the name of the scarab beetle ''Sylvicanthon attenboroughi''. In 2021 an extinct species of horseshoe crab was named '' Attenborolimulus superspinosus.'' In July 2022, a fossil of a 560-million-year-old creature named ''Auroralumina attenboroughii'', which researchers believe to be the first animal predator, was named after Attenborough. Attenborough is also recognised by ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'' as having the longest career as a natural historian and presenter in television.

Awards

In addition, he is the only person to have won BAFTA awards for programmes in black and white,

colour Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...

, high-definition, 3D, and 4K.

Filmography

David Attenborough's television credits span eight decades and his association with natural history programmes dates back to ''The Pattern of Animals'' and ''Zoo Quest'' in the early 1950s. His most influential work, 1979's ''Life on Earth'', launched a strand of nine authored documentaries with the BBC Natural History Unit which shared the ''Life'' strand name and spanned 30 years. He narrated every episode of the long-running BBC series ''Wildlife on One'' and in his later career has voiced several high-profile BBC wildlife documentaries, among them ''The Blue Planet'' and ''Planet Earth''. He became a pioneer in the 3D documentary format with ''Flying Monsters'' in 2010.

Bibliography

David Attenborough's work as an author has strong parallels with his broadcasting career. In the 1950s and 1960s, his published work included accounts of his animal collecting expeditions around the world, which became the ''Zoo Quest'' series. He wrote an accompanying volume to each of his nine ''Life'' documentaries, along with books on tribal art and

birds of paradise The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia. The family has 44 species in 17 genera. The members of ...

. His autobiography, ''Life on Air'', was published in 2002, revised in 2009 and is one of a number of his works which is available as a self-narrated

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

. Attenborough has also contributed forewords and introductions to many other works, notably those accompanying ''Planet Earth'', ''Frozen Planet'', ''Africa'' and other BBC series he has narrated. * '' Zoo Quest to Guyana'' (1956) * '' Zoo Quest for a Dragon'' (1957) – republished in 1959 to include an additional 85 pages titled ''Quest for the Paradise Birds'' * '' Zoo Quest in Paraguay'' (1959) * '' Quest in Paradise'' (1960) * ''People of Paradise'' (1960) * '' Zoo Quest to Madagascar'' (1961) * '' Quest Under Capricorn'' (1963) * ''Fabulous Animals'' (1975) * ''The Tribal Eye'' (1976) * '' Life on Earth'' (1979) * ''Discovering Life on Earth'' (1981) * ''

'' (1984) * ''The First Eden: The Mediterranean World and Man'' (1987) * ''The Atlas of the Living World'' (1989) * '' The Trials of Life'' (1990) * ''

'' (1994) * ''

'' (1998) * '' The Life of Mammals'' (2002) * ''Life on Air: Memoirs of a Broadcaster'' (2002) – autobiography, revised in 2009 * '' Life in the Undergrowth'' (2005) * ''Amazing Rare Things: The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery'' (2007) – with Susan Owens, Martin Clayton and Rea Alexandratos * '' Life in Cold Blood'' (2007) * ''David Attenborough's Life Stories'' (2009) * ''David Attenborough's New Life Stories'' (2011) * ''Drawn From Paradise: The Discovery, Art and Natural History of the Birds of Paradise'' (2012) – with Errol Fuller * ''Adventures of a Young Naturalist: The Zoo Quest Expeditions'' (2017) * ''Journeys to the Other Side of the World: Further Adventures of a Young Naturalist'' (2018) * ''Dynasties: The Rise and Fall of Animal Families'' with Stephen Moss (2018) * '' A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future'' (2020)

References

External links

BBC Books David Attenborough website

David Attenborough
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

*
David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet

*

People and Planet: David Attenborough
video of the 2011 RSA President's Lecture
David Attenborough
interview on BBC Radio 4 ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usua ...

'', 27 December 1998
David Attenborough: humanity must come to its senses or face environmental disaster
'' Radio Times''. 13 October 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:Attenborough, David 1926 births 20th-century English historians 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English non-fiction writers 20th-century English scientists 20th-century essayists 20th-century naturalists 20th-century British photographers 20th-century Royal Navy personnel 21st-century English historians 21st-century English male writers 21st-century English non-fiction writers 21st-century English scientists 21st-century essayists 21st-century naturalists 21st-century memoirists 21st-century British photographers Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Alumni of the London School of Economics Articles containing video clips

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

Audiobook narrators BAFTA fellows BBC television presenters BBC television producers BBC Two controllers British anti-capitalists British Book Award winners British male essayists English male non-fiction writers English social commentators Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Critics of creationism Critics of religions Cultural critics English activists English agnostics English autobiographers English broadcasters English conservationists English documentary filmmakers English environmentalists English essayists English explorers English memoirists English nature writers English non-fiction writers English photographers English scientists English television personalities Environmental journalists Environmental writers Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Fellows of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society Fellows of the Royal Society (Statute 12) Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Green thinkers International Emmy Founders Award winners Kalinga Prize recipients Knights Bachelor Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Literacy and society theorists Living people Members of the Order of Merit Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Nature photographers Non-fiction environmental writers Outstanding Narrator Primetime Emmy Award winners People associated with the University of Leicester People educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys People from Isleworth People from Leicester Presidents of the British Science Association Primetime Emmy Award winners Social critics Sustainability advocates Theorists on Western civilization Underwater filmmakers Writers about activism and social change Writers about globalization Writers about religion and science

Life and family

Career

Early years at the BBC

BBC administration