Sir David Attenborough

in Conservation by Araneta&Tan — September 29, 2009 at 9:24 am | 0 comments

Sir David Attenborough is one of the most well-known TV personalities in the UK, and has been for over half a century. For many, a wildlife documentary without the calm, relaxing tones of Attenborough’s narration is not worth watching. He is a national treasure. But as well as his documentary films he has been involved in conservation work throughout his life, and the two together mean that he has done more for conservation than many people alive today.

Early Life

Attenborough was born on May 8, 1926, the brother of Richard Attenborough. He showed an early interest in nature when he began to collect fossils as a boy, and it was an interest that would stay with him throughout his life.

When he was older he went to Clare College, Cambridge, where he studied for a degree in natural sciences. He married his wife in 1950, and they were together until she died in 1997.

The BBC

Attenborough first became involved with the BBC when he applied to become a radio talks producer in 1950. He failed to get the job, but his CV was recognised, and he ended up joining a training course for three months, following which he took up a full-time post in 1952.

He started out as a producer for non-fiction broadcasts, after which he presented his first series, ‘The Pattern of Animals’, with the naturalist Sir Julian Huxley. This involved looking at animals from London Zoo in a studio and discussing their individual characteristics.

Following this he made another animal-themed programme called ‘Zoo Quest’ about an expedition to collect animals, which was broadcast in 1954. His interest in animal programmes increased, and he formed his own department at the BBC, the Travel and Exploration Unit, where he began to produce more documentaries.

He left the BBC in the 1960s, but came back to fill the position of controller of BBC Two. He became director of programmes from 1969 to 1972, but turned down the post of director general.

Life Series

After working as the controller of BBC 2, he went back to making programmes, and it was during this stage of his career that he started work on the ‘Life’ series, which many consider his finest achievement. It started in 1979 when he wrote and presented ‘Life on Earth’.

This was followed by ‘The Living Planet’ in 1984, and ‘The Trials of Life’ in 1990. Other series include ‘Life in the Freezer’ in 1993, ‘Life of Birds’ in 1998 and ‘Life in Cold Blood’ in 2008, the last of the series.

Altogether, the series aimed to provide a complete view of life on earth as we know it, and it is certainly the most complete series of documentaries on the natural world ever created.

Narrator

Attenborough’s voice was perfect for narration, and as well as narrating the Life Series he also narrated landmark programmes such as ‘The Blue Planet’ in 2001 and ‘Planet Earth’ in 2006. He also narrated over 250 episodes of the BBC’s main wildlife programme, ‘Wildlife on One’, between 1977 and 2005.

Conservation

Nearly all of Attenborough’s series have included some information about how humans are impacting on the planet. Some environmentalists suggest that he could have gone further in his criticisms, but what cannot be argued is the amount of work that he has done in the name of conservation throughout his life.

He has supported numerous charitable causes, including the campaign ‘BirdLife International’ which was against the killing of albatrosses by long-line fishing boats, and a campaign by the WWF to make 220,00 square kilometres of the rainforest in Borneo into a protected area.

He is also the vice president of BTCV and Fauna and Flora International, the president of Butterfly Conservation and a patron of World Land Trust.

By not only working on projects that he finds important, but through inspiring others to act through his inspirational wildlife programmes, Sir David Attenborough has had a huge impact on environmental causes throughout his lifetime, and can truly be considered a conservation hero.