Sir David Attenborough: A trailblazer at 99
As a coveted writer, broadcaster and naturalist, with 32 university degrees and two knighthoods in 1985 and 2022 respectively, Sir David Attenborough’s journey started rather early when he was a 12-year-old boy strolling through Leicestershire.
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“The fossils I chipped, as a twelve-year old boy, from the beautiful yellow ironstones of Leicestershire, led me to a life-time's absorption in natural history; and when in my twenties I began to travel in the wilder parts of the world, the stone axes, wooden masks and feathered headdresses I brought back soon proved to be more than mere souvenirs,” as quoted in Attenborough’s Eye a journal article by British-Australian archaeologist Vincent Megaw. This spirit of his has made him a quintessential figure in the forefront of global conservation for more than sixty years.
A name synonymous to the British Broadcasting Corporation
Attenborough’s contributions gained momentum in 1954 with the premiere of Zoo Quest, a documentary where a young Attenborough along with a team from the London Zoo travelled in pursuit of exotic animals. Furthermore in 1965, he was appointed as the controller of BBC2 which led to his designation as Director of Programmes at BBC.
From his first scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef in 1957 where he was left “taken aback”, to a historic 1,000-foot dive in 2015 in a BBC-backed documentary revisiting the same, Attenborough told The Guardian, “No other organisation has the ambition to do films like this and I just hope it will go on doing it.”
A paragon of conservation
With his notable programmes such as, Life on Earth (1979), The Blue Planet (2001), The Living Planet (1984), Frozen Planet (2011), Ocean (2025) and so forth, he has left an immutable change in the trajectory of environment conservation and awareness. His passion towards effective and emotive storytelling continues to characterise a ripple effect towards the restoration generation. Attenborough’s shows have captivated the attention of some of the most prominent figures in the global scene, garnering much international support for the conservation initiatives.
Talking about Attenborough, current UN secretary general Antonio Guterres reminisced from the COP26 Climate Summit held in Glasgow in 2021, “If working apart, we are force powerful enough to destabilize our planet, surely, working together, we are powerful enough to save it. In my lifetime, I've witnessed a terrible decline. In yours, you could and should witness a wonderful recover,” reported The Guardian. Sir David Attenborough’s bravery resonated with the world during his address at Glasgow where he called out the human characteristic of failing to see the bigger picture while in pursuit of short-term goals.
In honour of his contributions to the cause, the UN Environment Programme announced Sir David Attenborough as the recipient of the Champions of the Earth Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.
The biologist’s 99th birthday today coincides with the release of his latest documentary, Ocean with David Attenborough, the legend reinforces in the film, "I now understand the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea."
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