A century of Attenborough: How Sir David has captured our world
Forty species bear his name and he fears rats more than gorillas –the one and only Sir David Attenborough turns 100 after half a century of bringing our planet into the homes of everyday people
READING LEVEL: GREEN
Naturalist and iconic* broadcaster Sir David Attenborough has proven to be a superior specimen of the species.
He’s turning 100 this week, having outlived another enduring British fixture, Queen Elizabeth II, who was born on the same day in 1926.
There will be 100 blue butterflies released, a televised big birthday bash at London’s Royal Albert Hall, the launch of new Attenborough documentaries about the making of old Attenborough documentaries, and Sir David has even been tipped to feature on a new British bank note.
British newspapers are inviting readers to share their favourite Attenborough moments – but there are just so many. Take that January day in Rwanda in 1978, when, lying in the undergrowth, a female gorilla patted Attenborough on the head while her youngsters lay over him. He later said it was “one of the most privileged days” of his life.
Attenborough has spent most of his life, and all of ours, showing us the marvels of nature.
Imbued* with optimism*, authority, and a knack for finding the right words no matter how many dangerous animals lurked nearby, he is a natural-born storyteller who “has taken us by the hand”.
Attenborough has shown us miracles and wonders we otherwise would never have witnessed, such as lions working in a pack to down an elephant. Or a male Darwin frog giving birth by the mouth. Or the male’s obsessive housework in the courtship* of birds of paradise.
Attenborough’s gorilla encounter came towards the end of a three-year journey to 40 countries to observe more than 600 species.
The resulting film, Life on Earth, set a trailblazing* template* of discovery for blockbuster documentaries he has created, presented and narrated in the decades since, watched on living room televisions by hundreds of millions – possibly even billions across his entire career.
He has shaped how generations grew up wanting to look after the wider world.
As he said in Life on Earth: “The fact is that no species has ever had such wholesale control over everything on Earth, living or dead, as we now have. That lays upon us, whether we like it or not, an awesome responsibility. In our hands now lies not only our own future, but that of all other living creatures with whom we share the Earth.”
Sir David has called North Queensland his favourite place in the world (citing the rainforest and the reef, which he fears will disappear in 30 years), besides his London home.
“The Barrier Reef and the Amazon rainforest – two incredible places I never want to contemplate not visiting again,” he has said.
He has visited Australia 37 times, it’s reported, in travelling to 83 countries.
His adventures have inspired millions to get closer to nature, whether it’s to glimpse the silverback gorillas in Africa, rhinos in Nepal, or jaguars in Brazil.
“There are always new things to find out if you go looking for them,” he once said.
“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.”
But there’s one animal Attenborough prefers to avoid. Sir David fears rats after several close encounters, including one in a bathroom.
When he turned eight, Attenborough’s father gave him a fire salamander*.
“When people ask me, ‘How did you get interested in animals?’ I reply, ‘How on Earth did you lose your interest in animals?” he said in 2008.
He was married to Jane – his “anchor” with whom he had two children – for almost 50 years until her death.
Of his children, Richard and Susan, Attenborough told the Radio Times in 2017: “If I do have regrets, it is that when my children were the same age as your children, I was away for three months at a time. If you have a child of six or eight and you miss three months of his or her life, it’s irreplaceable; you miss something.”
Forty plant and animal species have been named in his honour.
Throughout his 90s, Attenborough has chronicled our influence, good and bad, on nature’s preservation.
As he has said: “In our hands now lies not only our own future but that of all other living creatures.”
At 99, he narrated Ocean, which showed how bottom trawl fishing drained life from the ocean with the starkness of a bulldozer ploughing through a pristine rainforest.
“We have a finite environment – the planet,” Attenborough once said. “Anyone who thinks that you can have infinite growth in a finite environment is either a madman or an economist.”
“If I say stuff, people listen,” Attenborough once told director Keith Scholey, with whom Attenborough has collaborated for decades.
“So I have to be sure, completely sure, that I’m right.”
POLL
GLOSSARY
- iconic: very famous or popular, especially being considered to represent particular opinions or a particular time
- imbued: filled with a particular feeling, quality or idea
- optimism: state of being full of hope and emphasising the good parts of a situation, or a belief that something good will happen
- courtship: the act, period, or art of seeking or attracting a mate
EXTRA READING
Sir David Attenborough’s climate change warning
Last Galapagos tortoise helping humans
QUICK QUIZ
- Which magnificent creature helped kickstart Attenborough’s career by patting him on the head in a Rwandan forest?
- Celebrations of Attenborough’s birthday will include the release of 100 what?
- What is the one animal Sir David is said to fear?
- What has Attenborough said would be his one regret?
- He narrated Ocean at the age of 99 – what did that documentary show?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Attenborough timeline
After reading the Kids News article, construct a timeline of Sir David Attenborough’s life. Include important details such as date of birth, marriage, children and career highlights.
Make it visually appealing and easy to read and comprehend the main details of his life.
Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking
2. Extension
What do you think David Attenborough’s key message is?
What do you think he’d like to be remembered for after living for 100 years?
Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking
VCOP ACTIVITY
Animal alliterations
With a partner, choose one of the pictures from the Sir David Attenborough article.
Make a list of nouns you could use to name the animal in the picture. For example, instead of a tiger, you could also say cat, or feline.
Pick your favourite noun and identify its initial sound — what sound it starts with, not necessarily what letter.
Now, using the initial sound, make a list of adjectives to describe the animal. Try to be specific. Don’t just look at the animal as a whole, look at their different features as well.
Build on these same sound words, and add any verbs and adverbs you could use to describe the animal and their movements.
Try to put it all together and use as many same sound words in a sentence, to create an alliteration about the animal in the picture. For example: the terrifying tiger, tiptoed through tangled trees chasing his prey.