Celebrating 70years of the Charismatic Sir David Attenborough: Some of His Achievements and Recent Nature Series to Watch!
Recognizable by his gentle voice, he has graced our screens for 7 decades as a nature broadcaster, and is UK’s beloved national treasure. Here's wishing Sir David Attenborough a happy 97th!
His achievements go beyond being a nature broadcaster and producer for the BBC, he is also an author, a historian, and an honoree with scores of degrees and honorary awards. As he recently celebrated his birthday on 8th May, this article will not just be enumerating some of his achievements, but will also count down the top 3 of his recent nature documentaries I recommend watching these last remaining days of May.
If you were born in the late 80s or early 90s and were brought up in Lagos, Nigeria, you will distinctly remember when Dish Satellite Television (DSTV) was first introduced. The dish tv along with Channels TV station, had nature/ wildlife shows we would be forced to watch as kids. This is where I fell in love with Sir David Attenborough. His programs along with others like Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin all dominated DSTV’s nature channels but to me, his voice was most distinct and he became the main voice of most nature shows on the dish TV.
Sir David was born on the 8th of May 1926 in West London and is the middle child of 2 brothers. Later during the second world war, his parents adopted 2 refugee girls from Germany who later became his sisters. As a child, he loved collecting rocks and had an impressive fossil collection which was the founding block of his curiosity for the natural world; its nature of existence, history, and adaptations of the animals that inhabited the world.
This curiosity led him to graduate with an honors degree in Natural Sciences and attend a 3-month training program at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The BBC then was popularly known as a radio station and had a small new television service. Television sets were gaining quick popularity in the UK, even though Sir David himself did not have one. The BBC took this opportunity and appointed him as a TV producer because he was told he lacked charisma and had ‘Big Teeth’ to be in front of the cameras
What a huge blunder.
This all changed when he was an immediate fill-in for a program presenter who fell ill. With his TV debut, he got further promotion in the BBC which gave him more freedom to choose programs, etc. He became a narrator and presenter of many of the BBC documentaries that were filmed in over 83 countries, thus having a huge positive impact on the channel's viewership, further solidifying him as a household name. His voice; so calm but authoritative, along with his art of storytelling was widely inclusive and very simple to understand. People from different age groups and different walks of life regularly tuned in to his docu-series to be educated and entertained.
Some of his achievements.
He has received 2 knighthoods from the British Royal Empire for his contribution and work to both television and conservation. He was initially knighted by the (now late) Queen Elizabeth II in 1985 and then given the Knights Grand Cross in 2022. This is seen as the highest in rank and was awarded the 2nd by YRH King (then Prince) Charles III.
He has filmed, narrated, and presented 100+ documentaries in over 83 countries in the world.
He has at least 40 species and genera both living and extinct including the fly-catching flat lizard, Platysaurus attenboroughi, named after him.
Awarded 50 times for his contribution to film, conservation, production, and narration. In addition, he is the only person to have won BAFTA Awards for programs in black and white, color, high-definition, 3D, and 4K.
From the start of his career, his documentaries focused more on biodiversity and species conservation, but from the mid-2000s his nature series evolved more into environmental advocacy on the nature of Climate Change; its impacts, and his support for climate actions taken all around the world. For the first time in COP 26, he gave a bold and inspiring speech to various world leaders who listened with rapt attention.
In celebration of his 97th birthday, I have listed the top 3 recent from his 100+ documentaries you should watch that will leave you more enlightened and inspired.
A Life of Our Planet (2020).
This documentary beautifully knits together his career as a wildlife presenter during his travels around the world as well as a witness statement taking account of the gradual changes in the natural landscapes during his 50 years of service. The documentary showed side-by-side figures of the gradual decline in wildlife populations and the rise in carbon emissions. Apart from it being highly informative, it is also inspiring. This documentary gave me a glimpse of my personal trajectory in being more vocal about climate change. I highly recommend this to someone who wants to watch some of his recent work.
Our Planet (2019)
This 8-part series of 45 mins each gives a glimpse of our natural landscapes and their inhabitants. The landscapes; Rainforests, Icescapes, grasslands, deserts, etc. all have different factors (soil, animals, and plants) that help to balance the ecosystems. This series takes us on an insightful journey of the symbiotic relationships between 2 species for survival, the architects of the landscapes, and many more. I enjoyed this because regardless of the advocacy, I learned new things like how the Cordyceps fungi infect insects and grow from their decayed bodies as a way to balance the diversity of the species in the forest, or salt being used as bait for prey.
Life in Colour (2021)
This 1hr 23mins documentary was an amazing watch because it showed us the vital role color plays in our daily life. It shows how animals see colors and use them as survival tools rather than just for aesthetics. With the help of new tech and advanced cameras, there was a comparative analysis of how humans and some animals saw nature. It was fascinating to understand how other animals see nature differently; in ultraviolet and polarised light and they use that to their advantage during hunts. Life in color also explained the reason behind the Black and White Stripes in Zebras, the elaborate and colorful courting rituals by some birds, and how or why the crab spider changes its color and becomes invisible to its prey. This was something I found new and I love how detailed they went, even with multiple cameras set up to explain the differences.
He is unarguably a formidable voice in the world of nature conservation, his dedication to the protection of the planet is seen through his books, several of his documentaries, and his advocacy. He has collaborated with several NGOs like the World Wildlife Fund, Birdlife International, etc. These documentaries aren’t just curated for life scientists but for everyone curious about the environment, its plight, and what we as individuals can do. Let’s end his month by watching all these nature series available on Netflix (for a limited time) In one of the documentaries, there is something he said that stays rent-free in my mind and I share the same sentiments.
“ It’s funny how our banks and pensions are investing in fossil fuels when these are the very things jeopardizing the future that we are saving for”.
Let’s be imperfectly green together through our daily lifestyle. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I loved writing this.
Until next month! I am rooting for you
Monica
Thank you Monica for sketching Sir Attenborough's life and achievements. I always love watching his programs till date. He is a pathfinder in this area and has inspired lives through his work and will inspire to generations to come.