Legendary wildlife broadcaster Sir David Attenborough has celebrated his 100th birthday – but how much do you know about him? Here are some fascinating facts.
Sir David Attenborough has been a fixture on TV screens for more than six decades, and the wildlife documentaries he has fronted – which have been broadcast across the world – have consistently broken new ground and provided insights into how animals, fish and birds across the planet live their lives that have never been seen before.
In addition to bringing his infectious love of the subject to viewers – some of whom have been inspired to embark on their own careers in zoology, broadcasting and more because of him – Sir David has also been a prominent ecological campaigner, helping to protect endangered species and territories.
Remarkably, Sir David is still working – providing voiceover to a new series that will be out later this year.
But how much do you know about Sir David Attenborough? Here are some facts you might not know.
He became a presenter by accident
Sir David joined the BBC in 1952 as a trainee, initially working behind the camera. He wanted to make films outside of the studio, and his earliest foray with this was called Zoo Quest, which combined studio presentation with footage shot on location – innovative for its day.
Sir David was a producer on this – going to places such as Sierra Leone to film footage – but when the intended presenter fell ill, he was asked to step in. The rest is history…
He helped bring Monty Python to the world
While he was already known for wildlife broadcasting, during the 1950s and 60s Sir David was also growing his career in management at the BBC, rising quickly to become director of programmes, which meant he was in charge of commissioning programmes, and one of those that he green lit was a comedy show by a largely unknown group of young comedians and writers called Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
First broadcast in 1969, late at night, the show became a cult hit and, as well as launching the careers of people like John Cleese and Michael Palin, it also helped to revolutionise comedy – the show is still influential to this day.
Tennis balls are yellow because of Sir David
Tennis balls are known the world over for being flourescent yellow in colour, but this has only been for the past 50 years or so. Before then, they were white. Who was behind the colour change? Sir David. Here’s how: in the early 1970s, color television was starting to become popular, and Sir David, still a TV executive at the time, saw that the white balls were often difficult to see against the green grass courts of Wimbledon. He proposed that brightly coloured balls would be easier to see and viewers at home would be able to follow the action better. The International Tennis Federation took his suggestion on board and conducted its own research, finding that fluorescent yellow worked best on color and black-and-white TVs.
He created the natural history documentary as we know it
Natural history documentaries continue to be hugely popular, and many run to a standard format, with impressive photography and camera work from teams who spend weeks or even months watching animals and birds in their natural habitats around the globe and presenting what they do in in the wild. This is stitched together with a presenter out there and voiceover work.
Of course, it was Sir David who pioneered this format in the late 1970s with the show Life on Earth. The show was hugely successful, and it is estimated it has been watched by 500 million people around the world.
More than 40 species are named after him
Sir David’s work has helped to promote natural history and wildlife conservation the world over and highlight species that may have previously been overlooked. As a result, researchers have looked to honour him by naming creatures after him. Today, more than 40 have his name attached, everything from butterflies to orchids and even a species of wasp.
