Sir David Attenborough
5/9/202623 min
As Sir David Attenborough celebrates his 100th birthday, we bring together conservationists and film-makers to discuss the impact of his long career, and the influence he has had on how we think about nature. We hear how his tv programmes and books have reached audiences around the world and the inspiration they have provided. Wendy Kirorei describes how growing up in Kenya, Sir David’s programmes were shown constantly on television, and led her to become a wildlife film-maker. “My dream was to do my first documentary in the Maasai Mara purely influenced by watching a lot of his work growing up.”
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First 90 secondsJames Reynolds· Host0:00
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. [upbeat music] Hello, I'm James Reynolds. And in BBC Conversations, we celebrate the 100th birthday of Sir David Attenborough. David Attenborough began his broadcasting career as a BBC trainee in 1952, working in the then new medium of television. Who thought it would last? Within a couple of years, he was on screen presenting a wildlife series called Zoo Quest. He traveled the world, filming encounters with animals, including lemurs, birds of paradise, and Komodo dragons, bringing those exotic species right to British audiences. It was a huge hit and the start of what's been a seven-decade-long career, transforming how so many of us see the natural world. In 1978, whilst making the groundbreaking series Life on Earth, he famously mesmerized audiences by rolling around with baby gorillas and their mother in Rwanda.
David Attenborough· Soundbite1:03
She put her hand on the top of my head and turned my head towards her to look in one another's eyes. [laughs] And then she stuck her finger, which was, you know, huge, I mean, like a great sort of articulated banana, and opened my mouth to put it in my mouth, lowered my jaw, and looked inside my mouth. [laughs] So it was, it was extraordinary.