Attenborough’s ‘African roots’
Broadcaster began 64-year career here, and is launching a new TV series
A BURNING desire to visit the African continent was the spark which ignited arguably the most renowned personality in the natural history genre over 60 years ago.
With a cup of coffee in hand, the celebrated 92-year-old broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough detailed how his now 64-year glittering career took off.
“Because I wanted to go to Africa, I suggested that we should make a film about a collecting expedition that the London Zoo was sending out to collect animals in Sierra Leone. Fortunately, I managed to convince the BBC to go with it, which I did.
“It was the first film in Africa which I did – it was a series called Zoo Quest,” Attenborough said.
Zoo Quest, which first aired in 1954 and launched Attenborough’s career, was a programme where he travelled with staff from the London Zoo to tropical regions in order to find exotic animals.
Attenborough was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the BBC’S new natural history programme, Dynasties, a show which he narrated and said was probably the most “ground-breaking” TV project he’d been involved in.
“I can’t think of any programme that I’ve done in which it is just one particular family of animals – the same ones. The same ones are being continuously observed for two-and-a-half years.
“Economically, it is almost impossible. How he sold it” – he points to Dynasties executive producer Mike Gunton – “I don’t know. If he was trying to sell it to me, I would say, ‘you’re crazy’,” Attenborough joked.
He said he didn’t go to locations as much as he used to, but was still involved in the scriptwriting process, working within a team.
“I’m interested in the process of putting words with pictures. I think it’s not a very celebrated skill, but there is such a skill and I think it takes a bit of time to learn,” he said.
Attenborough didn’t have the “remotest idea” of how many coun- tries he had visited over the past 64 years, but said he had been to all continents and had no plans to retire yet.
“As long as people want me to do things, and I can do things, I will continue. It is a privilege to do this. I’d much rather work than to do nothing at all.”