SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH
Ever y time he leaves home on a journey, Sir David Attenborough considers that he is star ting an adventure. “Ever y day of our lives brings us something new,” he said. “It is nice to go to bed at night looking for ward to the next day, a fresh star t, a new experience.
“My life has been ver y much like that, still is up to a point. I don’t travel quite so spontaneously these days, but the thrill from each new challenge is the same.”
Sir David’s fresh star t in his late 20s enabled us to see the world’s most amazing creatures in a way never done before. Yet he could so easily have remained in educational publishing.
As a boy, he lived in Leicestershire where his father was principal of Leicester University.
“As a small boy I hunted for fossils, bird’s eggs – which in those days you were allowed to collect – and many other little creatures that I could take home and keep in jars. The nearby Charnwood Forest was one of my favourite places – it was not only full of trees and wildlife but also of 600-million-year-old rocks.
“There are fossils from 150 million years ago, and they were beautiful and mysterious. When you know how a fossil got there, you know that yours are the first eyes to see it, and it’s thrilling.
“People are often surprised that while I admire Charles Dar win, my real hero was Alfred Russell Wallace. You see,
Dar win did his Beagle trip, then settled in Kent and never moved or had any other great adventures. If you’re 12, that isn’t the way you want to spend your life. I wanted to be tramping around the East Indies like Wallace, having adventures.”
An oppor tunity to join the BBC presented itself in 1952.
“I think I had only ever watched television once in my life up to that point, so it really was a big switch to leave the world of educational publishing and go into broadcasting. But I was up for that fresh star t and a new challenge.”
The result has been spectacular programmes from Zoo Quest to Blue Planet, books, radio shows, a knighthood and other honours. Quite an adventure.
“It still is,” he revealed. “At my age it is more difficult to throw a few things in a bag and head off to Borneo, but I still have that spirit of adventure.
“I have never been the sor t of person to sit back and look at where you have come from and what you have done. I have always found it more interesting to look for ward to the next new experience.
“Ever y time you travel somewhere you have never been, you are refreshed by the new experience. They say a change is as good as a rest, so frequent new experiences must be good for you. That’s what a fresh star t is all about, even if you just add in something new.
“My career has enabled me to follow
“I have always found it more interesting to go forward…”
those same interests and pursuits that I had as a boy. I know from all the letters I receive that many people are interested in the same things, and have enjoyed sharing the experiences through the eyes of the camera.”
Could Sir David be the most travelled person ever?
“It might well be true,” he said. “I haven’t finished yet, though. I had a pacemaker fitted a few years ago. If I was earning my money in a coal mine, I would be ver y glad to retire. But I’m not. I’m swanning round the world looking at the most fabulously interesting things. Ever y day I still get my fresh star t.”