Sir David Attenborough

Here's a short biography of Sir David

• Sir David Attenborough was born on 8 May, 1926, in Isleworth, West London. The same year as Queen Elizabeth II!
• He was raised on the campus of University College, Leicester. Now the University of Leicester, where his dad was principal.
• Sir David doesn’t count himself as an animal ‘lover’. But instead says he has always been fascinated by them.
• He’s thrifty! At 11 years old he struck a deal selling newts to University College, Leicester for 3d (3 pence) each. The newts only came from a pond 5m away from the university’s zoology department!
• He is the only person to have won BAFTAs for programmes in black and white, colour, HD, and 3D.
• He doesn’t own a car as he never passed his driving test. He’s also not keen on sending emails, and prefers receiving letters by fax or post.
• During World War II his parents adopted two Jewish refugee girls from Europe.
• There’s only one animal Sir David doesn’t like… Rats!
• Sir David was rejected from the first job he ever applied for at the BBC. The position of radio talk producer.
• In 1947 he spent two years serving in the Royal Navy. Based in North Wales and the Firth of Forth.
• When Sir David got his first job in television, he didn’t even own a TV. Like most British people at the time!
• His first programme, called Coelacanth, looked at the rediscovery of the coelacanth – a prehistoric fish.
• Sir David has more than ten plants and animals named after him Such as the Nepenthes attenboroughii – a giant carnivorous plant that devours animals as large as rats – and the UK’s new polar research vessel, RRS Sir David Attenborough.
• In 1985 he received a knighthood. Granting him the title of Sir David Attenborough.
• He’s thought to be one of the most well-travelled people on the planet. For The Life of Birds documentary, he travelled a whopping 256,000 miles – that’s the same as travelling around the world ten times!

Read more about this great man on Wikipedia.