David Attenborough, in full Sir David Frederick Attenborough, (born May 8, 1926, London, England), English broadcaster, writer, and naturalist noted for his innovative educational television programs, especially the nine-part Life series.

Top Questions Who is David Attenborough? David Attenborough is an English broadcaster, writer, and naturalist who was noted for his innovative educational television programs, especially the nine-part Life series. Where did David Attenborough receive his education? David Attenborough attended Clare College, Cambridge, graduating with a master’s degree in 1947. He then began work at an educational publishing house in 1949. In 1952 he completed a training program at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and became a television producer for the BBC. When was David Attenborough born? David Attenborough was born May 8, 1926, in London. He grew up in Leicester, England, where his father was principal of the local university. How is David Attenborough related to Richard Attenborough? Richard Attenborough was David Attenborough’s elder brother. Richard was an actor, director, and producer known for his dynamic on-screen presence, camera work, and charity efforts.

Attenborough grew up in Leicester, England, where his father was principal of the local university; his older brother, Richard Attenborough, later became a successful actor and film producer. David early developed a strong interest in natural history. He was educated at Clare College, Cambridge (M.A., 1947), and began work at an educational publishing house in 1949. In 1952 he completed a training program at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and became a television producer for the BBC. Together with the reptile curator Jack Lester, in 1954 he originated the television series Zoo Quest, in which live animals were filmed in the wild and in zoos. This show proved enormously popular and widened the scope of the educational programming offered by the BBC.

In 1965 Attenborough became controller of the BBC’s new second television channel, BBC-2. In this capacity he helped launch the dramatic production The Forsyte Saga and such landmark cultural-educational series as Jacob Bronowski’s The Ascent of Man and Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation. He also aired the seminal comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

Attenborough was director of television programming of the BBC from 1968 to 1972, but he resigned to write and produce television series on a freelance basis. He subsequently wrote (and narrated) a succession of award-winning television programs on anthropology and natural history, most notably the Life series: Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984), The Trials of Life (1990), Life in the Freezer (1993), The Private Life of Plants (1995), The Life of Birds (1998), The Life of Mammals (2002–03), Life in the Undergrowth (2005), and Life in Cold Blood (2008). His other TV credits included The Blue Planet (2001), an exploration of the world’s oceans, and State of the Planet (2000) and Are We Changing Planet Earth? (2006), both of which dealt heavily with environmental issues such as global warming. He narrated but did not write Blue Planet II (2017); for his narration, Attenborough earned an Emmy Award.

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Attenborough later narrated Our Planet, an eight-part series that debuted on Netflix in 2019. That year the BBC also broadcast his documentary Climate Change—The Facts, in which he warned that the failure to act could lead to “the collapse of our societies.”

Attenborough was the recipient of numerous other honours, including several BAFTA Awards and a Peabody Award (2014). He was knighted in 1985.