He has a UK research ship named after him, even though in a public poll to name the vessel he came in behind Boaty McBoatface. ;-)
During first semester of my bachelor’s degree in biology our animal morphology and evolution professor showed us a snippet of one of his documentaries. The entire chat (lecture was via zoom because covid) exploded with messages along the lines of “Omg! David Attenborough! <3”. (This was in Germany btw)
I think he is a huge part of the reason why I do biology and iNat in the first place!
May he narrate nature documentaries for 100 years more and inspire people like he inspired me!
David Attenborough is the greatest nature influencer of all time. He is the goat of the category. He arguably created the category, and his reach will never be equalled, because attention is more fragmented now.
The rise of Attenborough coincided with the rise of television, when the world’s attention was concentrated in one place. Today, every young person’s favourite TikTok star is someone their friends have never heard of, and this fragmentation of attention will probably continue.
So with Attenborough, we witnessed something unique, that will never be repeated.
Huge in Australia. I was late primary school when Life on Earth aired and everyone watched it. It was an event. I was already a nature nerd but have loved Attenborough ever since Life on Earth and watched everything that he produced (though not all of the paid gig voiceover documentaries that he wasn’t involved in the writing and production)
I went and saw him when he came to Australia in 2013 and took my kid along passing the love of his style of documentary down the generations
I’ve been surprised how many of my younger naturalist friends attribute the Kratt brothers to their interest in nature. There was never TV in my house growing up so I missed those, but we had CDs of Attenborough docs.
I suspect that I missed Life on Earth. In the window where South Africa missed both the first heart transplant (HERE at Groote Schuur hospital in Cape Town) and the landing on the moon. Before South Africa was ‘allowed’ TV. But his name and his heritage - that I know!
I’m french and he is a real hero, in my family at least !
A fantastic broadcaster, naturalist and now a centenarian too. The coverage of the celebration of his Birthday last Friday in the Royal Albert Hall was awesome, and it was marvellous to see him so involved and animated from the Royal Box with Prince William and Catherine. An icon hopefully for others to follow.
@jarvo Good point!
A collection of his thoughts:
https://www.triodos.co.uk/articles/2026/celebrating-david-attenboroughs-100-inspirational-years
*Moderator note, I edited the link above to remove some tracking.