WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.459 Welcome to the Deep Dive, the place where we 00:00:02.459 --> 00:00:04.940 take the vast, intimidating ocean of information 00:00:04.940 --> 00:00:08.179 and distill it down to the pure, vital currents 00:00:08.179 --> 00:00:10.720 you need to know. Today we're undertaking a deep 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:13.220 dive into not just a broadcaster's life, but 00:00:13.220 --> 00:00:17.039 really into an entire revolution in how we, as 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:19.620 a species, view the natural world. It's true. 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:22.000 If you close your eyes and just think of a jungle, 00:00:22.140 --> 00:00:24.679 or the deep ocean, or even the polar ice caps, 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:27.359 there's a very good chance the voice that surfaces 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:30.449 in your mind belongs to one man. We are, of course, 00:00:30.469 --> 00:00:32.869 talking about Sir David Frederick Attenborough. 00:00:33.090 --> 00:00:35.770 He's a figure so monumental he's often called, 00:00:35.909 --> 00:00:38.270 though I should say he personally hates the term 00:00:38.270 --> 00:00:40.750 a national treasure. He really does. But the 00:00:40.750 --> 00:00:43.289 sheer scope of his activity, that's what truly 00:00:43.289 --> 00:00:46.049 demands this deep dive. It's staggering. You're 00:00:46.049 --> 00:00:48.049 talking about an active career spanning eight 00:00:48.049 --> 00:00:51.740 decades. Eight. It starts back in 1951 and goes 00:00:51.740 --> 00:00:53.859 right up to today. And in that time, he's been 00:00:53.859 --> 00:00:56.399 a broadcaster, a biologist, a natural historian, 00:00:56.780 --> 00:00:59.200 a writer. A media executive, a technological 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:02.500 pioneer. The list just goes on. So our mission 00:01:02.500 --> 00:01:06.730 today is to unpack that colossal legacy. Because 00:01:06.730 --> 00:01:09.909 it is so easy to just think of him as the voice, 00:01:10.109 --> 00:01:11.989 you know, the voice that narrates the world's 00:01:11.989 --> 00:01:13.989 most beautiful visual. Of course, that's the 00:01:13.989 --> 00:01:16.090 first thing everyone thinks of. But he was also, 00:01:16.250 --> 00:01:18.290 and this is crucial, one of the most influential 00:01:18.290 --> 00:01:22.129 administrators in the history of the BBC, a driver 00:01:22.129 --> 00:01:25.129 of massive technological shifts. And then later 00:01:25.129 --> 00:01:28.049 in life, he became this critical, urgent. environmental 00:01:28.049 --> 00:01:30.969 messenger. It's a complete evolution of his public 00:01:30.969 --> 00:01:33.150 role. I think we have to start with the sheer 00:01:33.150 --> 00:01:36.310 technical brilliance that just runs like a current 00:01:36.310 --> 00:01:39.750 through his entire career. Absolutely. NPR, when 00:01:39.750 --> 00:01:41.890 they tried to sum up his appeal, they talked 00:01:41.890 --> 00:01:44.730 about his patented semi -whisperer way of narrating 00:01:44.730 --> 00:01:46.730 that roamed the globe and shared his discoveries 00:01:46.730 --> 00:01:48.769 and enthusiasm. And that's a lovely description. 00:01:48.849 --> 00:01:51.269 It really is. It is. But the statistic that truly 00:01:51.269 --> 00:01:53.329 floors me, I mean, the one that really sets the 00:01:53.329 --> 00:01:56.069 tone for this whole exploration, is his technical 00:01:56.069 --> 00:02:00.560 achievement. Ah, yes. The BAFTAs. It's just unbelievable. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:03.140 He is the only person in history to have won 00:02:03.140 --> 00:02:06.280 BAFTA awards across every single major technological 00:02:06.280 --> 00:02:08.939 shift in broadcasting. Think about that for a 00:02:08.939 --> 00:02:11.740 second. He has awards for work that was produced 00:02:11.740 --> 00:02:13.900 and distributed in black and white. Then color. 00:02:14.060 --> 00:02:17.620 Then high definition. Then 3D. And finally, 4K 00:02:17.620 --> 00:02:20.199 resolution. It's not just a career. It's the 00:02:20.199 --> 00:02:23.580 living timeline of modern media. He didn't just 00:02:23.580 --> 00:02:26.060 adapt to the technology, did he? He was often 00:02:26.060 --> 00:02:28.340 the person pushing for it, the one in the boardroom 00:02:28.340 --> 00:02:31.819 demonstrating its potential. Exactly. But before 00:02:31.819 --> 00:02:34.539 we get to those BBC boardrooms and the HD cameras, 00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:38.539 we need to go back, way back. We need to understand 00:02:38.539 --> 00:02:41.060 where the seeds of this lifelong passion were 00:02:41.060 --> 00:02:43.680 first planted. Right. He was born in Isleworth 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:47.419 in Middlesex back in 1926. But his formative 00:02:47.419 --> 00:02:49.800 years, the years that really shaped him, were 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:52.360 spent in Leicester. And his father, Frederick 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:54.460 Attenborough, was the principal of University 00:02:54.460 --> 00:02:56.759 College Leicester. So there was this academic 00:02:56.759 --> 00:02:59.080 atmosphere right from the start. A very fertile 00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:01.979 environment for curiosity, I think. And it placed 00:03:01.979 --> 00:03:04.360 him in the middle of a very famous family. You, 00:03:04.500 --> 00:03:07.060 the listener, you almost certainly know his elder 00:03:07.060 --> 00:03:09.039 brother, Richard Attenborough. The celebrated 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:12.719 actor and director, Gandhi, Jurassic Park. A 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:15.039 giant of cinema. And his younger brother, John, 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:17.800 was also a notable figure. He was an executive 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:21.080 at Alfa Romeo. It's clear all three brothers 00:03:21.080 --> 00:03:23.520 shared a certain kind of drive, a real ambition. 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:26.719 But David's initial interests were, well, they 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:29.460 were far more tactile, more grounded, you could 00:03:29.460 --> 00:03:32.340 say. Literally grounded. His earliest passions 00:03:32.340 --> 00:03:35.439 were all about collecting things, fossils, natural 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:38.860 specimens, stones. He wasn't dreaming of the 00:03:38.860 --> 00:03:41.819 Grand Safari just yet. He was fascinated by what 00:03:41.819 --> 00:03:44.560 was right there under his feet. And there's this 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:46.680 wonderful story from when he was about 11 years 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:50.159 old that just perfectly showcases his early entrepreneurial 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:53.639 spirit. Oh, the newt story. I love this. It captures 00:03:53.639 --> 00:03:56.740 his resourcefulness perfectly. So he heard that 00:03:56.740 --> 00:03:58.560 the zoology department at the university where 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:01.439 his father was principal needed a supply of newts 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:03.580 for their studies. And young David steps up. 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:06.139 He offers, through his father, of course, to 00:04:06.139 --> 00:04:09.759 supply them for a fee, three pence each. Which 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:11.819 was a pretty good deal back then. A great deal. 00:04:11.960 --> 00:04:14.039 What he didn't initially disclose, however, was 00:04:14.039 --> 00:04:16.519 his source. Exactly. He was just harvesting them 00:04:16.519 --> 00:04:18.800 from the pond right next to the university department. 00:04:19.220 --> 00:04:22.339 It's brilliant. It shows this early, very close 00:04:22.339 --> 00:04:24.120 connection to the wildlife right around him. 00:04:24.199 --> 00:04:27.079 He knew its value, and he knew exactly where 00:04:27.079 --> 00:04:29.560 to find it. And that blend of natural curiosity 00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:32.500 and, let's be honest, a sharp observational mind, 00:04:32.660 --> 00:04:35.540 it started to steer towards advocacy surprisingly 00:04:35.540 --> 00:04:39.029 early on. We can trace the initial spark of his 00:04:39.029 --> 00:04:41.649 environmental consciousness way, way back to 00:04:41.649 --> 00:04:44.889 1936. Yeah, this is a pivotal moment. He and 00:04:44.889 --> 00:04:47.029 his brother Richard attended a lecture. It was 00:04:47.029 --> 00:04:49.470 delivered by a Canadian figure known as Gray 00:04:49.470 --> 00:04:52.750 Owl. Who was himself a fascinating and complex 00:04:52.750 --> 00:04:55.029 character. He was actually an Englishman named 00:04:55.029 --> 00:04:57.730 Archibald Bellini who had adopted a First Nations 00:04:57.730 --> 00:05:00.209 identity. But his message was what mattered. 00:05:00.370 --> 00:05:03.149 He was a conservationist and he spoke with incredible 00:05:03.149 --> 00:05:06.860 passion about preserving Canadian wildlife. particularly 00:05:06.860 --> 00:05:09.019 the beaver. Richard Attenborough later recalled 00:05:09.019 --> 00:05:11.759 that David was just bowled over by Bellini's 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:13.939 determination to save the beaver. And the core 00:05:13.939 --> 00:05:16.800 message Gray Owl delivered, this warning of ecological 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:19.040 disaster should the delicate balance between 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:21.300 them be destroyed, it was incredibly potent. 00:05:21.769 --> 00:05:24.769 And so far ahead of its time. I mean, in 1930s, 00:05:24.769 --> 00:05:27.310 the idea that humanity could fundamentally endanger 00:05:27.310 --> 00:05:30.649 nature on a large scale just wasn't common public 00:05:30.649 --> 00:05:33.750 discourse. Not at all. But that concept that 00:05:33.750 --> 00:05:36.069 the ecological balance is delicate and requires 00:05:36.069 --> 00:05:39.149 human stewardship, that idea remained a fundamental 00:05:39.149 --> 00:05:42.050 part of Attenborough's entire life's work. It 00:05:42.050 --> 00:05:44.970 was the ideological launch pad long before he 00:05:44.970 --> 00:05:47.810 ever had a camera crew. OK, so let's unpack this 00:05:47.810 --> 00:05:50.089 journey into his professional life because his 00:05:50.089 --> 00:05:52.339 start was anything. but direct. It wasn't a straight 00:05:52.339 --> 00:05:55.439 line at all. No. After Cambridge, where he studied 00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:58.600 geology and zoology, and after his national service 00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:01.560 in the Royal Navy, he took a job that sounds, 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:04.300 well, highly mundane. He was editing children's 00:06:04.300 --> 00:06:07.100 science textbooks. Right. Not exactly the dynamic, 00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:09.459 globe -trotting career you might expect for someone 00:06:09.459 --> 00:06:12.639 with so much drive. And he quickly grew disillusioned 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:14.819 with the desk job. So he decided to try for the 00:06:14.819 --> 00:06:17.860 BBC. And here's the first delicious irony in 00:06:17.860 --> 00:06:21.120 his career. In 1950, he applied for a job as 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:23.720 a radio talk producer. And he was rejected. Flat 00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:26.459 out rejected. It was only because his application 00:06:26.459 --> 00:06:29.680 happened to catch the eye of a woman named Mary 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:32.040 Adams, who was the head of the talks department 00:06:32.040 --> 00:06:35.120 for the relatively new television service. She 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:37.860 saw something in his CV and gave him a second 00:06:37.860 --> 00:06:40.680 chance. And the second irony is even better. 00:06:41.079 --> 00:06:43.540 attenborough despite applying for a job in television 00:06:43.540 --> 00:06:46.800 didn't actually own a television set He'd only 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:49.639 ever seen one single program in his entire life. 00:06:49.779 --> 00:06:53.680 It's amazing. But he was hired full time in 1952. 00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:56.220 But his early career had yet another layer of 00:06:56.220 --> 00:06:59.379 initial rejection. Mary Adams, the very woman 00:06:59.379 --> 00:07:01.480 who hired him, apparently discouraged him from 00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:03.639 any on -camera work. And the reason she gave 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:05.439 was that she thought his teeth were too prominent. 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:08.139 Can you believe that? The man whose face and 00:07:08.139 --> 00:07:10.500 voice would become synonymous with global broadcasting 00:07:10.500 --> 00:07:13.160 was initially told he wasn't visually suitable 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:15.519 for television. It's extraordinary. So he started 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:17.800 strictly behind the camera. He worked on nonfiction 00:07:17.800 --> 00:07:21.079 podcasts, even produced some slightly quirky 00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:24.720 quiz shows like Animal, Vegetable, Mineral. His 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:28.439 real start in natural history television began 00:07:28.439 --> 00:07:31.319 when he produced a short three -part series called 00:07:31.319 --> 00:07:34.160 Animal Patterns. It featured animals from the 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:36.509 London Zoo. And this was the key meeting place 00:07:36.509 --> 00:07:39.230 for what came next, because on that show he met 00:07:39.230 --> 00:07:41.949 Jack Lester, who was the curator of the zoo's 00:07:41.949 --> 00:07:44.589 reptile house. Lester was an absolute character, 00:07:44.709 --> 00:07:46.670 and together they came up with an idea for a 00:07:46.670 --> 00:07:49.589 show called ZooQuest. The concept was simple, 00:07:49.709 --> 00:07:52.680 but for the time it was revolutionary. Instead 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:54.939 of just bringing zoo animals into a sterile studio, 00:07:55.259 --> 00:07:57.699 they would film expeditions going out into the 00:07:57.699 --> 00:08:00.279 field to find and collect animals for the London 00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:04.459 Zoo. Zoo Quest began broadcasting in 1954. But 00:08:04.459 --> 00:08:06.720 here's the thing. Attenborough became the presenter 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:09.620 entirely by accident. Right. Jack Lester fell 00:08:09.620 --> 00:08:12.160 seriously ill with polio just before the first 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:14.879 expedition was due to leave. It was a tragedy. 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:17.259 And Attenborough, who had planned to be the producer, 00:08:17.399 --> 00:08:19.939 the man behind the camera. He had no choice but 00:08:19.939 --> 00:08:22.439 to step in. That accidental promotion to presenter 00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:24.959 changed everything. ZooQuest was a phenomenal 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:27.740 hit. It was this perfect blend of travelogue 00:08:27.740 --> 00:08:30.740 and natural history. And it put Attenborough's 00:08:30.740 --> 00:08:33.980 genuine infectious enthusiasm right in front 00:08:33.980 --> 00:08:36.500 of the viewer. People just love the adventure 00:08:36.500 --> 00:08:38.700 as much as they love the animals. It's important 00:08:38.700 --> 00:08:41.179 to note, though, that when the BBC later established 00:08:41.179 --> 00:08:43.639 its famous natural history unit in Bristol in 00:08:43.639 --> 00:08:47.539 1957, Attenborough actually declined to join 00:08:47.539 --> 00:08:50.139 it. He preferred to stay in London. He created 00:08:50.139 --> 00:08:52.820 his own smaller, more agile unit, the Travel 00:08:52.820 --> 00:08:55.080 and Exploration Unit. He was already carving 00:08:55.080 --> 00:08:57.480 his own path, wasn't he? He was. He was interested 00:08:57.480 --> 00:08:59.720 in more than just biology. He was interested 00:08:59.720 --> 00:09:03.539 in anthropology, exploration, culture. But this 00:09:03.539 --> 00:09:07.440 entrepreneurial phase was interrupted when, in 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:09.779 the early 1960s, he did something completely 00:09:09.779 --> 00:09:12.480 unexpected. He resigned from his permanent staff 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:15.220 job at the BBC to go back to school. His academic 00:09:15.220 --> 00:09:18.019 curiosity just resurfaced. He enrolled to study 00:09:18.019 --> 00:09:20.159 for a postgraduate degree in social anthropology 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:23.139 at the London School of Economics, the LSE. which 00:09:23.139 --> 00:09:26.679 he famously never actually finished. No. He did 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:28.860 manage to weave in some filming with his studies, 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:31.860 like a series on Indonesia, but academia didn't 00:09:31.860 --> 00:09:34.220 hold him for long. He was quickly persuaded back 00:09:34.220 --> 00:09:36.720 to the BBC. But this time, he wasn't returning 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:39.120 to the field. He was returning to the boardroom. 00:09:39.240 --> 00:09:42.539 And this leads us to one of the most critical, 00:09:42.600 --> 00:09:45.779 yet so often overlooked, phases of his entire 00:09:45.779 --> 00:09:49.350 career. Attenborough, the administrator. It just 00:09:49.350 --> 00:09:51.029 sounds like the absolute opposite of what he 00:09:51.029 --> 00:09:53.549 loved doing. I mean, why would he go into management? 00:09:53.909 --> 00:09:56.149 It was an incredible opportunity. And you could 00:09:56.149 --> 00:09:58.629 argue it was the single greatest period of administrative 00:09:58.629 --> 00:10:02.389 creativity in the history of the BBC. From 1965 00:10:02.389 --> 00:10:06.870 to 1969, he was the controller of BBC Two. And 00:10:06.870 --> 00:10:08.870 for you, the listener, if you're not familiar 00:10:08.870 --> 00:10:11.529 with the British system, the controller was essentially 00:10:11.529 --> 00:10:14.679 the head of the entire channel. responsible for 00:10:14.679 --> 00:10:17.320 its whole identity, its entire output. He took 00:10:17.320 --> 00:10:19.320 over from a man named Michael Peacock. So he 00:10:19.320 --> 00:10:21.159 wasn't just managing the natural history department. 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:23.820 He was running one of the three major national 00:10:23.820 --> 00:10:26.580 television channels in the country. When he came 00:10:26.580 --> 00:10:30.259 back, though, he was smart. He negotiated a clause 00:10:30.259 --> 00:10:32.120 in his contract that allowed him to continue 00:10:32.120 --> 00:10:34.340 making programs occasionally. He kept a foot 00:10:34.340 --> 00:10:36.559 in the door. He filmed elephants in Tanzania. 00:10:36.899 --> 00:10:39.379 He did a three -part series on the cultural history 00:10:39.379 --> 00:10:42.519 of Bali. But his main job was pure strategy. 00:10:42.970 --> 00:10:46.789 And BBC Two, which had launched in 1964, was 00:10:46.789 --> 00:10:49.690 seriously struggling. It needed a complete overhaul. 00:10:50.169 --> 00:10:52.610 Attenborough defined its mission. He said it 00:10:52.610 --> 00:10:55.029 would be the channel for the intellectually curious, 00:10:55.090 --> 00:10:58.029 the channel of diversity and high quality, totally 00:10:58.029 --> 00:11:00.129 distinct from the more popular fare you'd find 00:11:00.129 --> 00:11:02.730 on BBC One and ITV. And the very first thing 00:11:02.730 --> 00:11:05.210 he did. He got rid of the channel's rather bizarre, 00:11:05.470 --> 00:11:08.850 quirky kangaroo mascot. A strong statement of 00:11:08.850 --> 00:11:11.080 intent right there. Out with the frivolous, in 00:11:11.080 --> 00:11:14.299 with the serious quality. Exactly. But his diversity 00:11:14.299 --> 00:11:17.480 mandate, that was the real game changer. He intentionally 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:20.039 diversified the channels out and across the board. 00:11:20.139 --> 00:11:22.419 He established these strong portfolios in music, 00:11:22.500 --> 00:11:26.120 the arts, science, travel, archaeology. And maybe 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:28.559 most surprising to people today, experimental 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:30.720 comedy. This is where it gets really interesting 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:33.700 for British culture. Because of Attenborough's 00:11:33.700 --> 00:11:35.580 mandate to diversify and push the boundaries, 00:11:35.820 --> 00:11:38.860 we got landmark programs like Man Alive, which 00:11:38.860 --> 00:11:41.759 was a pioneering documentary series. We got Call 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:44.519 My Bluff, the old gray whistle test for music 00:11:44.519 --> 00:11:48.399 fans. And, of course, the commission of the seminal, 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:52.320 surreal sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus. 00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:54.860 The creation of Monty Python is a direct result 00:11:54.860 --> 00:11:57.220 of David Attenborough's tenure as controller. 00:11:57.500 --> 00:11:59.879 He was prepared to risk resources on something 00:11:59.879 --> 00:12:02.610 truly experimental and challenging. And that 00:12:02.610 --> 00:12:05.049 move completely reshaped the British comedic 00:12:05.049 --> 00:12:08.029 landscape. It proved that highbrow and experimental 00:12:08.029 --> 00:12:10.470 content could thrive alongside more traditional 00:12:10.470 --> 00:12:13.909 shows. Beyond the content, he was a massive advocate 00:12:13.909 --> 00:12:16.789 for technical change. He used his position to 00:12:16.789 --> 00:12:19.789 force the adoption of new standards. He was instrumental 00:12:19.789 --> 00:12:22.009 in promoting the change to color television. 00:12:22.210 --> 00:12:24.889 And he did it in such a clever way. He specifically 00:12:24.889 --> 00:12:27.429 commissioned a snooker program called Pot Black. 00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:30.000 It's a bizarre piece of trivia, but it speaks 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:32.460 volumes about his genius for administration. 00:12:32.860 --> 00:12:36.279 The BBC was switching to this new UHF color television 00:12:36.279 --> 00:12:38.779 service, but they needed a program that would 00:12:38.779 --> 00:12:41.240 immediately and clearly show the public why it 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:43.740 was better. And snooker with its brightly colored 00:12:43.740 --> 00:12:46.340 balls on a vivid green table was the perfect 00:12:46.340 --> 00:12:49.019 vehicle. Millions of British viewers tuned in 00:12:49.019 --> 00:12:51.779 and saw the difference instantly. And that simple 00:12:51.779 --> 00:12:54.700 commission didn't just promote color TV. It's 00:12:54.700 --> 00:12:57.340 also directly credited with creating the massive 00:12:57.340 --> 00:13:00.320 snooker boom that took off across the UK in the 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:03.360 1980s. One simple programming choice and this 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:06.840 huge cultural ripple effect. But the most significant 00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:10.000 strategic decision he made as controller, I think, 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:13.080 was ordering the series Civilization. This is 00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:16.139 a 13 -part historical survey of Western art presented 00:13:16.139 --> 00:13:19.110 by Sir Kenneth Clark. It was expensive, it was 00:13:19.110 --> 00:13:21.250 long, and it required a ton of international 00:13:21.250 --> 00:13:23.990 travel. And that series became known as the Sledgehammer 00:13:23.990 --> 00:13:26.710 Blueprint, didn't it? Precisely. Before civilization, 00:13:27.149 --> 00:13:29.570 documentaries were often shorter, or they were 00:13:29.570 --> 00:13:32.009 single, standalone films. Attenborough proved 00:13:32.009 --> 00:13:35.129 that a long, ambitious, landmark -authored documentary 00:13:35.129 --> 00:13:38.230 series, where one single authoritative expert 00:13:38.230 --> 00:13:40.429 guides you through these massive themes, could 00:13:40.429 --> 00:13:43.090 attract huge audiences and universal critical 00:13:43.090 --> 00:13:45.320 acclaim. It was the blueprint for the modern 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:48.059 television mega -series. And he immediately leveraged 00:13:48.059 --> 00:13:49.899 that success. He commissioned the follow -up, 00:13:49.980 --> 00:13:52.399 Jacob Bernowski's The Ascent of Man. It's almost 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:54.759 ironic, isn't it? The administrative success 00:13:54.759 --> 00:13:57.620 that he orchestrated, this sledgehammer format, 00:13:57.980 --> 00:14:01.120 was the exact vehicle he would later use to convey 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:03.919 his own life's work. Starting with Life on Earth, 00:14:04.120 --> 00:14:06.419 he thought the story of evolution was the next 00:14:06.419 --> 00:14:08.399 natural subject for one of these big series. 00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:11.899 It was pure, beautiful synergy. But before he 00:14:11.899 --> 00:14:14.210 left that controller role, We should touch on 00:14:14.210 --> 00:14:16.149 a couple of famous anecdotes that give us a real 00:14:16.149 --> 00:14:18.610 window into the challenges of the job. First, 00:14:18.870 --> 00:14:21.529 the major regret he carried. Yes, the wiping 00:14:21.529 --> 00:14:24.889 issue. In the late 1960s, videotape was incredibly 00:14:24.889 --> 00:14:27.370 expensive and storage space was really limited. 00:14:27.549 --> 00:14:29.629 And Attenborough, like many executives of that 00:14:29.629 --> 00:14:32.190 era, acknowledged that he sanctioned the wiping 00:14:32.190 --> 00:14:34.629 and reusing of television tapes to cut costs. 00:14:34.990 --> 00:14:38.549 It's tragic. This policy led to the loss of countless 00:14:38.549 --> 00:14:41.509 hours of early BBC programming. early Doctor 00:14:41.509 --> 00:14:44.590 Who episodes, and notably, an entire series by 00:14:44.590 --> 00:14:46.669 the playwright Alan Bennett. Attenborough later 00:14:46.669 --> 00:14:49.129 confessed this was a major painful regret for 00:14:49.129 --> 00:14:51.750 him, a necessity driven by the budget that resulted 00:14:51.750 --> 00:14:54.470 in this irreplaceable cultural loss. And then 00:14:54.470 --> 00:14:56.429 there's the infamous story about Terry Wogan. 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:00.019 The legendary Irish broadcaster. He applied for 00:15:00.019 --> 00:15:02.740 a presenter job on BBC Two while Attenborough 00:15:02.740 --> 00:15:04.960 was in charge. And Attenborough turned him down. 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:07.600 He reflected on it later, and it offers this 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:09.860 bizarre glimpse into the political balancing 00:15:09.860 --> 00:15:13.480 act of TV management at the time. He said, to 00:15:13.480 --> 00:15:16.480 have had two Irishmen presenting on BBC Two would 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:18.840 have looked ridiculous. Which sounds absurd today. 00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:22.259 Completely. But he explained this is no comment 00:15:22.259 --> 00:15:24.679 whatsoever on Terry Wogan's talents. It just 00:15:24.679 --> 00:15:27.000 shows how worried executives were about regional 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:30.000 balance and perceived audience bias. That level 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:32.379 of bureaucracy, that kind of thinking, it only 00:15:32.379 --> 00:15:35.759 grew when he was promoted in 1969 to director 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:38.580 of programs. This new role put him in charge 00:15:38.580 --> 00:15:41.159 of the budgets, the content, the scheduling for 00:15:41.159 --> 00:15:44.500 both BBC channels, BBC One and BBC Two. Which 00:15:44.500 --> 00:15:46.879 meant more corporate duties, more politics, and 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:49.759 critically, having to fire staff. And this is 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:52.059 the point where the management path became completely 00:15:52.059 --> 00:15:53.980 unfulfilling for them. He was too far from the 00:15:53.980 --> 00:15:56.659 camera, too far from nature, and just too immersed 00:15:56.659 --> 00:15:59.200 in corporate politics. I find this fascinating. 00:15:59.320 --> 00:16:01.340 It sounds like the director of program's job 00:16:01.340 --> 00:16:05.279 was the ultimate corporate prize. So given his 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:07.980 love for the field, why on earth did he accept 00:16:07.980 --> 00:16:10.580 that promotion only to leave three years later? 00:16:10.659 --> 00:16:12.740 Did he really think he could balance budgets 00:16:12.740 --> 00:16:15.850 and botany? I believe he thought he could influence 00:16:15.850 --> 00:16:18.269 the overall direction of the corporation, you 00:16:18.269 --> 00:16:20.490 know, steer it towards quality programming on 00:16:20.490 --> 00:16:23.710 a larger scale. But when he was suggested as 00:16:23.710 --> 00:16:26.370 a candidate for director general, the very top 00:16:26.370 --> 00:16:30.409 job at the BBC in 1972, he told his brother Richard 00:16:30.409 --> 00:16:33.649 quite plainly that he had no appetite for the 00:16:33.649 --> 00:16:36.179 job. The bureaucracy was just suffocating him. 00:16:36.259 --> 00:16:38.240 Completely. So he made the defining decision 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:41.460 of his professional life. In 1973, he resigned 00:16:41.460 --> 00:16:43.720 from management entirely. He chose the risk and 00:16:43.720 --> 00:16:45.919 the freedom of full -time program making, free 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:48.100 to finally write and present this epic natural 00:16:48.100 --> 00:16:50.019 history series that had been bubbling away in 00:16:50.019 --> 00:16:52.360 his mind since the success of Civilization. And 00:16:52.360 --> 00:16:54.940 he got back to filming immediately. He presented 00:16:54.940 --> 00:16:57.740 a series in 1973 called Eastwards with Attenborough. 00:16:57.899 --> 00:17:00.539 He consciously focused on Asia, an area he felt 00:17:00.539 --> 00:17:02.600 previous documentaries had overlooked. Right. 00:17:02.659 --> 00:17:05.000 Most of them were focused on Africa at the time. 00:17:05.079 --> 00:17:07.759 He also did a series on tribal art, The Tribal 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:11.059 Eye, and even a children's series on cryptozoology 00:17:11.059 --> 00:17:14.339 called Fabulous Animals in 1975. He was warming 00:17:14.339 --> 00:17:17.599 up, building his filmography again, while the 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:20.660 true sledgehammer project, Life on Earth, was 00:17:20.660 --> 00:17:23.380 finally securing funding and beginning its years 00:17:23.380 --> 00:17:26.259 -long production. And now we arrive at the core 00:17:26.259 --> 00:17:28.869 of the Attenborough legend. The Life Collection. 00:17:29.210 --> 00:17:31.670 It all began, really, with Life on Earth in 1979. 00:17:32.190 --> 00:17:34.089 And this wasn't just another wildlife series. 00:17:34.269 --> 00:17:36.670 This was Attenborough taking his own sledgehammer 00:17:36.670 --> 00:17:39.309 blueprint and applying it to his greatest passion. 00:17:39.609 --> 00:17:42.170 The ambition was just unprecedented. It wasn't 00:17:42.170 --> 00:17:44.230 about simply showing you some interesting animals. 00:17:44.309 --> 00:17:46.750 It was about presenting the entire narrative 00:17:46.750 --> 00:17:49.549 of evolution itself, the grand story of life 00:17:49.549 --> 00:17:52.009 on this planet. It required enormous resources 00:17:52.009 --> 00:17:54.789 and a huge amount of time to execute. The methodology, 00:17:54.950 --> 00:17:56.809 that's what the real genius was. Attenborough 00:17:56.809 --> 00:17:58.319 and his team. He didn't just show up with a camera. 00:17:58.640 --> 00:18:01.480 No, they spent years gaining the trust of scientists 00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:04.359 all over the world. They thoroughly researched 00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:07.500 the absolute latest biological discoveries, and 00:18:07.500 --> 00:18:09.660 they did that so they could then devise new, 00:18:09.799 --> 00:18:12.880 bespoke filming techniques to capture things 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:14.779 that had never been seen on film before. And 00:18:14.779 --> 00:18:16.720 that research determined the flow of the series. 00:18:16.900 --> 00:18:19.920 The international travel was extensive. In one 00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:22.019 sequence, he might be illustrating a point about, 00:18:22.059 --> 00:18:24.500 say, evolutionary linkage, and he'd literally 00:18:24.500 --> 00:18:27.680 change continents within a single scene to show 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:29.470 the connection between two different species. 00:18:29.769 --> 00:18:32.390 The editing and the scripting were just revolutionary 00:18:32.390 --> 00:18:35.150 in their sophistication. And crucially, even 00:18:35.150 --> 00:18:37.849 though he was now a major on -screen star, he 00:18:37.849 --> 00:18:40.690 consciously restricted his own on -camera time. 00:18:40.809 --> 00:18:43.269 He understood the medium. He knew he was the 00:18:43.269 --> 00:18:45.990 guide, the enthusiastic guide, but the focus 00:18:45.990 --> 00:18:48.470 had to remain on the natural world. He didn't 00:18:48.470 --> 00:18:50.049 want the camera dwelling on him when it could 00:18:50.049 --> 00:18:52.930 be on a giraffe or, you know, a gorilla. That 00:18:52.930 --> 00:18:55.390 initial success of Life on Earth paved the way. 00:18:55.849 --> 00:18:58.309 For this incredible thematic evolution across 00:18:58.309 --> 00:19:01.150 the nine original life series, each one was a 00:19:01.150 --> 00:19:03.289 self -contained masterpiece that just kept pushing 00:19:03.289 --> 00:19:05.210 the boundaries of the genre and the technology 00:19:05.210 --> 00:19:08.019 available at the time. Let's trace that thematic 00:19:08.019 --> 00:19:10.099 journey because it really shows this constant 00:19:10.099 --> 00:19:13.460 learning and refinement. After the huge evolutionary 00:19:13.460 --> 00:19:16.019 sweep of Life on Earth, the next series, The 00:19:16.019 --> 00:19:19.759 Living Planet in 1984, it shifted the lens. It 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:22.019 became about ecology, right? Focusing on how 00:19:22.019 --> 00:19:24.660 living things adapt to their specific environments, 00:19:24.839 --> 00:19:28.019 deserts, oceans, forests. Exactly. Then came 00:19:28.019 --> 00:19:30.539 the trials of life in 1990, which was dedicated 00:19:30.539 --> 00:19:33.279 entirely to animal behavior. It covered all the 00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:36.000 critical life stages from birth and finding food. 00:19:36.009 --> 00:19:38.869 food, to migration and mating. It was deeply 00:19:38.869 --> 00:19:41.490 anthropological in its approach, wasn't it? Almost 00:19:41.490 --> 00:19:43.690 mirroring those abandoned studies from the LSE. 00:19:43.849 --> 00:19:46.529 It was. The ambition just continued to soar. 00:19:46.569 --> 00:19:49.269 In 1993, he took us to the absolute extremes 00:19:49.269 --> 00:19:51.049 with Life in the Freezer. That was the first 00:19:51.049 --> 00:19:53.670 ever comprehensive television survey of the natural 00:19:53.670 --> 00:19:56.650 history of Antarctica. And filming in those conditions 00:19:56.650 --> 00:20:00.069 when he was well past his 65th birthday, it just 00:20:00.069 --> 00:20:03.069 demonstrated his relentless commitment. But the 00:20:03.069 --> 00:20:06.420 next series... That presented a massive technological 00:20:06.420 --> 00:20:08.980 hurdle. Yeah. How do you make plants exciting 00:20:08.980 --> 00:20:11.690 on screen? The Private Life of Plants in 1995, 00:20:12.170 --> 00:20:14.950 it tackled a notoriously difficult subject. I 00:20:14.950 --> 00:20:18.670 mean, plants are static. Television demands movements. 00:20:18.750 --> 00:20:20.910 How did they crack that? With revolutionary, 00:20:20.990 --> 00:20:23.670 custom -built, time -lapse photography systems, 00:20:23.930 --> 00:20:26.730 they dramatically accelerated the growth sequences, 00:20:26.809 --> 00:20:29.390 and they showed plants as these dynamic organisms 00:20:29.390 --> 00:20:32.569 that compete and hunt and reproduce with surprising 00:20:32.569 --> 00:20:35.109 speed. It was visually stunning. It revealed 00:20:35.109 --> 00:20:37.660 this hidden world of action. And it earned the 00:20:37.660 --> 00:20:40.259 series a prestigious Peabody Award. After that, 00:20:40.380 --> 00:20:42.559 guided by a BBC ornithologist, he moved to the 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:45.619 life of birds in 1998. And because he wasn't 00:20:45.619 --> 00:20:47.900 a specialized bird watcher himself, he approached 00:20:47.900 --> 00:20:49.960 it from the standpoint of behavior and strategy, 00:20:50.099 --> 00:20:52.079 not just, you know, taxonomy and identification. 00:20:52.519 --> 00:20:54.440 And that approach was highly successful. It earned 00:20:54.440 --> 00:20:57.039 him his second Peabody Award. The advancements 00:20:57.039 --> 00:20:59.539 in camera technology just kept opening new doors. 00:20:59.740 --> 00:21:02.400 For the life of mammals in 2002, they could finally 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:04.900 exploit these new low light and infrared cameras. 00:21:05.099 --> 00:21:07.140 Which allowed the crew to reveal the behavior 00:21:07.140 --> 00:21:10.519 of nocturnal animals in stunning detail. I mean, 00:21:10.519 --> 00:21:13.660 they made entire swaths of the biological world 00:21:13.660 --> 00:21:15.980 visible to us for the very first time. I remember 00:21:15.980 --> 00:21:18.940 that series vividly for those incredible two 00:21:18.940 --> 00:21:21.019 shots. Those moments where Attenborough would 00:21:21.019 --> 00:21:23.339 be standing right alongside these massive subjects. 00:21:23.420 --> 00:21:25.730 Oh, yes. Like with the grizzly bear. fishing 00:21:25.730 --> 00:21:28.910 for salmon, or next to a blue whale as it surfaced. 00:21:28.950 --> 00:21:31.750 It was such a potent reminder of the sheer scale 00:21:31.750 --> 00:21:34.450 of the creatures he was describing. And the innovation 00:21:34.450 --> 00:21:36.809 just never stopped. Life in the Undergrowth in 00:21:36.809 --> 00:21:39.809 2005 capitalized on radical advances in macro 00:21:39.809 --> 00:21:41.829 photography. Which allowed them to capture the 00:21:41.829 --> 00:21:43.509 natural behavior of invertebrates, you know, 00:21:43.509 --> 00:21:46.470 spiders, insects, worms, in this stunning, intimate 00:21:46.470 --> 00:21:48.910 detail. It gave us a perspective that audiences 00:21:48.910 --> 00:21:51.359 had simply never had access to before. By the 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:53.720 time he completed Life in Cold Blood in 2008, 00:21:54.059 --> 00:21:56.880 which covered reptiles and amphibians, he'd achieved 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.920 something just monumental. He'd spent over two 00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:03.059 decades creating a comprehensive television encyclopedia 00:22:03.059 --> 00:22:05.680 covering all the major groups of terrestrial 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:08.539 animals and plants. He even later produced First 00:22:08.539 --> 00:22:11.779 Life in 2010, which dealt with evolutionary history 00:22:11.779 --> 00:22:14.640 before life on Earth. He essentially said that 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:17.380 this completed the entire set. It's a synthesis 00:22:17.380 --> 00:22:20.180 of knowledge that spans billions of years, all 00:22:20.180 --> 00:22:22.759 driven by a single individual's vision. And beyond 00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:25.460 this great collection, his narration work has 00:22:25.460 --> 00:22:28.640 been constant. He narrated every single episode 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:32.059 of Wildlife on one. That's 253 episodes in total. 00:22:32.220 --> 00:22:34.319 That show was a massive cultural institution 00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:36.599 in Britain. It drew between 8 and 10 million 00:22:36.599 --> 00:22:38.880 viewers every week at its peak. And of course, 00:22:38.940 --> 00:22:41.759 the 1987 episode from that series, Meerkats United. 00:22:42.099 --> 00:22:44.640 Ah, legendary. It was voted the best wildlife 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:47.819 documentary of all time by BBC viewers. It really 00:22:47.819 --> 00:22:49.960 cemented the idea that the public loves natural 00:22:49.960 --> 00:22:52.119 history narratives that focus on personality 00:22:52.119 --> 00:22:55.099 and family drama, even among non -human subjects. 00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:57.980 The 21st century then brought us the Planet franchise, 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:00.730 which saw a crucial shift in his presentation 00:23:00.730 --> 00:23:03.710 role. When Alistair Fothergill was making The 00:23:03.710 --> 00:23:06.690 Blue Planet in 2001, the producers made a decision. 00:23:06.849 --> 00:23:09.109 They decided not to use an on -screen presenter. 00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:11.759 And why was that? Because filming a presenter 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:13.400 while they were trying to speak through diving 00:23:13.400 --> 00:23:16.220 apparatus was just technically too difficult 00:23:16.220 --> 00:23:18.819 and distracting underwater. So Attenborough stepped 00:23:18.819 --> 00:23:21.319 in solely as the narrator. Which he continued 00:23:21.319 --> 00:23:23.700 for the subsequent Planet series. Planet Earth 00:23:23.700 --> 00:23:26.680 in 2006 then took the technical ambition of that 00:23:26.680 --> 00:23:29.759 sledgehammer blueprint and just scaled it up 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:32.160 globally. It was the biggest nature documentary 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:34.960 ever made for television at the time. And it 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:37.460 was the first BBC wildlife series to be shot 00:23:37.460 --> 00:23:40.589 entirely in high definition. Imagine the challenge 00:23:40.589 --> 00:23:42.890 of shooting in remote locations with that early 00:23:42.890 --> 00:23:46.289 HD equipment, managing that huge volume of data. 00:23:46.470 --> 00:23:48.569 It was pioneering work, and his commitment to 00:23:48.569 --> 00:23:50.710 technology continued with his partnership with 00:23:50.710 --> 00:23:54.190 Sky 3D. He spearheaded films like Flying Monsters 00:23:54.190 --> 00:23:57.230 3D in 2010 and Conquest of the Skies in 2014. 00:23:57.869 --> 00:24:00.470 He wasn't just using new tech. He was actively 00:24:00.470 --> 00:24:03.170 demonstrating how 3D could be used to enhance 00:24:03.170 --> 00:24:05.670 scientific understanding and audience immersion, 00:24:05.990 --> 00:24:09.089 especially when you're dealing with fossil reconstructions 00:24:09.089 --> 00:24:11.670 or the dynamics of flight. But the series that 00:24:11.670 --> 00:24:13.990 truly crystallized his role as the environmental 00:24:13.990 --> 00:24:16.529 messenger, the one that had the most immediate 00:24:16.529 --> 00:24:20.539 impact, was Blue Planet Second in 2017. The viewing 00:24:20.539 --> 00:24:24.099 figures were astronomical, 14 .1 million in the 00:24:24.099 --> 00:24:28.039 UK alone. But its impact went so far beyond ratings. 00:24:28.339 --> 00:24:30.859 This is the pivotal moment, isn't it? Blue Planet 00:24:30.859 --> 00:24:33.240 Second included these devastating sequences detailing 00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:35.619 the impact of plastic pollution on marine life. 00:24:35.779 --> 00:24:38.140 And that single series is now widely considered 00:24:38.140 --> 00:24:40.240 to have triggered a long -lasting, measurable 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:43.140 increase in public, media, and political attention 00:24:43.140 --> 00:24:45.539 to plastic pollution. Some people even call it 00:24:45.539 --> 00:24:48.490 the Attenborough effect. That is profound. It's 00:24:48.490 --> 00:24:50.390 the combination of the blueprint he created all 00:24:50.390 --> 00:24:52.970 those years ago, using mass market, high quality 00:24:52.970 --> 00:24:55.849 television to drive genuine cultural and political 00:24:55.849 --> 00:24:58.730 change. The filmmaker had fully become the advocate. 00:24:58.910 --> 00:25:02.190 And that transition to overt advocacy, it really 00:25:02.190 --> 00:25:05.210 defines his later career. It was driven by this 00:25:05.210 --> 00:25:07.849 realization that simply documenting beauty was 00:25:07.849 --> 00:25:11.339 no longer enough. For years, though, Attenborough 00:25:11.339 --> 00:25:13.599 had faced some criticism from certain environmental 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:16.980 groups. Yes. The critique was that by often confining 00:25:16.980 --> 00:25:19.900 the commentary about human impact to a brief 00:25:19.900 --> 00:25:22.779 segment at the very end of a program, his work 00:25:22.779 --> 00:25:26.140 presented a kind of... false picture of idyllic 00:25:26.140 --> 00:25:28.440 wilderness. It showed the world as pristine, 00:25:28.680 --> 00:25:30.940 which of course it often wasn't. And he acknowledged 00:25:30.940 --> 00:25:33.900 this challenge. He even admitted in 2018 that 00:25:33.900 --> 00:25:36.240 repeated alarmist messages could be a turnoff 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:38.640 for viewers. But since the turn of the millennium, 00:25:38.660 --> 00:25:40.819 his output became significantly more direct. 00:25:41.099 --> 00:25:43.700 He moved beyond those subtle warnings. He started 00:25:43.700 --> 00:25:46.900 focusing almost entirely on human impact in dedicated 00:25:46.900 --> 00:25:49.420 works like State of the Planet in 2000, Extinction, 00:25:49.619 --> 00:25:52.779 The Facts in 2020, and of course, Netflix's Our 00:25:52.779 --> 00:25:54.900 Planet. He didn't just discuss human impact. 00:25:54.980 --> 00:25:57.160 He started tackling the drivers of that impact 00:25:57.160 --> 00:26:00.240 head on, particularly climate change. And this 00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:01.980 is an important part of his intellectual journey 00:26:01.980 --> 00:26:04.339 because initially he was actually skeptical about 00:26:04.339 --> 00:26:06.319 human influence on the climate. That's a point 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:08.700 of nuance that's often forgotten. He remained 00:26:08.700 --> 00:26:12.279 silent on the issue until 2006. It wasn't denial. 00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:15.140 It was a lack of conviction based on the data 00:26:15.140 --> 00:26:17.970 he had seen up to that point. It took a specific, 00:26:18.150 --> 00:26:21.009 very detailed lecture he attended in 2004 which 00:26:21.009 --> 00:26:24.069 presented what he considered irrefutable evidence 00:26:24.069 --> 00:26:26.789 to finally convince him that humans were the 00:26:26.789 --> 00:26:29.589 dominant cause. And once he was convinced, his 00:26:29.589 --> 00:26:32.740 position became absolute. It was integrated into 00:26:32.740 --> 00:26:35.779 all his subsequent work. That conviction catapulted 00:26:35.779 --> 00:26:38.680 him onto the global political stage. In 2021, 00:26:39.019 --> 00:26:41.680 he served as a key figure and the People's Advocate 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:45.039 at the UN Climate Change Conference on P26, speaking 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:47.200 directly to world leaders. He delivered such 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:49.339 a powerful generational message. It was both 00:26:49.339 --> 00:26:51.500 urgent and hopeful. He stood before all those 00:26:51.500 --> 00:26:54.000 heads of state and he said, In my lifetime, I've 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:56.799 witnessed a terrible decline. In yours, you could 00:26:56.799 --> 00:26:59.349 and should witness a wonderful recovery. It wasn't 00:26:59.349 --> 00:27:01.329 just a plea. It was a challenge. He was emphasizing 00:27:01.329 --> 00:27:03.789 that the power to reverse this decline now rests 00:27:03.789 --> 00:27:06.829 with current global leadership and with younger 00:27:06.829 --> 00:27:10.410 generations. And beyond climate policy, his advocacy 00:27:10.410 --> 00:27:13.150 extends directly to individual consumer choices, 00:27:13.390 --> 00:27:17.569 particularly diet. Yes. In his 2020 film and 00:27:17.569 --> 00:27:20.670 book, A Life on Our Planet, he made a very strong 00:27:20.670 --> 00:27:23.029 recommendation for global ecological stability. 00:27:23.769 --> 00:27:26.009 He said we should adopt a vegetarian diet or, 00:27:26.049 --> 00:27:28.190 at the very least, substantially reduce meat 00:27:28.190 --> 00:27:30.569 consumption. And he frames this purely in terms 00:27:30.569 --> 00:27:33.049 of planetary capacity. He states it very plainly. 00:27:33.069 --> 00:27:35.930 The planet can't support billions of meat eaters. 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:38.559 It's because of the land use, the water use, 00:27:38.759 --> 00:27:41.299 the carbon footprint associated with large scale 00:27:41.299 --> 00:27:44.119 livestock farming. In his view, it's an ecological 00:27:44.119 --> 00:27:47.039 imperative, not a moral one. This environmental 00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:49.640 platform ties directly into his most controversial 00:27:49.640 --> 00:27:52.339 public stance. His views on human population 00:27:52.339 --> 00:27:54.660 growth, which he links directly to environmental 00:27:54.660 --> 00:27:57.279 degradation. He's a longstanding patron of a 00:27:57.279 --> 00:28:00.240 UK charity called Population Matters, which advocates 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:02.519 for sustainable population levels through family 00:28:02.519 --> 00:28:04.740 planning. And his statements in this area have 00:28:04.740 --> 00:28:06.779 certainly grabbed headlines. and polarized opinion. 00:28:07.059 --> 00:28:10.059 They have. In 2013, he delivered one of his most 00:28:10.059 --> 00:28:12.579 provocative statements describing humans as a 00:28:12.579 --> 00:28:15.180 plague on the earth. He also controversially 00:28:15.180 --> 00:28:17.640 called the act of sending food to famine -stricken 00:28:17.640 --> 00:28:21.579 countries barmy. He argued that without addressing 00:28:21.579 --> 00:28:24.579 the underlying causes of resource strain, it 00:28:24.579 --> 00:28:27.400 just exacerbates the population crisis and leads 00:28:27.400 --> 00:28:30.099 to greater suffering in the long term. It's crucial 00:28:30.099 --> 00:28:32.480 when we report on these statements to also understand 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:36.599 his stated solution. Yes. He has explicitly advocated 00:28:36.599 --> 00:28:39.059 that the primary way to limit the birth rate 00:28:39.059 --> 00:28:41.359 shouldn't be through punitive measures, but through 00:28:41.359 --> 00:28:44.619 empowerment, specifically improving women's rights 00:28:44.619 --> 00:28:47.599 and access to education and family planning globally. 00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:50.440 He sees that empowerment as the most ethical 00:28:50.440 --> 00:28:53.200 and the most effective tool for achieving a sustainable 00:28:53.200 --> 00:28:56.160 population. His focus on limits and sustainability 00:28:56.160 --> 00:28:58.920 also extended into a direct criticism of global 00:28:58.920 --> 00:29:01.119 economics. And this is where we get one of his 00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:03.839 most famous and often quoted maxims about growth. 00:29:04.200 --> 00:29:06.319 Anyone who thinks that you can have infinite 00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:08.960 growth in a finite environment is either a madman 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:12.180 or an economist. It's a powerful rhyming critique 00:29:12.180 --> 00:29:15.259 that just perfectly summarizes his lifelong argument 00:29:15.259 --> 00:29:18.099 against unchecked material expansion. And this 00:29:18.099 --> 00:29:19.980 ties right into his political self -description. 00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:22.900 He was critical of the excesses of the capitalist 00:29:22.900 --> 00:29:25.920 system. which he blamed for driving ecological 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:28.740 imbalance. Moving from the ecological to the 00:29:28.740 --> 00:29:31.180 philosophical, we should explore his personal 00:29:31.180 --> 00:29:33.859 views on faith and science. They're often cited 00:29:33.859 --> 00:29:36.680 in these debates. Attenborough considers himself 00:29:36.680 --> 00:29:39.240 an agnostic. He stated that he lacks confidence 00:29:39.240 --> 00:29:41.799 to fully identify as an atheist, but he also 00:29:41.799 --> 00:29:44.200 noted that religious belief, it never really 00:29:44.200 --> 00:29:46.829 occurred to me to believe in God. When he's confronted 00:29:46.829 --> 00:29:49.710 by creationists or people who argue for intelligent 00:29:49.710 --> 00:29:52.849 design, he has this go -to, incredibly powerful 00:29:52.849 --> 00:29:56.009 argument that uses natural facts to counter the 00:29:56.009 --> 00:29:58.789 idea of an all -merciful creator. He often brings 00:29:58.789 --> 00:30:02.029 up the parasitic worm, Onchocerca volvulus. And 00:30:02.029 --> 00:30:04.349 the detail here is deeply sobering. It really 00:30:04.349 --> 00:30:06.990 drives his point home. The worm, which causes 00:30:06.990 --> 00:30:09.829 river blindness, survives by boring through the 00:30:09.829 --> 00:30:12.049 eye of a child in West Africa. And Attenborough 00:30:12.049 --> 00:30:14.089 uses this example to ask a profound question. 00:30:14.720 --> 00:30:17.900 How can an all -merciful God create a worm that 00:30:17.900 --> 00:30:21.400 exists only by surviving inside an innocent child's 00:30:21.400 --> 00:30:23.759 eyeball? He argues that the existence of such 00:30:23.759 --> 00:30:26.759 a horrifying natural cruelty, a feature that 00:30:26.759 --> 00:30:29.160 serves only its own survival and causes immense 00:30:29.160 --> 00:30:32.200 suffering, is simply incompatible with the concept 00:30:32.200 --> 00:30:35.000 of a benevolent, all -powerful creator. It's 00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:37.740 a very visceral argument. His scientific stance 00:30:37.740 --> 00:30:39.779 on evolution, on the other hand, is absolute. 00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:43.400 He insists that evolution itself is a solid, 00:30:43.500 --> 00:30:46.140 a historical fact as you could conceive, backed 00:30:46.140 --> 00:30:49.160 up by geological, genetic, and biological evidence 00:30:49.160 --> 00:30:52.039 from every possible quarter. And he makes a crucial 00:30:52.039 --> 00:30:54.480 distinction here that science communicators often 00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:57.599 overlook. He contrasts evolution, which he regards 00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:00.579 as a fact that species change over time, with 00:31:00.579 --> 00:31:03.099 natural selection. Which he considers the leading 00:31:03.099 --> 00:31:05.500 proven theory that explains how evolution occurs. 00:31:05.819 --> 00:31:08.960 Exactly. And he has consistently opposed... including 00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:11.160 creationism or intelligent design in school science 00:31:11.160 --> 00:31:14.019 curricula, seeing it as fundamentally undermining 00:31:14.019 --> 00:31:16.160 scientific education. Finally, just touching 00:31:16.160 --> 00:31:18.900 on his broader political leanings, he self -described 00:31:18.900 --> 00:31:22.720 in 1998 as a standard, boring, left -wing liberal. 00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:25.579 And his criticism of excess capitalism, saying 00:31:25.579 --> 00:31:28.220 that the excesses the capitalist system has brought 00:31:28.220 --> 00:31:30.779 us have got to be curbed somehow. That aligns 00:31:30.779 --> 00:31:33.039 perfectly with his lifetime commitment to ecological 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:36.519 limits. He even openly supported the Green Party's 00:31:36.519 --> 00:31:39.539 Caroline Lucas in the 2015 UK general election. 00:31:39.779 --> 00:31:42.259 His political positions are just extensions of 00:31:42.259 --> 00:31:44.640 his deep ecological convictions. Let's dedicate 00:31:44.640 --> 00:31:47.859 this final segment to recognizing the truly staggering 00:31:47.859 --> 00:31:50.460 legacy and the honors that have been bestowed 00:31:50.460 --> 00:31:53.390 upon a man who remains despite. everything incredibly 00:31:53.390 --> 00:31:56.730 humble. As we said, he insists he doesn't embrace 00:31:56.730 --> 00:31:59.309 the term national treasure. But society certainly 00:31:59.309 --> 00:32:02.869 has. The list of formal recognition is just unparalleled. 00:32:03.450 --> 00:32:05.569 He holds the record for the most honorary degrees 00:32:05.569 --> 00:32:08.230 from British universities 32, which is more than 00:32:08.230 --> 00:32:09.950 anyone else in history. He was made a Knight 00:32:09.950 --> 00:32:12.869 Bachelor in 1985 and was later appointed a member 00:32:12.869 --> 00:32:15.609 of the Order of Merit, the OM, which is a personal 00:32:15.609 --> 00:32:17.990 gift to the monarch. His cultural status goes 00:32:17.990 --> 00:32:21.049 way beyond the formal titles. In a 2006 poll, 00:32:21.230 --> 00:32:23.150 he was named the most trusted celebrity in the 00:32:23.150 --> 00:32:26.130 UK. When the artist Sir Peter Blake created an 00:32:26.130 --> 00:32:28.910 updated version of the Beatles' iconic Sky Deep 00:32:28.910 --> 00:32:32.269 Peppers album cover in 2012, Attenborough was... 00:32:32.490 --> 00:32:35.710 fittingly included right there among the pantheon 00:32:35.710 --> 00:32:38.549 of British cultural giants. But for me, the most 00:32:38.549 --> 00:32:40.930 perfect illustration of the public's unique relationship 00:32:40.930 --> 00:32:43.539 with them. This blend of deep respect and very 00:32:43.539 --> 00:32:46.940 British irreverence is the whole saga of the 00:32:46.940 --> 00:32:49.440 RRS Sir David Attenborough. Ah, the research 00:32:49.440 --> 00:32:52.259 ship anecdote. This is great. So when a new British 00:32:52.259 --> 00:32:54.839 polar research vessel needed a name, the Natural 00:32:54.839 --> 00:32:56.940 Environment Research Council decided to hold 00:32:56.940 --> 00:32:59.400 a public poll. And the winner, by an overwhelming 00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:02.299 majority, was Boaty McBoatface. While the officials 00:33:02.299 --> 00:33:04.259 certainly respected the public's sense of humor, 00:33:04.420 --> 00:33:08.039 they, uh... understandably deemed, Sir David 00:33:08.039 --> 00:33:10.140 Attenborough, a more suitable and respectful 00:33:10.140 --> 00:33:12.859 name for a serious multi -million pound research 00:33:12.859 --> 00:33:15.559 vessel. The public backlash was immediate and 00:33:15.559 --> 00:33:17.799 massive. But the compromise was pure genius. 00:33:18.059 --> 00:33:20.880 They named one of the ship's research subsea 00:33:20.880 --> 00:33:24.240 vehicles Boaty McBoatface in recognition of the 00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:27.170 public vote. It's a hilarious, enduring story 00:33:27.170 --> 00:33:29.650 that just shows how universally loved and respected 00:33:29.650 --> 00:33:31.750 he is, even when he's pitted against internet 00:33:31.750 --> 00:33:34.990 silliness. Beyond the ships and the metals, his 00:33:34.990 --> 00:33:37.990 most intimate form of recognition, I think, lies 00:33:37.990 --> 00:33:41.130 in taxonomy. His name is forever linked to the 00:33:41.130 --> 00:33:44.289 very life he documented. At least 20 species 00:33:44.289 --> 00:33:46.750 and genera across the planet have been named 00:33:46.750 --> 00:33:48.670 in his honor. Let's delve into some of those 00:33:48.670 --> 00:33:50.710 scientific tributes, because they are fascinating 00:33:50.710 --> 00:33:54.230 examples of global biodiversity. In the plant 00:33:54.230 --> 00:33:57.309 kingdom, there's Nepenthes attenberi, named in 00:33:57.309 --> 00:34:00.269 2009. And this isn't just any plant. It's one 00:34:00.269 --> 00:34:02.490 of the world's largest pictured carnivorous plants 00:34:02.490 --> 00:34:05.589 found only in the Philippines. It can grow pictures 00:34:05.589 --> 00:34:08.190 large enough to trap and consume small vertebrates 00:34:08.190 --> 00:34:10.909 like rats. A fitting tribute, reflecting the 00:34:10.909 --> 00:34:13.489 exciting and sometimes brutal aspects of nature 00:34:13.489 --> 00:34:16.099 he loves to film. Among the arthropods, there 00:34:16.099 --> 00:34:18.579 are some quirky and wonderful examples. There's 00:34:18.579 --> 00:34:21.900 the ornate Caribbean smiley face spider, officially 00:34:21.900 --> 00:34:25.199 known as Spentharus dividatinbury. Who wouldn't 00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:27.539 want a smiley spider named after them? And the 00:34:27.539 --> 00:34:30.500 naming continues. There's an Indonesian flightless 00:34:30.500 --> 00:34:35.300 weevil, Trigonopterus attenbury, and a tiny millimeter 00:34:35.300 --> 00:34:38.739 -long goblin spider from Sri Lanka, Crothopalpus 00:34:38.739 --> 00:34:41.980 attenbury. It just confirms his influence spans 00:34:41.980 --> 00:34:44.579 the smallest invertebrates to the largest mammals. 00:34:44.840 --> 00:34:47.900 For vertebrates, we had the Peruvian frog, Pristomantis 00:34:47.900 --> 00:34:51.079 attenberry, and the Namibian lizard, Platysaurus 00:34:51.079 --> 00:34:53.820 attenberry. It really is a global roll call of 00:34:53.820 --> 00:34:57.260 biodiversity. And finally, his love of paleontology, 00:34:57.420 --> 00:34:59.980 which started with collecting fossils as a child, 00:35:00.139 --> 00:35:02.900 is recognized in the extinct species named for 00:35:02.900 --> 00:35:06.039 him. There's the Mesozoic reptile, Attenbursaurus 00:35:06.039 --> 00:35:08.900 conyberry. But the truly unique fossil is Matropyses 00:35:08.900 --> 00:35:11.360 attenberry. an armored fish fossil discovered 00:35:11.360 --> 00:35:13.780 in Western Australia. And this site was one he 00:35:13.780 --> 00:35:15.820 had personally filmed at and highlighted in Life 00:35:15.820 --> 00:35:18.059 on Earth, bringing the past and the present together 00:35:18.059 --> 00:35:20.619 so perfectly. And the fossil itself is scientifically 00:35:20.619 --> 00:35:23.320 critical. It's believed to be the earliest organism 00:35:23.320 --> 00:35:25.960 capable of internal fertilization, which is a 00:35:25.960 --> 00:35:28.539 key evolutionary step. To have his name associated 00:35:28.539 --> 00:35:30.760 with such a fundamental breakthrough is just 00:35:30.760 --> 00:35:33.449 the ultimate tribute. Most recently, in 2022, 00:35:33.869 --> 00:35:38.210 a 560 million year old creature, Aurora Lumina 00:35:38.210 --> 00:35:40.610 Attenboroughi, believed to be the first animal 00:35:40.610 --> 00:35:43.570 predator, was also named for him. From the earliest 00:35:43.570 --> 00:35:46.530 life forms to the modern climate crisis, his 00:35:46.530 --> 00:35:49.050 legacy covers the entire scope of our planet's 00:35:49.050 --> 00:35:50.969 natural history. So what does this all mean for 00:35:50.969 --> 00:35:54.309 us? Our deep dive reveals that Sir David Attenborough's 00:35:54.309 --> 00:35:56.869 impact is really defined by two interlocking 00:35:56.869 --> 00:36:00.139 phases. First, He was the organizational genius 00:36:00.139 --> 00:36:03.380 who, as a BBC administrator, provided the platform 00:36:03.380 --> 00:36:06.360 for high -quality, long -form documentary storytelling. 00:36:06.800 --> 00:36:09.239 He was the man who saved BBC Two and created 00:36:09.239 --> 00:36:11.639 the literal blueprint that's the ledge hammer 00:36:11.639 --> 00:36:14.119 for major landmark series. And then he was the 00:36:14.119 --> 00:36:16.480 enthusiastic, tireless naturalist who used that 00:36:16.480 --> 00:36:19.360 exact blueprint over decades and across every 00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:21.619 technological format imaginable to deliver his 00:36:21.619 --> 00:36:23.679 life's work. He successfully transitioned from 00:36:23.679 --> 00:36:25.900 merely documenting the world's wonders, you know, 00:36:25.900 --> 00:36:28.760 from finding newts in university ponds to delivering 00:36:28.760 --> 00:36:30.900 this crucial, urgent message about the survival 00:36:30.900 --> 00:36:33.519 of the biosphere in his later career. He truly 00:36:33.519 --> 00:36:36.940 evolved from a broadcaster into a planetary messenger. 00:36:37.500 --> 00:36:39.900 He concluded that the challenge of our time is 00:36:39.900 --> 00:36:42.099 no longer purely scientific or technological. 00:36:42.340 --> 00:36:45.659 It's economic and it's political. He laid out 00:36:45.659 --> 00:36:48.679 the problem and the evidence for all of us, the 00:36:48.679 --> 00:36:50.980 audience. Which leaves us with the ultimate question, 00:36:51.079 --> 00:36:53.300 the real takeaway from this extraordinary life. 00:36:53.719 --> 00:36:56.099 Adam Burroughs stated explicitly that he considers 00:36:56.099 --> 00:36:59.070 tackling climate change now. as much a political 00:36:59.070 --> 00:37:01.389 challenge as it was a scientific or technological 00:37:01.389 --> 00:37:04.949 one. So given his powerful critique of the excesses 00:37:04.949 --> 00:37:07.809 of the capitalist system, his advocacy for population 00:37:07.809 --> 00:37:10.630 controls through women's rights and that urgent 00:37:10.630 --> 00:37:13.650 message to world leaders at CUSP 26. What does 00:37:13.650 --> 00:37:15.610 it truly mean for you, the individual viewer 00:37:15.610 --> 00:37:17.650 who respects his work, to respond to a challenge 00:37:17.650 --> 00:37:20.070 that he says is now fundamentally political and 00:37:20.070 --> 00:37:22.710 economic? That is the action item he has left 00:37:22.710 --> 00:37:24.710 us with, and it's something worth pondering long 00:37:24.710 --> 00:37:25.610 after the credits roll.