'Remarkable': tribute as David Attenborough turns 99
David Attenborough has "one of the greatest legacies of any human being ever", a BBC executive says, as the naturalist and filmmaker turns 99.
Attenborough, who has been on TV screens for more than seven decades presenting programs such as Planet Earth and Blue Planet, celebrates his birthday on Thursday.
Mike Gunton, creative director at BBC Studios Natural History Unit, told the PA news agency: "Each generation has its own kind of personal legacy from him, and ... that's remarkable.
"But also, there's a broader, I suppose, global legacy, which I think is that he has shown us wonders, he's helped us understand wonders, and he's encouraged us to protect these wonders."
Gunton began working with the broadcaster aged 29, said it had been "a life-defining experience" for him.
"Every program I have made with him has been a remarkable experience which the audience have always found completely memorable and worthwhile and that's a joy for anybody, to make things that are remembered, you know, they're historic, they're part of human history," Gunton said.
David Frederick Attenborough was born in London in 1926, the son of a principal of Leicester University College.
Before joining the BBC in 1952, he studied geology at the University of Cambridge and served two years in the Royal Navy.
He made his reputation with the groundbreaking Zoo Quest series, which he hosted for 10 years on the BBC.
In 1965 he became controller of BBC2, overseeing the advent of colour TV, and he later became BBC director of programming.
Ultimately, however, life as a broadcast executive did not appeal and he returned with relief to his early passions, program-making and filming the wildlife that fascinated him so much.
His famous whispering voice captured the imaginations around the world in 1979 when he was seen mingling and bonding with a family of gorillas in Life On Earth and its sequel The Living Planet in 1984.
He was knighted by the late Queen Elizabeth II the following year.
The TV presenter has two children, Susan and Robert, with his late wife Jane whom he married in 1950.
In recent years, Attenborough has presented shows including Dynasties, Prehistoric Planet and Planet Earth III.
In celebration of his 99th birthday, a new documentary about the health of the ocean will air in cinemas from Thursday.
It comes after the King and Attenborough attended the premiere of Ocean With David Attenborough in London on Tuesday.
David Attenborough has "one of the greatest legacies of any human being ever", a BBC executive says, as the naturalist and filmmaker turns 99.
Attenborough, who has been on TV screens for more than seven decades presenting programs such as Planet Earth and Blue Planet, celebrates his birthday on Thursday.
Mike Gunton, creative director at BBC Studios Natural History Unit, told the PA news agency: "Each generation has its own kind of personal legacy from him, and ... that's remarkable.
"But also, there's a broader, I suppose, global legacy, which I think is that he has shown us wonders, he's helped us understand wonders, and he's encouraged us to protect these wonders."
Gunton began working with the broadcaster aged 29, said it had been "a life-defining experience" for him.
"Every program I have made with him has been a remarkable experience which the audience have always found completely memorable and worthwhile and that's a joy for anybody, to make things that are remembered, you know, they're historic, they're part of human history," Gunton said.
David Frederick Attenborough was born in London in 1926, the son of a principal of Leicester University College.
Before joining the BBC in 1952, he studied geology at the University of Cambridge and served two years in the Royal Navy.
He made his reputation with the groundbreaking Zoo Quest series, which he hosted for 10 years on the BBC.
In 1965 he became controller of BBC2, overseeing the advent of colour TV, and he later became BBC director of programming.
Ultimately, however, life as a broadcast executive did not appeal and he returned with relief to his early passions, program-making and filming the wildlife that fascinated him so much.
His famous whispering voice captured the imaginations around the world in 1979 when he was seen mingling and bonding with a family of gorillas in Life On Earth and its sequel The Living Planet in 1984.
He was knighted by the late Queen Elizabeth II the following year.
The TV presenter has two children, Susan and Robert, with his late wife Jane whom he married in 1950.
In recent years, Attenborough has presented shows including Dynasties, Prehistoric Planet and Planet Earth III.
In celebration of his 99th birthday, a new documentary about the health of the ocean will air in cinemas from Thursday.
It comes after the King and Attenborough attended the premiere of Ocean With David Attenborough in London on Tuesday.
David Attenborough has "one of the greatest legacies of any human being ever", a BBC executive says, as the naturalist and filmmaker turns 99.
Attenborough, who has been on TV screens for more than seven decades presenting programs such as Planet Earth and Blue Planet, celebrates his birthday on Thursday.
Mike Gunton, creative director at BBC Studios Natural History Unit, told the PA news agency: "Each generation has its own kind of personal legacy from him, and ... that's remarkable.
"But also, there's a broader, I suppose, global legacy, which I think is that he has shown us wonders, he's helped us understand wonders, and he's encouraged us to protect these wonders."
Gunton began working with the broadcaster aged 29, said it had been "a life-defining experience" for him.
"Every program I have made with him has been a remarkable experience which the audience have always found completely memorable and worthwhile and that's a joy for anybody, to make things that are remembered, you know, they're historic, they're part of human history," Gunton said.
David Frederick Attenborough was born in London in 1926, the son of a principal of Leicester University College.
Before joining the BBC in 1952, he studied geology at the University of Cambridge and served two years in the Royal Navy.
He made his reputation with the groundbreaking Zoo Quest series, which he hosted for 10 years on the BBC.
In 1965 he became controller of BBC2, overseeing the advent of colour TV, and he later became BBC director of programming.
Ultimately, however, life as a broadcast executive did not appeal and he returned with relief to his early passions, program-making and filming the wildlife that fascinated him so much.
His famous whispering voice captured the imaginations around the world in 1979 when he was seen mingling and bonding with a family of gorillas in Life On Earth and its sequel The Living Planet in 1984.
He was knighted by the late Queen Elizabeth II the following year.
The TV presenter has two children, Susan and Robert, with his late wife Jane whom he married in 1950.
In recent years, Attenborough has presented shows including Dynasties, Prehistoric Planet and Planet Earth III.
In celebration of his 99th birthday, a new documentary about the health of the ocean will air in cinemas from Thursday.
It comes after the King and Attenborough attended the premiere of Ocean With David Attenborough in London on Tuesday.
David Attenborough has "one of the greatest legacies of any human being ever", a BBC executive says, as the naturalist and filmmaker turns 99.
Attenborough, who has been on TV screens for more than seven decades presenting programs such as Planet Earth and Blue Planet, celebrates his birthday on Thursday.
Mike Gunton, creative director at BBC Studios Natural History Unit, told the PA news agency: "Each generation has its own kind of personal legacy from him, and ... that's remarkable.
"But also, there's a broader, I suppose, global legacy, which I think is that he has shown us wonders, he's helped us understand wonders, and he's encouraged us to protect these wonders."
Gunton began working with the broadcaster aged 29, said it had been "a life-defining experience" for him.
"Every program I have made with him has been a remarkable experience which the audience have always found completely memorable and worthwhile and that's a joy for anybody, to make things that are remembered, you know, they're historic, they're part of human history," Gunton said.
David Frederick Attenborough was born in London in 1926, the son of a principal of Leicester University College.
Before joining the BBC in 1952, he studied geology at the University of Cambridge and served two years in the Royal Navy.
He made his reputation with the groundbreaking Zoo Quest series, which he hosted for 10 years on the BBC.
In 1965 he became controller of BBC2, overseeing the advent of colour TV, and he later became BBC director of programming.
Ultimately, however, life as a broadcast executive did not appeal and he returned with relief to his early passions, program-making and filming the wildlife that fascinated him so much.
His famous whispering voice captured the imaginations around the world in 1979 when he was seen mingling and bonding with a family of gorillas in Life On Earth and its sequel The Living Planet in 1984.
He was knighted by the late Queen Elizabeth II the following year.
The TV presenter has two children, Susan and Robert, with his late wife Jane whom he married in 1950.
In recent years, Attenborough has presented shows including Dynasties, Prehistoric Planet and Planet Earth III.
In celebration of his 99th birthday, a new documentary about the health of the ocean will air in cinemas from Thursday.
It comes after the King and Attenborough attended the premiere of Ocean With David Attenborough in London on Tuesday.
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Screen Queen TV reviews: Ocean With David Attenborough, Mix Tape, Fubar S2 and Romcon
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An ominous chain unspools through the water. Then comes chaos. A churning cloud of mud erupts as a net ploughs the sea floor, wrenching rays, fish and a squid from their home in a violent swirl of destruction. This is industrial bottom trawling. It's not CGI. It's real. And it's legal. Ocean With David Attenborough is a brutal reminder of how little we see and how much is at stake. The film is a sweeping celebration of marine life and a stark expose of the forces pushing the ocean toward collapse. The British naturalist and broadcaster, now 99, anchors the film with a deeply personal reflection: "After living for nearly 100 years on this planet, I now understand that the most important place on earth is not on land, but at sea." The film traces Attenborough's lifetime - an era of unprecedented ocean discovery - through the lush beauty of coral reefs, kelp forests and deep-sea wanderers, captured in breathtaking, revelatory ways. But this is not the Attenborough film we grew up with. 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Its final act offers a stirring glimpse of what recovery can look like: kelp forests rebounding under protection, vast marine reserves teeming with life and the world's largest albatross colony thriving in Hawaii's Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. These aren't fantasies - they're evidence of what the ocean can become again, if given the chance. Timed to World Oceans Day and the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, the film arrives amid a growing global push to protect 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030 - a goal endorsed by more than 190 countries. But today, just 2.7 per cent of the ocean is effectively protected from harmful industrial activity. The film's message is clear: The laws of today are failing the seas. So-called "protected" areas often aren't. And banning destructive practices such as bottom trawling is not just feasible - it's imperative. As always, Attenborough is a voice of moral clarity. "This could be the moment of change," he says. 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"For too long, everything in the ocean has been invisible," Butfield said. "Most people picture fishing as small boats heading out from a local harbour. They're not picturing factories at sea scraping the seabed." In one harrowing scene, mounds of unwanted catch are dumped back into the sea already dead. About nine million tonnes of marine life are caught and discarded each year as bycatch. In some bottom trawl fisheries, discards make up more than half the haul. Still, Ocean is no eulogy. Its final act offers a stirring glimpse of what recovery can look like: kelp forests rebounding under protection, vast marine reserves teeming with life and the world's largest albatross colony thriving in Hawaii's Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. These aren't fantasies - they're evidence of what the ocean can become again, if given the chance. Timed to World Oceans Day and the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, the film arrives amid a growing global push to protect 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030 - a goal endorsed by more than 190 countries. But today, just 2.7 per cent of the ocean is effectively protected from harmful industrial activity. The film's message is clear: The laws of today are failing the seas. So-called "protected" areas often aren't. And banning destructive practices such as bottom trawling is not just feasible - it's imperative. As always, Attenborough is a voice of moral clarity. "This could be the moment of change," he says. Ocean gives us the reason to believe - and the evidence to demand - that it must be. Ocean screens on National Geographic in the US and streams globally on Disney+ and Hulu from Sunday. An ominous chain unspools through the water. Then comes chaos. 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As the environment unravels, so too has the tone of his storytelling. Ocean is more urgent, more unflinching. Never-before-seen footage of mass coral bleaching, dwindling fish stocks and industrial-scale exploitation reveals just how vulnerable the sea has become. The film's power lies not only in what it shows, but in how rarely such destruction is witnessed. "I think we've got to the point where we've changed so much of the natural world that it's almost remiss if you don't show it," co-director Colin Butfield said. "Nobody's ever professionally filmed bottom trawling before. And yet it's happening practically everywhere." The practice is not only legal, he adds, but often subsidised. "For too long, everything in the ocean has been invisible," Butfield said. "Most people picture fishing as small boats heading out from a local harbour. They're not picturing factories at sea scraping the seabed." 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The film's message is clear: The laws of today are failing the seas. So-called "protected" areas often aren't. And banning destructive practices such as bottom trawling is not just feasible - it's imperative. As always, Attenborough is a voice of moral clarity. "This could be the moment of change," he says. Ocean gives us the reason to believe - and the evidence to demand - that it must be. Ocean screens on National Geographic in the US and streams globally on Disney+ and Hulu from Sunday.
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