David Attenborough
David Attenborough’s voice is ingrained in my memory from the very moment I had memory. The world is a better place because of him. That’s a hell of a claim, but the fact is that in his fifty-plus year career, he has inspired in people anything from a benign curiosity and concern about the natural world to a genuine desire to learn more about it, and to protect it. Ask any biologist, zoologist or naturalist what inspired them to choose that career path and they’ll probably mention David Attenborough. He has only ever presented the natural world in its own glory, commanding an awe that goes beyond religious differences to pure appreciation and respect for life. He is the best biology teacher I never had (sorry Mr Beattie).
And never mind the fact that as controller of BBC2, he was responsible for bringing Monty Python’s Flying Circus to the world.
He is, apart from anything else, an inspiring example of the benefits of keeping an active mind and body. I hope I am half as bright, vital and healthy as him when I’m 81 years old.
I played the Planet Earth DVD to my Cambodian students a few months ago. Scenes of a polar bear mother and pups emerging from the snow and rolling down the slopes of the Arctic were narrated by Attenborough, and while the students tutted in fascination at the beautiful photography, they also heard his voice, calm, authoritative, not condescending but utterly comforting. Asking them questions about his narrative after the film, their recollection of numbers and facts was astounding, even with their relatively limited English. That’s as much a credit to his clarity as it is to their having paid attention so well.
His new series ‘Life in Cold Blood’ has just started on BBC1, and the first episode didn’t disappoint, a cavalcade of amazing creatures in stunning colours. Attenborough has never shouted or leapt around the place Steve Irwin style, trying to get you excited about the mating habits of saltwater crocodiles, because the flora and fauna has always taken centre stage while he keeps a respectful distance and a respectfully hushed tone. As Nancy Banks-Smith says, “David Attenborough’s career has executed a perfect curve over the very best years of TV”. His programmes epitomise what the BBC have always done the best, before the BBC started filming celebrity chefs making tits of themselves, and indeed his own close association with the BBC throughout his career means that the corporation has his DNA running through it.
I think I’m one of many who sees Attenborough as an uncle of sorts, but then there was a time I wished Han Solo could be my dad. Who do you admire the most?
Quite Random is the blog of Nathan Nelson, a human male who lives in the UK and is not entirely sure what he's going to do when he grows up but is interested in international development, photography, secularism, technology, music and movies and other things anyone of his age would be.
