Merfolk #3

Much like with my last Merfolk, there was a lot of information on this one. There is not enough paper in the world to cover everything! And this is the first one who is actually alive as well... But anyway. Merfolk #3!

David Attenborough

Photo from the BBC

Lives: London, England

Era: 20th Century/Present Day

Born: 8th May 1926

Occupation: Broadcaster, Naturalist

David Attenborough has a TV career spanning seven decades and his documentary Blue Planet II (2017) was a catalyst for many in plastic pollution awareness and wanting to do something about it. Over the ninety years he has been alive, he has become synonymous with nature documentaries and promoting conservation. 

His fascination with nature started at a young age. He grew up on the University College of Leicester campus, where his father worked as the principal. From a young age he was collecting fossils, stones and specimens of nature - his own little "museum", as it were. He even supplied the university's zoology department with newts for their own collection. Around the age of ten, he attended a lecture given by one Grey Owl (Archibald Belaney) on beavers and their conservation. These ideas stayed with him, and he even produced a biopic on Grey Owl later on in his life.

At university, he studied geology and zoology; culminating in a degree in Natural Sciences. Post university employment saw him at a publishing firm, editing kid's science textbooks. This was something he did not enjoy, so he tried to find work in radio. This was not a successful venture, but his resume did draw the attention of the Talks department of the very new BBC television channel, cica 1952. Talks were in charge of the factual broadcasting on the BBC and his first job for them was producing. He was initially discouraged from presenting, due to the size of his teeth. Apparently they were too big for TV!

For Talks he produced a number of televison shows, including an array of natural history documentaries. Even then, he penchant was for filming nature as a number of programmes he spear-headed were natural in content. His first forray for presenting came in 1954 on Zoo Quest, due to the original presenter falling ill. This programme was described as an animal collection expedition series. 

As the BBC developed, so did their departments which produced natural history documentaries. They formed the Natural History Unit in 1957 and based it in Bristol. Attenborough was an ideal candidate for the department, but opted to stay in London with his young family. Instead, he formed the Travel and Exploration Unit, which allowed his current shows to continue and for him to produce more docmentaries across the globe.

In 1965, he moved into more of an administrative role. Still, he worked a loophole in his contract which still allowed him to produce and travel. The role he took on was controller of BBC2. The channel had recently launched, with varying levels of success. When Attenborough took over, he made BBC2 what it is, even to this day. He shifted the focus onto music, art, experimental comedy, documentaries, travel - a whole electic range of programming. It was also the first channel to air in colour, an opportunity he exploited by airing snooker!

Due to the success he had in the role, he was briefly the director of programmes for both BBC1 and BBC2. He was even a shoe-in for the role of Director-General, but chose to return to producing and making programmes full-time. This is when he started arguably his most famous series, for the admin role had prevented him from starting this natural history epic. He started writing Life on Earth, which would go on to spawn many sequels over the decades.

To gain funds for this epic, he returned to broadcasting and television projects. They even teamed up with an American company, so they could do the project justice. In 1979, filming began. Attenborough thoroughly researched his subject which gained him respect from the scientific community. He was given access to certain projects because of his dedication, such as one on mountain gorillas. He revolutionised documentary standards in both filming and attention to detail. And thanks to advancements in technology, they were able to film animals and behavioural events which were previously unseen. Each episode took place across the continents and Attenborough let his subjects star in the documentary rather than himself. This seems standard for his documentaries now, but at the time this had never done before.

The original Life triology were Life on Earth, The Living Planet, and  The Trials of Life; although many more Life documentaries joined the line up. The Trials of Life showed a lot of animal behaviours, particularly hunting styles, which were considered shocking by audiences. This shock must have been shorted lived, for hunting still promenantly features in his works. During the nineties, the Life series was almost dictated by technology developments. Time lapse photography? Film plants. Infrared and low-light cameras? Film nocturnal creatures. Macrophotography? Film invertibrates.

Alongside the Life series, Attenborough worked on many other shows - including his other infamous series Planet Earth (2006) and Blue Planet (2001). Blue Planet was the first comprehensive documentary on marine life and environments from the BBC Natural History unit. Planet Earth was the first BBC wildlife series filmed in HD. He also made a number of documentaries on birds, despite not being a twitcher, focusing on their behaviour - particulary courtship dances. With the development of 3D televison, he produced a dinosaur documentary for Sky One as part of their 2010 Christmas Day programming, Flying Monsters. It focused on pterasaurs and other prehistoric flying beasts. 

His work became more overtly environmentalist in the early 2000s. His documentaries started to assess global issues as a means of raising awareness. I think the #DoitforDavid movement is proof of this legacy. But did you know he has also penned two environmentally theme musicals? Two?! He practises what he preaches, being a supporter and administrator of many conservation groups. Seriously, too many to list! He also supports green energy and fought for a wind turbine farm, despite it being in an Area of Outstanding Beauty. It is his belief that people are causing this rapid global warming; so we have to do something about it. 

Over the years, David Attenborough has been a massive influence; in documentaries, programming, conservation, and so many more fields. Like I said, not enough paper in the world for me to take the notes I needed to truly cover this man's life and achievements! In a series called The New Elizabethans on BBCR4, he was named a person from an academic or journalistic field who has had a significant impact on the UK, during our Queen's reign. He has National Treasure status, although he doesn't really like the term!

Photo from The Guardian

Fun Facts:

• He has two brothers. His older brother became an actor; his younger an executive at AlphaRomeo.
• He also has two adopted sisters; two refugee girls his family fostered during WWII.
• He served two years in the Royal Navy.
• He is the only person to have won a BAFTA for programmes in black & white, colour, HD, 3D, and 4K.
• He narrated every episode of Wildlife on One, which ran between 1977-2005 for 253 episodes.
• At least 15 species of flora and fauna, both living and extinct, have been named in his honour. 
• Most recently in 2018, he had a new species of phytoplankton named after him for the advances in understanding marine life Blue Planet II  achieved.