David Attenborough turns 100: The national treasure’s 10 most iconic moments

Sir David Attenborough has brought the joy of the natural and animal world to the nation’s screens through his beloved programmes for 70 years.

His reverential, sometimes playful tone has become a mainstay of British television, while his efforts to raise awareness for conservation and climate change have inspired millions.

In a clip that has been voted one of the top TV moments of all time, one young gorilla lies across his body, while just at the edge of the picture you can see the baby gorillas who were busy removing his shoes.

The 13-part series featured footage from 30 countries. More than 500 million people tuned in – 11.4 per cent of the global population.

In 1984, Sir David became one of the first underwater presenters as he observed the grey reef shark in The Living Planet. Developments in full face plates allowed him not only to be able to deliver his commentary but to be recorded clearly.

Also in The Living Planet, he presented in zero gravity from the Nasa experimental plane, nicknamed the vomit comet.

He bounced and floated around as he described how we take gravity for granted, before ending his commentary completely upside down.

In 1990, he took viewers swimming with dolphins in Trials Of Life.

The presenter gave viewers insights into the body language and sounds that dolphins use to communicate, strapping on his scuba diving suit to eavesdrop on their conversations.

In The Life Of Birds in 1998, he clutched his binoculars as he walked carefully towards a lyrebird in south Australia and marvelled in delight over its extraordinary impersonation skills.

The bird’s camera shutter, car alarm and chainsaw calls were its attempts to outdo rivals and attract a mate.

Sir David could be seen laughing incredulously at the bird as it repeatedly interrupted his takes with its incredible noises.

Sir David’s sheer excitement at the moment a huge blue whale surfaced during 2002’s The Life Of Mammals, was heart-warming to witness. He is shown clinging on to his little boat, which is dwarfed by the 30-metre whale, the largest animal known to have existed.

Also in The Life Of Mammals, Sir David visited a group of orphaned chimps which were being taught the survival skills needed to live in the wild. As his boat neared the landing point, an enthusiastic chimp jumped straight in to greet him. He later enjoyed a nut-cracking session with a group of dexterous mammals.

Another spectacular moment in the series came when Sir David trudged slowly through knee-deep snow to come face-to-face with a Siberian tiger in captivity.

– A sequence in Life In Cold Blood in 2008 used slow motion to show the diversity in size, shape and ability of frogs and toads. Sir David lay on the floor of a Madagascan rainforest with a tiny pygmy frog resting on his fingertip to marvel at the “miracle of miniaturisation”.

– In Frozen Planet in 2011 he became the oldest person to visit the North Pole, venturing into high altitude and extreme cold at the age of 84.

Sir David met and sat with a 13-year-old hand-reared cheetah named Ares in 2014 for series three of David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities.

Featured in the Impossible Feats episode, the encounter demonstrated the cheetah’s specialized adaptations, with footage showing the calm, friendly interaction rather than a wild hunting scenario.

The broadcaster celebrated his 90th birthday in 2016, and sat down with journalist Kirsty Young for the BBC’s Attenborough At 90 documentary to recount the highlights of his life and career.

Later that year, Planet Earth II was released with Sir David’s soothing narration accompanying scenes including rare snow leopard mating footage and lions attacking a giraffe in a desert.

The critically acclaimed documentary series also featured an intense, high-speed scene of a newborn marine iguana escaping from a swarm of racer snakes on Fernandina Island – which has been hailed as one of the most tense sequences in wildlife television history.

Sir David also returned as a presenter for Blue Planet II in 2017, which became the most-watched UK television show of 2017, with a chart-topping 14 million tuning in to the first episode of the wildlife series, which included dramatic footage of walruses fighting to find a home, along with dazzling scenes of surfing dolphins and a sex-changing fish.

The series is also thought to have triggered an increase in public, media and political attention to plastic pollution.

The debut episode of Dynasties – which focused on the chimpanzee – became the most popular programme of the month when it aired in November 2018.

The series, narrated by Sir David, also documented the struggles of baby penguins fighting to avoid an icy death, with the BBC camera crew intervening and coming to the rescue of the stricken birds, breaking a long-held stance of wildlife filming not to get involved.

In 2019, Sir David made a surprise appearance on Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage with a four-minute trailer for the BBC’s new natural history series Seven Worlds, One Planet ahead of Kylie Minogue’s performance.

Sir David also made a speech to the huge crowds gathered, celebrating the work of Glastonbury in banning single-use plastic bottles from the Somerset event that year.

Sir David was awarded one of Britain’s highest honours, the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George, by fellow avid environmentalist the then Prince of Wales in 2022.

That year, Sir David was also named a Champion of the Earth by the UN’s Environment Programme (UNEP), and appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in the New Year Honours list recognising his major contributions to science.