David Attenborough is an English writer, conservationist, and broadcaster best known for his series, Life,which first aired in 1979.
With a highly prolific career, David Attenborough is estimated to have a net worth of $40 million. His wealth started growing when he worked for two years in the Royal Navy. However, the bulk of his wealth comes from broadcasting.
Here are some other facts you may want to know about David Attenborough:
Who Is David Attenborough?
Sir David Frederick Attenborough was born May 8, 1926, in Isleworth, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom. He is an English actor, naturalist, television producer, author, presenter, environmentalist, screenwriter, and broadcaster.
David Attenborough’s Parents and Siblings
His father’s name is Frederick Attenborough, and his mother, Mary Clegg.
David Attenborough had two brothers: Richard, the older one, died in 2014, and John, younger than David, died in 2012. His parents adopted two Jewish refugee girls from Germany who were like sisters to David and his brothers.
Early Life
David Attenborough was raised in a College House of Campus of University College, Leicester, England, where his father, Frederick, was the principal.
While growing up as a child, David Attenborough spent time collecting fossils, stones, and natural specimens on the grounds of the university environment supplying newts to the Zoology Department of the university.
In 1936, when David Attenborough was just 12 years old, he, together with his elder brother Richard, attended Grey Owl’s lecture that greatly influenced him in his formative years to date.
David Attenborough’s Marriage
He married Jane Elizabeth Oriel in 1950. They shared two children: Robert and Susan Attenborough. But his wife, Jane Elizabeth, died in 1997.
Career
In 1947, the same year he graduated, David Attenborough began a two-year stint with the National Service of the Royal Navy.
In 1952, he joined BBC Television at Alexandra Palace and in 1954 began his popular 2000 Quest Service, promoted to Controller of BBC2 in 1965, where he was responsible for the introduction of color television to Britain, as well as bringing in Monty Python’s Flying Circus in 1969. Until David Attenborough left in 1973, he was Director of programs.
In 1998, he completed The Life of Birds, the epic 10-part series for the BBC; he wrote and presented the three-part series State of the Planet in 2002 and The Life of Mammals in 2002
Education
David Attenborough attended Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester. In 1945, he won a scholarship to Clare College in Cambridge, England to study Geology and Zoology and obtained a degree in Natural Science.
David Attenborough’s Documentaries on Nature
David Attenborough made a number of documentaries, with his first series The First Eden released in 1987. Other documentaries include Lost World, Vanished Lives (1987) on fossils; Prisoners of Conscience (1990); and Wildlife on One.
He has also narrated over 50 episodes of Natural World. As an environmental advocate, David Attenborough has narrated a series of documentaries, including State of the Planet, 2002; The Truth about Climate Change, 2006; How Many Can On Planet Earth? The Facts; Our Planet, 2019; and Wild Karnataka; Extinction; The Facts; A Life on Our Planet, and Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet, 2021.
Awards and Honors
David Attenborough has gained worldwide recognition through broadcasting and wildlife filmmaking. This has resulted in worldwide recognition, garnering him several awards and honors across the globe.
He won an Emmy Award in 2017, and he has received honors like several BAFTA Awards and a Peabody Award in 2014. He holds a record of 32 honorary degrees from universities across the United Kingdom, thanks to his fame and recognition for his television services.
Some of his numerous awards include:
- Cherry Kearton Medal and Award, 1972.
- Honorary Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, 1980.
- Kew International Medal, 1996.
- BAFTA Fellowship, 1981.
- Honorary Doctor of Science from Durham University, 1982.
- Knighted in 1985 by Queen Elizabeth II and became Sir David Attenborough.
- Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, 1998.
- International Cosmos Prize, 2000
- RSPB Medal, 2000.
- Michael Faraday Prize, 2003.
- Jose Vasconcelos World Award of Education, 2004.
- Descartes Prize, 2004
- Princess of Asturias, 2009.
- Fonseca Prize, 2010
- Crystal Awards at World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland, 2019.
- Indira Gandhi Institute Medal for Lifetime Achievement, 2019.
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (GCMG) by Prince Charles at Windsor Castle in 2022 Birthday Honors for Service to television broadcasting and Conservation 2022.