Sir David Attenborough was born in 1926 in the London suburb of Isleworth. (Photo credit: Tim P. Whitby/Stringer/Getty Images)
Sir David Attenborough is one of the world's most renowned naturalists and documentary makers. Over the course of his eighty-year career, Attenborough has written, presented and narrated some of the world's most popular nature documentaries, including Life on Earth and The Blue Planet. To celebrate his 99th birthday, here are 9 interesting facts about the biologist and natural historian.
1. Attenborough is an agnostic.
In a 2012 interview on BBC Radio 4, Attenborough said he was an agnostic and did not rule out the possibility of a higher power. The presenter said: “I don’t think that understanding and accepting a 4-billion-year history of life is in any way inconsistent with a belief in a higher being. And I’m not so sure that I would call myself an atheist.”
2. He has no sympathy for rats.
Attenborough has been vocal about his strong dislike of rats, although he adds that they should be respected. In an episode of BBC Life Stories, he recounts how his fear of rats began when he was living in a thatched hut in the Solomon Islands during a severe storm. He felt something rush past his leg, and when he turned on his torch, a rat scurried across the bed – and more rats were all over the floor.
3. Attenborough was rejected for the first job he applied for at the BBC.
In 1950, he applied for a job as a radio producer at the BBC, but was rejected.
4. His parents took in two Jewish refugee girls during World War II.
Irene and Helga Beyach, two sisters from Berlin, fled the Nazis shortly before the outbreak of World War II in 1939. The girls, then aged 10 and 9, lived with the Attenborough family in Leicester for seven years before moving to New York to live with a relative. In 2019, Attenborough organised a reunion for the sisters' descendants.
Sir David Attenborough receives the Chatham House Centenary Lifetime Award at a ceremony on October 13, 2021 in London, England. 5. Attenborough does not drive.
He never passed his driving test and doesn't like driving.
6. He tries to answer all the letters he receives.
Sourse: www.livescience.com
