Inside Sir David Attenborough's extraordinary life as he turns 100

Sir David Attenborough's impact on our environmental sustainability is undeniable.

With tales of his travels and awe-inspiring research, his distinctive voice has both transcended and connected generations.

The British broadcaster, biologist and author's career has lasted well over half a century and his work is viewed worldwide.

Watch the video above.

As Attenborough wraps up his 100th birthday celebrations, we've taken a look at his extraordinary life and career through the decades.

Early life: 1926-1937

David Frederick Attenborough was born in London in 1926. His mother was a writer, his father was the principal of the local university and he was the second of three sons.

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Attenborough grew up with a keen love for nature and all that came with it.

On his eighth birthday, his father gave him his first pet, a fire salamander. When he had his own children, the nature historian carried on the tradition, giving his son one as well.

His childhood was spent collecting fossils, natural specimens and interesting parts of nature that he would extensively study.

At 11, Attenborough had developed a knack for turning his love for animals into a job. He sold newts to University College, Leicester, where his dad worked, for 3 pence. The newts hilariously came for free from a pond next to the zoology department.

Making a family: 1937-1952

After graduating from Clare College, Cambridge, in 1947, where he studied natural sciences on a scholarship, Attenborough joined most British men in completing their national service.

He spent two years in the Navy before working at an educational publishing house.

He then applied to be a radio talk producer with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), but was rejected. Thankfully, his CV later caught the attention of the Head of Talks, Mary Adams.

One of the greatest love stories began in 1950 when Attenborough married his beloved wife, Jane Elizabeth Ebsworth Oriel. The following year, they welcomed their first child, James.

Attenborough was 24 at the time, while Oriel is believed to have been around 23 when she said "I do".

With his work taking him away for months at a time, he often wasn't around, meaning much of the responsibility to raise children fell to Oriel.

The broadcaster has since admitted he regrets playing into this dynamic, saying he missed "irreplaceable" family moments and experiences.

The future documentarian began a training program at the BBC, where he would work for decades. By 1952, he was hired full-time.

At that point in his career, Attenborough had only seen one television programme, as he did not own a TV.

The BBC: 1952-1954

When Attenborough started at the BBC, Adams felt his teeth were too big for him to present after he went to air in a disastrous program.

So, he became a Talks Department producer, running all non-fiction broadcasts.

He worked on various projects, but his first significant role was producing the three-part series Animal Patterns, which he produced and presented with Julian Huxley, a naturalist from the London Zoo.

Together, the pair discussed the unique traits of different animals, and through the show, Attenborough met Jack Lester, who curated the zoo's reptile house.

Lester and Attenborough would spend the next few years on adventures collecting animals from all corners of the earth.

In 1954, Attenborough presented the first program as his co-worker had taken ill. That same year, he and his wife welcomed their second child, Susan.

A new role: 1954-1975

In the early '60s, Attenborough briefly left the BBC to study for a postgraduate degree in social anthropology before accepting the invitation to become the controller of BBC Two.

A clause in his contract allowed him to continue going on regular adventures for programs. That year, he filmed elephants in Tanzania.

In the 1971 film A Blank on the Map, Attenborough travelled to New Guinea to find a lost and untouched tribe.

Here, the father of two is showing his children the cockatoo he brought home from his travels filming a Zoo Quest special.

Career-defining success: 1975-1997

After publishing 1975's Fabulous Animals, he created a career-defining series: Life on Earth.

The series redefined documentary-making and filmed never-before-recorded animals for audiences around the world.

In 1980, he was awarded a BAFTA Fellowship and, a decade later, his good friend Queen Elizabeth made him a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order for his production of the monarch's Christmas broadcast.

Attenborough has received far too many awards to list them all, but some highlights include The Kew International Medal, a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator, a Lifetime Achievement Award (Champions of the Earth) and an Individual Peabody Award.

Five years after Life on Earth, the BBC released The Living Planet, following living things' changes when adapting to their environment. In 1990, The Trials of Life was released, completing the trilogy.

The Life series would eventually include over 10 documentaries. The collection spanned decades and included almost every major life form on earth, with Attenborough commenting on the "mammoth" effort.

"The evolutionary history is finished. The endeavour is complete," he said.

"If you'd asked me 20 years ago whether we'd be attempting such a mammoth task, I'd have said, 'Don't be ridiculous!'"

"These programmes tell a particular story, and I'm sure others will come along and tell it much better than I did, but I do hope that if people watch it in 50 years time, it will still have something to say about the world we live in."

Tragedy strikes: 1997

While nature may have been his first love, it wasn't his only love. Attenborough's other great love was his wife of almost 50 years, Oriel, whose death left him "lost".

Attenborough and Oriel had been married for 47 years and likely would have remained together for many more when tragedy struck in 1997.

While filming his documentary The Life of Birds in New Zealand, Attenborough got the terrible news his beloved wife had collapsed.

Aged 70 at the time, Oriel had suffered a brain haemorrhage and had little chance of survival.

Writing of his wife's final moments in his 2010 memoir Life on Air, Attenborough remembered wondering if she'd respond in any way when he held her hand for the last time.

"She did, and gave my hand a squeeze. The focus of my life, the anchor had gone… now I was lost," Attenborough said.

After the Life series: 1997-2010

Despite being in mourning, the naturalist's partnership with the BBC continued well into the millennium.

The Life series and other natural history documentaries kept him busy, which he later admits helped heal.

Attenborough narrated every episode of Wildlife on One, which peaked with eight to 10 million viewers each time.

In 2001, Attenborough completed The Blue Planet, the publication's first comprehensive study of marine life.

The 2010s saw Attenborough leaning further into writing while taking a step back from major documentary series.

Co-writing and narrating Life meant Attenborough could create a ten-part series on animal behaviour, which showed the impact changing temperatures have on natural species.

Attenborough also created 20 10-minute monologues on the history of nature titled David Attenborough's Life Stories.

2010 onwards

Despite passing the average retirement age, nothing stopped Attenborough's untamable passion for nature and all that it encompasses.

In 2011, he led the Frozen Planet documentary.

Three years later, he won another BAFTA Award, making him the only person to have won one in black and white, colour, high-definition and 3D.

In June 2013, Attenborough had a pacemaker fitted, telling fans why he had chosen not to retire.

"If I was earning my money by hewing coal, I would be very glad indeed to stop. But I'm not. I'm swanning round the world looking at the most fabulously interesting things. Such good fortune."

In 2016, Attenborough returned to the big screen as the narrator and presenter of Planet Earth II.

In 2025, Attenborough, at 99, had jumped ship partnered with from the BBC to and National Geographic for Ocean with David Attenborough, which shares "the story of how we can, and must, restore the glory of Earth's vast, interconnected waters."

Attenborough said at the time: "My lifetime has coincided with the great age of ocean discovery.

After a century of life, he hopes to continue working and shedding light on the increased need for climate awareness and preservation, even as he enters his 100th year.

The veteran broadcaster released an audio message to celebrate his birthday, saying, "I had rather thought that I would celebrate my 100th birthday quietly, but it seems that many of you have had other ideas.

"I have been completely overwhelmed by birthday greetings, from pre-school groups to care home residents, and countless individuals and families of all ages.

"I simply can't reply to each of you separately, but I'd like to thank you all most sincerely for your kind messages, and wish those of you who have planned your own local events: Have a very happy day."

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