David Attenborough at 100: Key moments from an extraordinary life

By Amarachi Orie, CNN

(CNN) — David Attenborough has now lived on Earth for a century.

In that stretch of time, he’s journeyed through forests and oceans, bonded with a family of gorillas, collected fossils, visited hidden tribes, overseen the first color TV broadcasts in Europe, narrated inspiring documentaries to hundreds of millions of viewers, collected numerous accolades, had dozens of species named after him and sounded the alarm on climate change.

Here are some key highlights from the renowned environmental broadcaster’s busy and extraordinary life, which he has spent with humans, animals and plants alike.

Prince, princess and a parrot

The TV personality developed his hallmark charismatic style of gentle humor, warmth and curiosity in his famous 1954 “Zoo Quest” series, which made him a recognizable figure. In 1958, Attenborough introduced a 3-year-old cockatoo, named Cocky, which he captured during his last “Zoo Quest” expedition, to child members of the British royal family – a young Prince Charles and Anne, Princess Royal.

Recounting the experience in an interview with the BBC ahead of Charles’ coronation in 2023, Attenborough said that the cockatoo was sitting on the prince’s hand and the animal had a “very powerful beak and a very powerful bite. And, although I was fairly confident about Cocky, it could actually have removed Charles’ little finger.”

Attenborough’s career at the BBC only catapulted from there, and he became controller of the BBC’s newly-launched second channel, BBC 2, in 1965. He launched a range of innovative productions, even introducing audiences to the unconventional comedy series “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.”

The broadcaster then served as director of television programming from 1968 to 1972, later resigning to make his own television programs.

First contact with Biami tribe

During an expedition in a remote part of New Guinea, aired in 1971, Attenborough and his BBC crew made contact with the previously unknown Biami tribe. Attenborough communicated with the tribe using gestures, looked at their personal ornaments and enquired about the pegs in the ritual punctures in the nose of one of the men.

Reflecting on that moment in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in 2016, Attenborough said, “It is a remarkable thing. Surprisingly, how eloquent you can be to somebody who doesn’t know a single word of your language, or indeed hasn’t met your kind before.”

Bonding with a ‘special little gorilla’

The personable presenter not only got on with people but managed to befriend a family of gorillas in the forests of Rwanda’s Virunga Mountains. While filming “Life on Earth” in 1978, a 3-year-old Gorilla named Pablo took a liking to Attenborough and playfully laid on him.

The scene captured hearts globally, later leading to “one of the greatest conservation success stories that I’ve witnessed,” Attenborough said in the April 2026 film “A Gorilla Story,” in which he tells the story of the same group of gorillas from the 1970s to the present day. He added that his connection with gorillas is “a connection that has stayed with me my whole life. And it all began with one special little gorilla.”

Chat with baby rhino

The naturalist’s keenness to engage with the animals he observes is also evident in his interaction with a blind baby rhino at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya in episode six of the 2013 BBC documentary series “Africa.”

After being approached by the rhino during filming, Attenborough got down on all fours, looked at the rhino in the face and began exchanging squeaks with the animal. Attenborough went on to describe the rhino as an “enchanting creature.”

Kid on campus

Attenborough and his brother, the late actor and film producer Richard Attenborough, grew up living on the campus of the UK’s University of Leicester, since their father was a principal there.

Richard Attenborough once mischievously locked his brother inside a padded cell in a building on campus that was once a Victorian lunatic asylum, according to the university. In 2006, the institution awarded the brothers its highest honor, Distinguished Honorary Fellowships.

Planet prizes

Attenborough’s work rose to global prominence in the 2000s, after he explored the world’s oceans in “The Blue Planet,” as well as wildlife across various waters, forests, caves, mountains and icy terrains in “Planet Earth.”

The appeal of his inspiring nature programs has earned him three Emmys – the first one being in 2018 for Outstanding Narrator for “Blue Planet II.” The same series won him a BAFTA.

Royal recognition

Attenborough was first knighted by Britain’s late Queen Elizabeth II in 1985 for his services to television broadcasting. King Charles III then awarded him a second knighthood – the prestigious Knight Grand Cross – in 2022 for his services to television broadcasting and conservation.

Attenborough holds the longest career as a TV presenter, spanning more than seven decades, according to Guinness World Records. Along with William, Prince of Wales, Attenborough helped to set up in 2019 the Earthshot Prize, which celebrates innovative environmental solutions.

Crown companion

Attenborough had a long friendship with Queen Elizabeth. He produced some of her Christmas Day broadcasts for several years and the monarch was comfortable enough to crack jokes with him during a stroll through Buckingham Palace Garden for a TV documentary aired in 2018.

“I suppose the most precious things were hearing her laugh,” Attenborough said of the Queen in an interview with ITV News after her passing in 2022.

Now on Netflix

Attenborough’s voice made its Netflix debut with “Our Planet” in 2019. Again, his narration for the eight-part series, which used captivating cinematography and told dramatic stories of animals traversing the natural world, won an Emmy.

At the premiere of the series at London’s Natural History Museum, Prince Charles paid tribute to Attenborough “for all he has done over so many years to bring the wonder, the fascination and, increasingly, the desperate plight of the natural world to our attention.”

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