Happy 100th Birthday Sir David

From Zoo Quest to Ocean the dazzling natural history cinematography of the BBC presented to us for seventy years by Sir David Attenborough who turns 100 today

Zoo Quest (21 December 1954 – 31 May 1963, IMDb 7.9/10) was the groundbreaking 0BBC series that launched David Attenborough's career. He and a team from the London Zoo traveled to remote locations to film — and bring back — exotic animals for the park’s collection. The 1956 expedition that filmed a Komodo dragon in the wild was particularly popular.

Our dear Sir David,

A gala at the Royal Albert Hall for your 100th is not what you asked for, but you’re putting up with it — part of your long mission to show us the wonders of our planet, and the dangers we pose to it. As a small boy in the 1950s, I sat cross-legged before the family’s first television, mesmerized by your Zoo Quest and in love with Petula Clark. You sparked my lifelong love of nature. Years later, defying all probability, I met Petula too — she was enchanting.

I followed you into the strange and the beautiful, and have followed your lifetime of communicating the dangers we have created for our precious home and all the life we share it with. Uniquely among Earth’s creatures, we alone carry the responsibility for its ruin or safe future.

Thank you for gathering the voice of millions who have come, through you, to love the living world and to fear for its continued safety. We hear you. And we are still listening.

— Farooq Hussain, Ariadne’s Dispatches