Many Happy Returns to the Naturalist and Broadcaster

Today, May 8th is the birthday of Sir David Attenborough, the naturalist, broadcaster and keen fossil collector who has done so much to popularise Earth sciences and a fascination with life on Earth, both extant and extinct.  We at Everything Dinosaur, would like to wish Sir David many happy returns for the day.

Sir David Attenborough

Happy Birthday Sir David Attenborough

Still enthusing about the natural world.

Picture credit: Sir David Attenborough/Everything Dinosaur

Many of our team members have been inspired by Sir David’s enthusiasm and energy.  We wanted to create a special tribute to him and as we are getting better at using the software programme Adobe CS5, we created a special banner on the Everything Dinosaur website which has been posted up today honouring the great man.  We have had the pleasure to be able to write reviews on a number of books that accompany the many television documentaries that feature Sir David.  Only the other week, we set about trying to discovery the whereabouts of the book “Life on Earth” which accompanied the 1979 seminal documentary series narrated by Sir David and made in conjunction with the BBC’s natural history unit. This book has gone missing from our office library and we have instigated a search around the offices and the warehouse to hunt down our copy.

One of the most influential television series for us, was not the “Life” series of programmes that established Sir David as the voice of natural history programming in the BBC, but a little known, short series called “Fabulous Animals” first broadcast we think in the mid 1970s.  In this programme, aimed at children, Sir David enthused about mythical creatures and the fossils that inspired the legends and myths.  For many of us, our fascination with all things Dinosauria came into being at this point.  The programme was broadcast in the summer holidays, mid-morning and although a distant memory for most of us these days, it remains a favourite amongst us.

Sir David’s Birthday Banner online at Everything Dinosaur

Celebrating the birthday of Sir David Attenborough.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Having covered the main Kingdoms and Phylum of the natural world, Sir David’s work stands as testament to the broadcasting qualities of the BBC’s natural history unit.  Hopefully, “Life on Earth” will be broadcast on terrestrial television once more, in the near future, giving us a chance to watch all over again an example of this extraordinary body of work which Sir David has dedicated a life time to creating.

From all of us at Everything Dinosaur – we wish Sir David Attenborough a happy birthday.

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