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| Sir David Attenborough has made a television series on the Great Barrier Reef. Photo: Atlantic Productions |
One of the parents I used to see in the playground at my son's primary school was a Rastafarian postman of Jamaican origin named Roger. It was a secular school, and Roger once told me, in reverent tones, "I don't need any church: my religion is David Attenborough." He never missed a program.
The cult of Attenborough is as close to a religion as you can get. A religion in its purest sense is a form of communication, tolerance and the spreading of awareness – somehow he unites all these things.
He is a force for unification. He doesn't preach, but David Attenborough makes you care. His appeal is diverse, and lately it has been more diverse than usual: in 2013 he made a documentary with Bjork, and in 2015 he conducted an interview with Barack Obama and did an impromptu narration, on BBC radio, of the video for Adele's Hello.
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| David Attenborough with some of the reptiles in Life In Cold Blood. |
The truth is that Attenborough has unprecedented appeal (he even gets recognised at the North Pole), particularly for the young. He has brought a love of wildlife to all, and must be the most widely heard voice there is on crucial global issues such as conservation and climate change; while other, more qualified experts are often derided or overlooked. It's a huge responsibility. How does he feel about that?
"Embarrassment, mainly," he says in his unmistakable soothing voice, the aural equivalent of a Werther's Original caramel candy.
"The awful thing is that people think you know far more than you do. For example, I often get asked if I've actually seen climate change and I have to say, look, I could find you examples of dramatic climate change, and I could find the converse, but it's very dangerous to just pick one particular circumstance.
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| David Attenborough shows Cocky, the cockatoo brought back from his last Zoo Quest expedition, to Prince Charles and Princess Anne, who were visiting the BBC Television studios in London. The Royal Children had been driven from Windsor Castle for this 'unofficial' visit, had just watched the 'Studio E' - Children's Hour - being televised in which Cocky had appeared. 28-04-1958. SOURCE: Central Press Photos. File (Melb): P: ATTENBOROUGH, David Date filed: 28-04-1958 Photo: Central Press Photos |
"You have to take the bigger view; you have to respect the findings of people who spend their lives surveying this sort of thing, and make a responsible, scientific summary of where we are."
What is it about him that draws people in so completely? Well, there is the voice, obviously, which distils within it his appeal: poetic, enticing, it contains a wealth of knowledge, curiosity and humour.
The voice has changed over the years, certainly. Its pitch has lowered and it has become more husky and ragged, but it has lost none of its enthusiasm, its musicality, whether he is exclaiming over the dancing prowess of the mantis shrimp or the sexual habits of coral.
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