Attenborough, David Frederick (1926– )

English naturalist and zoologist who has made numerous wildlife films for television. He was the writer and presenter of the television series Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1983), The Trials of Life (1990), The Private Life of Plants (1995), The Life of Birds (1998), State of the Planet (2000), The Blue Planet (2001), The Life of Mammals (2002), and Planet Earth: A Fresh Look at a Spectacular Planet (2006).

Attenborough was born in Leicester and was an avid collector of fossils and shells as a child. After studying natural sciences at Cambridge, he joined the BBC as a television producer in 1952. Between 1954 and 1964 he made annual trips to film and study wildlife and human cultures in remote parts of the world; these expeditions were recorded in the Zoo Quest series of television programmes and books. He was director of programmes for BBC Television 1969–72 and a member of its board of management. He is the brother of the actor and director Richard Attenborough. He was knighted in 1985, and published his autobiography, Life on Air in 2002.