Early Life


Source:  BBC Archives 

Sir David Attenborough was born in Isleworth, west London on 8 May 1926.  He has two brothers, Richard (who later became an actor and director) and John (who later became an executive for Alpha Romeo) and lived with his father in the campus of University College, Leicester, because his father was the principal.

Sir David liked to collect natural specimens during his childhood, such as fossils and stones.  Later during childhood, he received a piece of prehistoric amber from one of his adoptive sisters.  This arguably helped to spur his interest in natural heritage.  After fifty years, he made the programme The Amber Time Machine (1994) based on that piece of amber.  Later, he won a scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge in 1945, where he studied geology and zoology and obtained a degree in natural sciences.

Sir David liked to travel around the world, which was one of the reasons why he served in the Royal Navy during national service, although it was not up to his expectations in the end.  He edited children’s science textbooks after leaving the Navy and before joining the BBC.


Source: Daily Mail 

Sir David married Jane Elizabeth Ebsworth Oriel in 1950, whom passed away in 1997. They also had two children.