Source: Earthfirst.com
“But I firmly believe that the art of storytelling will never change. If you tell a good story, people will hang on your words.”
— Sir David Attenborough, in an interview
In a national poll, Sir David was declared to be one of the living National Treasures for his contributions to science education. Sir David was also voted the most trusted person in Britain in Reader’s Digest poll of 5000 readers. This shows how his unique style of storytelling in his nature documentaries captured the attention and awe of people around the world.
As a television broadcaster, he often transfers his excitement and the spirit of wonder of what he sees and presents to the audience, which is what made him and his programmes so popular. In addition, his seriousness in making quality programmes in an ethical manner helped established himself as an authority of natural history television, and thus helped to popularise natural science. Many watched his programmes just to see him on screen. In his own way, he has become the anchor and the face of the BBC.
As an educator, he has contributed much to the lifelong learning of his viewers, adults and children alike, through his extensive and entertaining natural history programmes. He has demonstrated how television can be used as a powerful teaching tool for the masses. Schools are also using his programmes as part of their biology education. He is also eager to foster children’s enthusiasm for the natural world. He does so by replying to children’s letters personally, and even attaching fossil remnants to inspire the children. He has also inspired many others to take up the fields of biology and other related fields, such as Alastair Fothergill, a producer in BBC. In his words, “When I was a teenager I saw ‘Life on Earth’ and became absolutely determined to get into this profession myself”. He later worked with Sir David in locations around the world for filming the documentaries.
In sum, the following extract from TIME’s poll of Heroes of the environment in 2007 aptly described Sir David’s influence to the world.
“But his true memorial is the sense of wonder that he has brought to people all over the globe at the astonishing ingenuity of the life forms with which we share this increasingly crowded space. That voice, instantly recognisable, now tinged with the teethy lisp of old age, is the voice of the environment”
– Jeremy Paxman, Broadcaster and writer, for TIME Heroes of the Environment, 2007