The Life of David

Guardian Unlimited is running an interview with David Attenborough, and it’s fascinating. I’m sure almost any British person knows David Attenborough, but I’m less sure about the rest of you. If you’ve watched a wildlife documentary but haven’t see his Life on Earth or any of the many, many others then you have simply not seen what a good documentary should be. It’s hard to believe, but it’s over 25 years since he reinvigorated (almost reinvented) the wildlife documentary and, judging by some of the programmes I’ve seen on certain channels of the TV, it looks like there are still quite a few film-makers who haven’t caught up yet! People have tried to capture exactly what he brings to his programmes, and I guess it’s the combination of knowledgeable enthusiasm that never veers into lecturing with a friendly, avuncular style that never becomes annoying, plus a dash of genius for spotting the story to tie it all together without ever letting the story become anthropomorphic. For the seminal Life on Earth, that story was evolution; for others it’s been animal behaviour, the oceans, the polar ice caps or whatever. Whatever it is, he continues to carry it off with style even now, as he (joy of joys!) starts filming a new series on frogs and other amphibia.