David Attenborough Celebrates 100th Birthday

David Attenborough turned 100 on 8 May. He joined the BBC in 1952 on a temporary contract from Mary Adams, the first woman producer. He first appeared on camera as a fill-in presenter for Zoo Quest in 1954 after the original host fell ill. Attenborough ushered in color television to Europe in 1965 as controller of BBC2 and commissioned Monty Python's Flying Circus. His landmark series include Life on Earth (1979), The Blue Planet (2001), Planet Earth (2006), and Life in Colour (2021). Multiple species are named after him, including the weevil Trigonopterus attenboroughii and the carnivorous plant Nepenthes attenboroughii. The Australian Museum is offering free entry to its Bloodsuckers exhibition in his honor.