LONDON, May 7 — David Attenborough, a leading voice on climate change and biodiversity loss whose landmark documentaries transformed popular understanding of the natural world for a global audience, marks his 100th birthday on Friday.

Attenborough’s natural history series, such as Life on Earth, in which he had a famous encounter with mountain gorillas in Rwanda, have brought the most remote corners of the planet into living rooms worldwide.

“He’s taken us all to places that we would never otherwise go. That’s a huge gift,” botanist Sandra Knapp, director of research at London’s Natural History Museum, told AFP.

The BBC is leading the celebration of the Briton’s centenary with a full week of programming dedicated to his life.

Classic episodes of series including Planet Earth II and Blue Planet II are being reshown along with others such as Life in the Freezer and Paradise Birds available on the BBC’s iPlayer service.

The centrepiece will be a 90-minute live show on his birthday from London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Knapp said Attenborough’s programmes had “expanded people’s horizons” and been an inspiration to many.

Jean-Baptiste Gouyon, professor of science communication at University College London (UCL), said Attenborough had made natural history as popular as football.

Attenborough’s programmes succeeded in instilling in the public an unparallelled passion and wonder for the natural world, said Gouyon.

Attenborough’s lifelong passion for the natural world began as child, and he went on to study geology and zoology at university.

Prince William, heir to the UK throne, has described him as a “national treasure”. Attenborough was also a firm favourite of the late Queen Elizabeth II, who knighted him in 1985.

Showing Attenborough’s cross-generational appeal, US singer-songwriter Billie Eilish has praised his “deep love and knowledge of our planet”, adding: “The animal kingdom brings out the childlike curiosity within us all.”

Mountain gorillas 

Attenborough has often reflected on his “luck” in being able to “find and film rare creatures that few outsiders have seen in the wild”.

And he has said he has been able “to gaze on some of the most marvellous spectacles that the wild places of the world have to offer”.

In 2006, he added his voice to those raising the alarm on climate change and biodiversity loss.

He declared himself “no longer sceptical” about the issue, having waited for conclusive proof that humanity was changing the climate.

Attenborough’s broadcasting career spanning nearly eight decades has been closely associated with the BBC, which he joined in the early 1950s.

Life on Earth, released in 1979, has alone been watched by 500 million people worldwide, while dozens of documentaries and associated books have made him a household name.

Recalling the series’ highlight, when he unexpectedly found himself up close with a group of mountain gorillas, Attenborough described the experience as “bliss” and “extraordinary”.

“I was simply transported,” he said ahead of his centenary, reliving how the adult female twisted his head and looked straight into his eyes and her two youngsters sat on him as the cameras rolled.

‘Modern colonialism’ 

Still making documentaries well into his nineties, he used his 2025 film Ocean to condemn the industrial fishing methods of wealthy nations, which he called “modern colonialism at sea”.

Despite his fame, the broadcaster — whose brother was the late actor and film director Richard Attenborough — has always refused to be seen as a celebrity.

Gouyon said Attenborough always made sure to direct the viewer’s gaze back to the subject matter.

On the threat to the natural world, Attenborough has said he hopes humanity will be able to change course.

“Perhaps the fact that the people most affected by climate change are no longer some imagined future generation, but young people alive today... will give us the impetus we need to rewrite our story, to turn this tragedy into a triumph,” he said at the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow in 2021.

“We are, after all, the greatest problem-solvers to have ever existed on Earth,” he said.

At 100, Attenborough no longer wanders the world’s jungles and deserts.

But he has continued to tell the story of the planet closer to home.

In Wild London, broadcast in early 2026, he marvels at the wildlife of the British capital, his birthplace, from foxes and beavers to hedgehogs and harvest mice.

After all his travels, he has confided that his favourite place remains Richmond, an affluent and leafy suburb in south-west London.

He has lived in the riverside town for many years, and still resides in the family home he shared with his late wife Jane and their two children. — AFP 

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British card by Starlyte Studios, Malvern, no. A.3. Photo: Gainsborough.

English film, television, and stage actor Michael Rennie (1909-1971) was best known for his starring role as the space visitor Klaatu in the science fiction classic The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).

Eric Alexander Rennie was born in Idle, now a Bradford suburb, in 1909 as the son of James Rennie, who operated a century-old wool mill, and Edith Dobby Rennie. His great-great-grandfather, named John Rennie, designed and built New London Bridge. Eric was educated at The Leys, a private school in Cambridge. He worked as a car salesman and manager of his uncle's rope factory before he turned to acting. In 1935, he adopted the professional name Michael Rennie. “Handsome but hollow”, according to Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Rennie gained experience in acting technique while touring the provinces in British repertory. At the age of 28, he was noticed by Gaumont British, which arranged a screen test. He first appeared onscreen as the stand-in for Robert Young in Secret Agent (Alfred Hitchcock, 1936). Between 1936 and 1940, he appeared in minor unbilled roles in ten additional films. Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the 1.93 m tall Rennie began to receive offers for larger film roles, starting with his first (small-billed) performance in the wartime morale booster The Big Blockade (Charles Frend, 1940), starring Michael Redgrave. Six films later, however, Michael Rennie also had his first film lead. The suspense drama Tower of Terror (Lawrence Huntington, 1941), released shortly after Pearl Harbor, was styled in the manner of a Horror film and starred Wilfrid Lawson as a mad Dutch lighthouse keeper in Nazi-occupied Netherlands, while second-billed Rennie and third-billed Movita had the romantic leads. His career was interrupted by war service. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1941 and would become a flight instructor for over two years. With the Second World War's end in May 1945, Rennie began to be seen as a potential star as a result of his roles in two vehicles for Britain's most popular star of the era, Margaret Lockwood: the musical I'll Be Your Sweetheart (Val Guest, 1945) and, most prominently, the sensual costume adventure The Wicked Lady (Leslie Arliss, 1945). The latter turned out to be the year's biggest box office hit, subsequently being listed ninth on a list of the top ten highest-grossing British films. He also had a single prominent scene as a commander of Roman centurions in Caesar and Cleopatra (Gabriel Pascal, 1946), starring Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains. Second leads and then leads in seven other British films produced between 1946 and 1949 followed.

Michael Rennie, along with Jean Simmons and James Mason, was one of several British actors offered Hollywood contracts in 1949–1950 by 20th Century-Fox's studio head, Darryl F. Zanuck. The first film under his new contract was the British-filmed Medieval period adventure The Black Rose (Henry Hathaway, 1950), starring Tyrone Power. Rennie's second Fox film, the Film-Noir The 13th Letter (Otto Preminger, 1950) was a remake of the French film Le Corbeau / The Raven (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1943). His next film gave him first billing and assured him screen immortality. The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951) was the first post-war ‘A’ Science-Fiction film. According to Wikipedia, it is “A serious, high-minded exploration of humanity's place in the universe and our responsibility to maintain peaceful coexistence, it has remained the gold standard for the genre of the era.” Convinced that it had a potential leading man under contract, the studio decided to produce a version of Les Misérables (Lewis Milestone, 1952) as a vehicle for him. Rennie's performance was respectfully, but not enthusiastically, received by the critics. Ultimately, Les Misérables turned in an extremely modest profit and put an end to any further attempts to promote the 43-year-old Rennie as a future star. He was, however, launched on a thriving career as a top supporting actor. He co-starred with Jean Simmons in the 20th Century-Fox epic The Robe (Henry Koster, 1953) and also appeared in its sequel, Demetrius and the Gladiators (Delmer Daves, 1954). Rennie was billed fourth and third, respectively, playing the Apostle Peter, who provides affirmation in the new faith, as Jean and Richard Burton become martyrs for Christianity. The final film that cast Michael Rennie with Jean Simmons was Desiree (Henry Koster, 1954), with Marlon Brando as Napoleon. As French Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, who becomes King Charles XIV John of Sweden, Rennie marries Jean's Désirée, but her true love always remains with Napoleon. His career began to decline, film opportunities were less appealing and gradually he slipped away from cinema screens. Among his film roles were The Rains of Ranchipur (Jean Negulesco, 1955) with Lana Turner, and The Lost World (Irwin Allen, 1960), the adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tale of a jungle expedition that finds prehistoric monsters in South America. In 1959, Rennie became a familiar face on television, taking the role of soldier of fortune Harry Lime in 76 episodes of The Third Man (1959-1965), a British-American syndicated TV series very loosely based on the character previously played by Orson Welles.

During the 1960s, Michael Rennie continued his television career, with guest appearances on such series as The Barbara Stanwyck Show (1961), Route 66 (1961); Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1962); Perry Mason (1963), Bonanza (1965); Lost in Space (1966); Batman (1966; as the villainous Sandman); I Spy (1967), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1967) and The F.B.I. (1967-1969). He made his only Broadway appearance in 'Mary, Mary' (1961) playing Dirk Winsten, a jaded movie star. It ran for a very successful 1,572 performances, but Rennie stayed with the play for less than five months. When Warner Brothers cast the film version in 1963, Rennie, along with leading man Barry Nelson and supporting actor Hiram Sherman, were the only Broadway cast members to transfer to the big screen. Debbie Reynolds was given the title role, and Mervyn LeRoy directed the production, which opened at Radio City Music Hall. While the film disappeared from cinemas by the end of 1963, the Broadway version continued for another full year. Rennie moved from Los Angeles to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1968. His final seven feature films were filmed in Britain, Italy, Spain, and, in the case of The Surabaya Conspiracy (Wray Davis, 1969), the Philippines. His final film was the Spanish-West-German-Italian Sci-Fi Horror film Los monstruos del terror / Assignment Terror (Tulio Demicheli, 1970), of which IMDb-user Noel commented: “Edward D Wood Jr ... move over”. In 1971, he journeyed to his mother's home in Harrogate, Yorkshire, at a time of family grief following the death of his brother. It was there that he suddenly died of an emphysema-induced heart attack, two months before his 62nd birthday. Michael Rennie was married twice: first to Joan England (1938–1945), then to actress Maggie McGrath (1947–1960). Their son, David Rennie, is an English circuit judge in Lewes, Sussex. Both marriages ended in divorce. He had a second son, John Marshall Rennie, with longtime companion Renee Gilbert Taylor. Professionally, his son went by John M. Taylor. In 1958, director Otto Preminger named Rennie as a third party to his countersuit of adultery against his wife during divorce proceedings.

Sources: Lyn Hammond (IMDb), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia, BritMovie.co.uk and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

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