Welcome and please come in. Tonight I bring You one of my Heroes: David Attenborough. In the beginning when there were no Nature shows, David brought Nature to our living rooms via the Television. His 1979 series, Life on Earth raised the standard of Documentary film making and influenced the future presentation of all Nature Documentaries. His sixty year career took him around the World several times to bring Us the Nature of All Living Things on Earth.
One of the highlights of his life has been the series: The Living Planet, broadcast in 1984. It is a series of 12 episodes (1 hour each), of all life on Earth and the Nature of our Planet. The post tonight will introduce you to this series. If you have not seen this, I encourage You to view all the episodes (listed below). For Your Bonus, I have gathered all 12 videos from You Tube and put them here for You. Please bookmark this page and come back to see them all. They are in the order they were introduced and all are spectacular! I bet in each one, You all see something that You have never seen before. This man strongly influenced me when I was young. His enthusiasm and zest for life inspired a curiosity in me to see all that I can see about this World and the inhabitants! I know You will all enjoy each one in the lineup! Allow yourself to be amazed and inspired. Update your thoughts about the Planet and Life. Enjoy!!!!!!!!
- The Making of The Living Planet is presented by the humorist Miles Kington, who introduces David Attenborough in his own style:
"One thing that distinguishes men from other living creatures is that only men make films about other living creatures, and perhaps one of the most famous and interesting of these film makers is the species known as David Attenborough. Somewhat shy and not always easy to film in his natural habitat, we're lucky here to see the David Attenborough at work on his latest and greatest project, The Living Planet. His mission: to search out and photograph everything from volcanoes to jellyfish to explain how the Earth works. Now, for this, his habitat is totally useless. In London where he lives, in Bristol where he works, there are no volcanoes and no jellyfish, so he has to travel thousands of miles to search out his prey. Now, for this he has the necessary boundless curiosity and endless energy. What he doesn't have is the vast quantity of money and expertise that only the BBC can offer. He enjoys this rather strange, symbiotic relationship with the BBC, an odd and apparently friendly organism, whose workings we do not yet fully understand..."
| The Living Planet | |
|---|---|
 Region 2 DVD cover | |
| Genre | Nature documentary |
| Presented by | David Attenborough |
| Composer(s) | Elizabeth Parker |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 12 |
| Production | |
| Executiveproducer(s) | Richard Brock |
| Running time | 55 minutes |
| Productioncompany(s) | BBC Natural History Unit Time-Life |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC1 |
| Picture format | 4:3 (PAL) |
| Audio format | Stereophonic |
| Original run | 19 January 1984 – 12 April 1984 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Life on Earth |
| Followed by | The Trials of Life |
The Living Planet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Living Planet: A Portrait of the Earth is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 19 January 1984.
The sequel to his pioneering Life on Earth, it is a study of the ways in which living organisms, including humans, adapt to their surroundings. Each of the twelve 55-minute episodes (one fewer than his previous series) featured a different environment. The executive producer was Richard Brock and the music was composed by Elizabeth Parkerof the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
Part of David Attenborough's 'Life' series, it was followed by The Trials of Life (1990). However, before the latter, Attenborough wrote and presented two shorter series: The First Eden (1987), about man's relationship with the natural habitats of the Mediterranean, andLost Worlds Vanished Lives (1989), concerning the discovery of fossils.
Background
The programmes were just as ambitious to produce as those in the previous series, each featuring a variety of locations from around the world.
Among the most difficult places, in terms of logistics, was the Sudan, where the crew had to be flown in — despite there being no runways or indeed roads. Conversely, areas such as the Himalayas permitted no transportation at all, so the only option was to walk. In South America, a shortage of boats led to one cameraman having to push his equipment in a rubber dinghy, while he himself swam behind it.
Some subjects proved even more challenging: the production team had to wait two years for news to arrive of an erupting volcano, and had to suspend all other filming in the hope that it would still be alight when they reached it. Elsewhere, cameraman Hugh Miles had to put himself 25 yards (23 m) away from a polar bear in order to film it in close-up.
For the episode "The Sky Above", the series' makers managed to secure the services of NASA, and the use of its gravity research aircraft, affectionately known as the Vomit Comet.
However, the most time-consuming sequence involved red-breasted geese in flight — not in terms of actual filming, but in preparing for it. The birds had to be reared by hand from birth so that they would respond to the voice of their 'mother', and this eventually enabled them to be photographed as they flew alongside a moving open-top car.
Filming techniques continued to evolve. One new piece of equipment used was a scuba diving suit with a large, fully enclosed faceplate, allowing Attenborough to speak (and be seen) underwater.
In an interview on the making of the series, Attenborough was self-effacing concerning his own contribution:
"The difficulties are not actually experienced by me, because the bits that I do are the easiest bits. [...] It's not too difficult to walk on to a rock and look at a camera and say something. The difficulties are those that are encountered by the cameramen, directors and recordists, who actually have to get an animal doing something which perhaps nobody's ever even seen before. Those are extremely difficult things to do."[1]
[edit]Episodes
"Our planet, the Earth, is, as far as we know, unique in the universe. It contains life. Even in its most barren stretches, there are animals. Around the equator, where those two essentials for life, sunshine and moisture, are most abundant, great forests grow. And here plants and animals proliferate in such numbers that we still have not even named all the different species. Here, animals and plants, insects and birds, mammals and man live together in intimate and complex communities, each dependent on one another. Two thirds of the surface of this unique planet are covered by water, and it was here indeed that life began. From the oceans, it has spread even to the summits of the highest mountains as animals and plants have responded to the changing face of the Earth."— David Attenborough’s opening narration
[edit]1. "The Building of the Earth"
Broadcast 19 January 1984, the first episode begins in the world’s deepest valley: that of the Kali Gandaki river in the Himalayas. Its temperatures range from those of the tropics in its lower reaches to that of the poles higher up. It therefore shows how creatures become adapted to living in certain environments. The higher that Attenborough travels, the more bleak and mountainous is the terrain, and the more suited to it are the animals that live there. However, such adaptations are comparatively recent: these mountains were formed from the sea bed some 65 million years ago. To show the force of nature responsible for this, Attenborough stands in front of an erupting volcano in Iceland and handles a piece of basalt; the Giant's Causeway is an example of what happens to it over a great length of time. The Icelandic volcanoes represent the northern end of a fissure that is mostly underwater and runs down one side of the globe, forming volcanic islands en route where it is above sea level. It is such activity, known as plate tectonics, from deep within the Earth that pulled apart Africa and South America and created the Atlantic Ocean. Footage of the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 shows what decimation it caused. However, this pales in comparison to the destruction caused by Krakatoa in 1883, which Attenborough relates in detail. When such pressure beneath the Earth shifts, it results in hot springs and caverns — which themselves support life.
[edit]2. "The Frozen World"
Broadcast 26 January 1984, this programme describes the inhospitable habitats of snow and ice. Mount Rainier in America is an example of such a place: there is no vegetation, therefore no herbivores and thus no carnivores. However, beneath its frosty surface,algae grow and some insects, such as ladybirds visit the slopes. Africa’s mountains are permanently snow-covered, and beneath peaks such as Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, there are communities of plants and animals. However, they endure extremes of temperature within 24 hours like no other. At night they are in danger of freezing solid, and during the day they may be robbed of moisture. Lobeliascombat this by either producing pectin or insulating themselves with an abundance of leaves analogous to a fur coat. The Andes run the length of South America and are surrounded by the altiplano. On these high plains there is a large and varied population of animals. Antarctica is bigger than the whole of Europe and is for the most part devoid of life. However, its shores and waters are fertile and are home to fur seals, their main food (krill), and several species of penguin. By contrast, because of its connection to more temperate regions, the Arctic has been colonised by a large variety of species. They include Arctic Foxes, polar bears, lemmings, Snowy Owls, and the region’s most powerful hunter, the Inuit. It is also a temporary home to migratory animals, such as the caribou and snow goose.
[edit]3. "The Northern Forests"
Broadcast 2 February 1984, the next instalment examines the northern coniferous forests. The programme begins in northern Norway, 500 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. Here, there is only just enough light for the pine trees to survive, but it is extremely cold during the winter. Pine cone seeds provide one of the few foods available at this time of year, and large herbivores such as the moose must also rely on their fat reserves. However, there are predators, including lynxes, wolverines and eagle owls. The coniferous forest grows in a belt right around the globe, some 1,900 kilometres across at its widest. On each continent, many migratory animals arrive in the spring, and even more during the summer. In years when the vole population is high, the numbers of their main predator, the owls, increase correspondingly and spread out. Further south, the warmer climate sees the pine trees give way to broad-leaved species, such as the oak and beech. More birds occupy the forest canopy during the summer than at any other time of year, feeding on a myriad of insects. At the onset of winter, many animals in these forests hibernate, and in America, Attenborough uncovers the den of a black bear, which can be asleep for six months at a time. Finally, further south still, Attenborough discovers the effects of forest fires, which are not so destructive as they appear — the areas affected rejuvenate themselves within a couple of months, with more flowers than before.
[edit]4. "Jungle"
Broadcast 16 February 1984, this episode is devoted to the jungles of the tropics. Attenborough ascends a kapok in the South American tropical rainforest to observe "the greatest proliferation of life that you can find anywhere on Earth." There are two main causes for this: warmth and wetness. As this climate is constant, there are no seasons, so treesvary greatly in their flowering cycles. However, each species does so at the same time and, because of the lack of wind, relies on birds and insects for pollination. Bromeliads have their own population of visitors, largely due to their chalice-like rosettes of leaves that hold water. This is used by some for drinking, or, as in the case of the poison dart frog, for depositingtadpoles. Attenborough also highlights those species that have perfected the art of camouflage, including phasmids. The most densely populated part of the jungle is in its uppermost reaches. Around half-way down, there is little life, apart from those that inhabit nest holes, such as macaws, or use the trunks and lianas to aid movement. The jungle floor is not very fertile as the rain washes away any nutriment from the soil. Tree roots therefore rely on a kind of compost formed from decaying leaves — a process that is greatly accelerated in the natural humidity. After a tropical storm, an aged kapok comes crashing to the ground, leaving a gap in the canopy above. The process of renewal then begins as saplings race to fill the space created.
[edit]5. "Seas of Grass"
Broadcast 23 February 1984, this programme looks at a plant of which there are some 10,000 species and which covers over a quarter of vegetated land: the grasses. It is a plant that keeps growing despite continuous grazing — because a grass leaf grows at its base, which is permanently active. At such low levels, lizards prey on insects, praying mantises eat grasshoppers, spiders hunt anything they can and dung beetles clear up the mess. Termites are among the most successful: in the savannah of Brazil, there are more termite mounds per acre than anywhere else — and where they flourish, theanteater follows. At dawn on the Brazilian campo, many open-nesting birds are vulnerable to species such as the tegu. There are few trees because of little water and during the dry season, caiman and turtles vie for space in such pools as there are. 3,000 kilometres to the north, in Venezuela, the clay soil enables the llanos to hold flood water, and some creatures, such as the capybara, relish it. Further north still, on the North American prairie, the freezing temperature of minus 46 °C means that few animals can survive it; the bison is one that can. The African plains have a greater variety and bigger concentration of grass-living animals than any other. This leads to a similar abundance of predators, and the Merle people ambush white-eared kob as they cross a river. Of the million animals that attempt the crossing over several days, some 5,000 are killed.
[edit]6. "The Baking Deserts"
Broadcast 1 March 1984, the next instalment explores the world of deserts. It begins in the largest, the Sahara, where the highest land temperatures have been recorded. Rock paintings depict creatures such as giraffes and antelopes, suggesting that at one point there was enough vegetation to support them. Now, such life has all but disappeared, with the exception of the cypress, whose roots find water deep underground. Since the night brings low temperatures, many of the creatures that live there are nocturnal. They includeFennec Foxes, geckos, jerboas and caracals. A scorpion is shown fighting a black widow spider. During the day, the desert belongs to the reptiles, which rely on the sun to warm their bodies. The Sonoran Desert is home to the Gila monster, one of the two poisonous lizards. By mid-afternoon, it's so hot that even reptiles must escape the sun's rays. However, some birds have developed methods for keeping cool. The sandgrouse evaporates moisture by fluttering its throat, while the road runner also uses its tail as a parasol. Plants that are best adapted to the habitat are the creosote bush and cacti, of which the saguaro is one of the biggest. The nomadic Tuaregpeople cross the Sahara from one side to the other — but can't do so unaided. They rely on the camel for transportation, as much as it needs them to periodically dig for water. Despite this, it is one of the best adapted desert animals: it can go without water for ten times as long as a man.
[edit]7. "The Sky Above"
Broadcast 8 March 1984, this episode deals with the air and those creatures that spend most of their lives in it. Attenborough begins in NASA’s gravity research aircraft to illustrate the effect of weightlessness. There are surprisingly many plants whose seeds are, in effect, lighter than air. Gossamer is the animal equivalent, spun by tiny spiders. Only the very smallest plants and animals can defy gravity, but some seeds, such as those of thesycamore, cheat this by simulating the movement of a helicopter. Many creatures are expert gliders, such as the flying frog and some species of lizard. However, those that live at grass level must use powered flight, sometimes aided with a leap, as with the grasshopper. Attenborough observes albatrosses in South Georgia exploiting the air currents above cliffs to glide all day. Heavy birds like vultures wait for the land to heat up and provide thermals before they attempt any lengthy flight. The techniques of diving birds, such as the gannet or theperegrine falcon, are shown. Migratory birds are also explored in detail, and a multitude assembles above Panama each autumn. The red-breasted goose migrates entirely overland, and so can stop for fuel every night — unlike those that cross the open ocean. Finally, Attenborough ascends 6.5 kilometres into the atmosphere in a hot air balloon. It is this space that contains the Earth’s weather, and satellite imagery is used to illustrate the formation of hurricanes and tornados.
[edit]8. "Sweet Fresh Water"
Broadcast 15 March 1984, this programme focuses on freshwater habitats. Only 3% of the world’s water is fresh, and Attenborough describes the course the Amazon, starting high up in the Andes of Peru, whose streams flow into the great river. Young rivers are by nature vigorous and dangerous: they flow fast and form rapids, thick with mud and sediment. They accumulate sand and gravel en route, and this erodes all but the hardest surrounding rocks. The Yellow River of China carries the most sediment of any river. By the time it has settled down and fallen over its last cascade, the water becomes tranquil and rich with nutrients from its banks. It begins to formlakes, and where the water flows into basins created by geological faults, they can be immense. When water reaches such areas, it loses its impetus and drops its sediment, potentially making it very fertile. Lake Baikal in Russia is the deepest: 1,500 metres. In addition, 80% of its inhabitants are unique, including the Baikal Seal. There are many examples of creatures that thrive in such an environment. Predators lie in wait above the surface (kingfishers), below it (turtles), on it (water boatmen), and at its edge (fishing spiders). In its final stages, a river’s tributaries are liable to burst their banks and flood. However, some have made a virtue of this: theMarsh Arabs of Iraq construct their buildings on rafts of reeds. This allows fish, pelicans and humans to flourish in a single community.
[edit]9. "The Margins of the Land"
Broadcast 22 March 1984, this instalment details coastal environments and the effect of tides, of which the highest can be found in theBay of Fundy in North America. In places, erosion is causing the land to retreat, while in others — such as the tropics — the expansion of mangroves causes it to advance. Mussels keep their shells closed at low tide to deter attackers but the oystercatcher is adept at dealing with them. Other estuary wading birds, which have developed a multitude of techniques for gathering food from mud flats, includegodwits, curlews, dunlins, Ringed Plovers and avocets. While glasswort grows on many European tidal banks, the mangroves of the tropics are extensive. The largest forest is in the Sundarbans at the mouth of the Ganges and is 370 square metres in size. Where waves meet rocks and cliffs, the bands between low and high tides are narrow, and creatures have developed according to their dietary and safety needs. Mussels are preyed on by starfish, and so ensure that they are out of reach at low tide. Barnacles are higher still and feed on microscopic particles. On a Costa Rican beach, Attenborough observes female Ridley turtles arriving at the rate of some 5,000 an hour to deposit their eggs. Finally, he discovers the largest turtle, the giant leatherback, also laying eggs. He remarks that despite its great size, little is known about it — except that its eggs are easily plundered, thus making it an endangered species.
[edit]10. "Worlds Apart"
Broadcast 29 March 1984, this episode investigates remote islands and their inhabitants. Some islands are tips of volcanoes; others are coral atolls. Those that colonise them transform into new species with comparative speed. Attenborough visits Aldabra in the Indian Ocean, which is 400 kilometres from the African coast. It has a vast population of sooty terns, which enjoy a degree of protection from predators that is unavailable on the mainland. The giant tortoise has also proliferated, despite the inhospitable nature of the landscape. Many island birds become flightless, including the Aldabran rail and the extinct dodo ofMauritius. Living in such isolation seems to allow some species to outgrow their mainland cousins, and Attenborough observes a group of feeding Komodo dragons at close quarters. The volcanic islands of Hawaii have become rich in vegetation and therefore a multitude of colonists: for example, there are at least 800 species of drosophila that are unique to the area. Polynesians reached Hawaii well over a thousand years ago, and their sea-going culture enabled them to reach many Pacific islands, including Easter Island, where they carved the Moai, and New Zealand: the ancestors of the Māori. Attenborough highlights the kakapo as a species that was hunted to near-extinction. It is a facet of animal island dwellers that they have developed no means of self-defence, since their only predators are those that have been introduced by humans.
[edit]11. "The Open Ocean"
This programme concentrates on the marine environment. Attenborough goes underwater himself to observe the ocean's life forms and comment on them at first hand. He states that those that live on the sea bed are even more varied than land inhabitants. Much sea life is microscopic, and such creatures make up part of the marine plankton. Some animals are filter feeders and examples include the manta ray, the basking shark and the largest, the whale shark. Bony fish with their swim bladders and manoeuvrable fins dominate the seas, and the tuna is hailed as the fastest hunter, but the superiority of these types of fish did not go unchallenged: mammals are also an important component of ocean life. Killer Whales, dolphins, narwhals and Humpback Whales are shown, as well as a school of beluga whales, which congregate annually in a bay in the Canadian Arctic — for reasons unknown. Marine habitats can be just as diverse as those on dry land. Attenborough surmises that the coral reef, with its richness of life, is the water equivalent of the jungle. Where the breezes of the Gulf Stream meet those of the Arctic, the resulting currents churn up nutrients, which lead to vegetation, the fish that eat it, and others that eat them. Attenborough remarks that it is man who has been most responsible for changing ocean environments byfishing relentlessly, but in doing so has also created new ones for himself — and this leads to the final episode.
[edit]12. "New Worlds"
Broadcast 12 April 1984, the final instalment surveys those environments that have been created by and for humans. Man has spread to all corners of the globe — not because he has evolved to suit his surroundings, but because he has exploited the adaptations of other animal species. Despite being in existence for 500,000 years, it was not until 9,000 years ago that man began to create his own habitat, and in Beidha, in Jordan, Attenborough examines the remains of one of the earliest villages. Its inhabitants owned animals, and this domestication spread to Europe, eventually arriving in Britain. Much of the UK's landscape is man-made: for example, the South Downswere once a forest and the Norfolk Broads are the flooded remains of pits dug 600 years ago. Man also shaped his land by ridding himself of certain species and introducing others. He changed plants by harvesting them: the vast wheat fields of America now constitute a monoculture, where no other species are permitted. The same can be said for cities, which were constructed entirely for man's benefit. While humans are good at managing unwanted species (such as rats and other vermin), Attenborough argues that man has failed to look after natural resources and highlights the ignorance in assuming that the Earth has an infinite capacity to absorb waste. The now acidic, lifeless lakes of Scandinavia are examples that are "shameful monuments to our carelessness and lack of concern."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Attenborough"Immensely powerful though we are today, it's equally clear that we’re going to be even more powerful tomorrow. And what's more there will be greater compulsion upon us to use our power as the number of human beings on Earth increases still further. Clearly we could devastate the world. […] As far as we know, the Earth is the only place in the universe where there is life. Its continued survival now rests in our hands."— David Attenborough, in closing
David Attenborough
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (
/ˈætənbərə/) OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA (born 8 May 1926) is a British broadcaster and naturalist.
/ˈætənbərə/) OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA (born 8 May 1926) is a British broadcaster and naturalist.
His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years. He is best known for writing and presenting the nine Life series, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, which collectively form a comprehensive survey of all life on the planet. He is also a former senior manager at the BBC, having served as controller ofBBC Two and director of programming for BBC Television in the 1960s and 1970s.
Attenborough is widely considered a national treasure in Britain, although he himself does not care for the term.[1][2][3] He is a younger brother of director, producer and actor Richard Attenborough
| Sir David Attenborough | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Attenborough in May 2003 | |
| Born | 8 May 1926 Isleworth, London |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | |
| Title | |
| Spouse | Jane Elizabeth Ebsworth Oriel (m. 1950–1997, her death) |
| Children |
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Life series
Beginning with Life on Earth in 1979, Attenborough set about creating a body of work which became a benchmark of quality in wildlife film-making and influenced a generation of documentary film-makers. The series also established many of the hallmarks of the BBC's natural history output. By treating his subject seriously and researching the latest discoveries, Attenborough and his production team gained the trust of the scientific community, who responded by allowing him to feature their subjects in his programmes. In Rwanda, for example, Attenborough and his crew were granted privileged access to film Dian Fossey's research group of mountain gorillas. Innovation was another factor in Life on Earth's success: new film-making techniques were devised to get the shots Attenborough wanted, with a focus on events and animals that were hitherto unfilmed. Computerised airline schedules, which had only recently been introduced, enabled the series to be elaborately devised so that Attenborough visited several locations around the globe in each episode, sometimes even changing continents mid-sentence. Although appearing as the on-screen presenter, he consciously restricted his pieces to camera to give his subjects top billing.
The success of Life on Earth prompted the BBC to consider a follow-up, and five years later, The Living Planet was screened. This time, Attenborough built his series around the theme of ecology, the adaptations of living things to their environment. It was another critical and commercial success, generating huge international sales for the BBC. In 1990, The Trials of Life completed the original Life trilogy, looking at animal behaviour through the different stages of life. The series drew strong reactions from the viewing public for its sequences of killer whales hunting sea lions on a Patagonian beach and chimpanzees hunting and violently killing a colobus monkey.
In the 1990s, Attenborough continued to use the "Life" moniker for a succession of authored documentaries. In 1993, he presented Life in the Freezer, the first television series to survey the natural history of Antarctica. Although past normal retirement age, he then embarked on a number of more specialised surveys of the natural world, beginning with plants. They proved a difficult subject for his producers, who had to deliver five hours of television featuring what are essentially immobile objects. The result, The Private Life of Plants (1995), showed plants as dynamic organisms by using time-lapse photography to speed up their growth.
Prompted by an enthusiastic ornithologist at the BBC Natural History Unit, Attenborough then turned his attention to the animal kingdom and in particular, birds. As he was neither an obsessive twitcher, nor a bird expert, he decided he was better qualified to make The Life of Birds (1998) on the theme of behaviour. The order of the remaining "Life" series was dictated by developments in camera technology. For The Life of Mammals (2002), low-light and infrared cameras were deployed to reveal the behaviour of nocturnal mammals. The series contains a number of memorable two shots of Attenborough and his subjects, which included chimpanzees, a blue whale and a grizzly bear. Advances in macro photography made it possible to capture natural behaviour of very small creatures for the first time, and in 2005, Life in the Undergrowth introduced audiences to the world of invertebrates.
At this point, Attenborough realised that he had spent 20 years unconsciously assembling a collection of programmes on all the major groups of terrestrial animals and plants — only reptiles and amphibians were missing. When Life in Cold Blood was broadcast in 2008, he had the satisfaction of completing the set, brought together in a DVD encyclopaedia called Life on Land. In an interview that year, Attenborough was asked to sum up his achievement, and responded:
The evolutionary history is finished. The endeavour is complete. If you'd asked me 20 years ago whether we'd be attempting such a mammoth task, I'd have said "Don't be ridiculous!" These programmes tell a particular story and I'm sure others will come along and tell it much better than I did, but I do hope that if people watch it in 50 years' time, it will still have something to say about the world we live in.
Other documentaries
Alongside the "Life" series, Attenborough has continued to work on other television documentaries, mainly in the natural history genre. He wrote and presented a series on man's influence on the natural history of the Mediterranean basin, The First Eden, in 1987. Two years later, he demonstrated his passion for fossils in Lost Worlds Vanished Lives.
Attenborough narrated every episode of Wildlife on One, a BBC One wildlife series which ran for 253 episodes between 1977 and 2005. At its peak, it drew a weekly audience of eight to ten million, and the 1987 episode "Meerkats United" was voted the best wildlife documentary of all time by BBC viewers.[18] He has also narrated over 50 episodes of Natural World, BBC Two's flagship wildlife series. (Its forerunner, The World About Us, was created by Attenborough in 1969, as a vehicle for colour television.[19]) In 1997, he narrated theBBC Wildlife Specials, each focussing on a charismatic species, and screened to mark the Natural History Unit's 40th anniversary.
As a writer and narrator, he continued to collaborate with the BBC Natural History Unit in the new millennium. Alastair Fothergill, a senior producer with whom Attenborough had worked on The Trials of Life and Life in the Freezer, was making The Blue Planet (2001), the Unit's first comprehensive series on marine life. He decided not to use an on-screen presenter due to difficulties in speaking to camera through diving apparatus, but asked Attenborough to narrate the films. The same team reunited for Planet Earth (2006), the biggest nature documentary ever made for television and the first BBC wildlife series to be shot in high definition. In 2011, Fothergill gave Attenborough a more prominent role in Frozen Planet, a major series on the natural history of the polar regions. Attenborough appeared on screen and authored the final episode, in addition to performing voiceover duties.
In 2009, he co-wrote and narrated Life, a ten-part series focussing on extraordinary animal behaviour,[20] and narrated Nature's Great Events, which showed how seasonal changes trigger major natural spectacles.[21]
By the turn of the millennium, Attenborough's authored documentaries were adopting a more overtly environmentalist stance. In State of the Planet (2000), he used the latest scientific evidence and interviews with leading scientists and conservationists to assess the impact of man's activities on the natural world. He later turned to the issues of global warming (The Truth about Climate Change, 2006) and human population growth (How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth?, 2009). He also contributed a programme which highlighted the plight of endangered species to the BBC's Saving Planet Earth project in 2007, the 50th anniversary of the Natural History Unit.
Attenborough is also forging a new partnership with Sky, working on documentaries for the broadcaster's new 3D network, Sky 3D. Their first collaboration was Flying Monsters 3D, a film about pterosaurs which debuted on Christmas Day of 2010.[22] A second film, The Bachelor King, followed a year later, and further collaborations are planned.
Current projects
Attenborough celebrates his 60th year in broadcasting in 2012, and continues to work on a number of television, film and radio projects. The anniversary will be marked by the BBC with the screening of Attenborough: 60 Years in the Wild, a three part series which looks at how wildlife filmmaking techniques, discoveries in the field of biological sciences and our relationship with the natural world have all developed over the past 60 years.[23]
Further collaborations with Sky 3D are also in the pipeline. First will come Kingdom of Plants 3D, a three-part series filmed at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew which debuts on 26 May 2012and will be simulcast on Sky Atlantic HD.[24] A series on the wildlife of the Galapagos Islands has also been announced[25] and the Sky 3D film The Bachelor King, which Attenborough wrote and narrated, will get a theatrical release in 2012. All Attenborough's 3D projects are being co-produced by Atlantic Productions, as is a second series ofFirst Life, which will explore the origins of the mammals.[26]
2012 will also herald the third series of David Attenborough's Life Stories for BBC Radio 4 and the new commission David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities on Eden.
http://www.nndb.com/people/180/000023111/David Attenborough AKA David Frederick AttenboroughBorn: 8-May-1926 Birthplace: London, England Gender: Male Religion: Atheist Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Naturalist, TV Personality Nationality: England Executive summary: Life on Earth Military service: Royal Navy (1947-49) Father: Frederick Levi Attenborough (Principal, Leicester University College) Mother: Mary Clegg Brother: Richard Attenborough (film director, b. 29-Aug-1923) Brother: John Michael Attenborough (younger) Wife: Jane Elizabeth Ebsworth Oriel (m. 17-Feb-1950, d. 16-Feb-1997 stroke, one son, one daughter) Daughter: Susan Son: Robert University: Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys, Leicester University: Clare College, Cambridge University Royal Society 1983 British Museum Trustee (1980-) World Wildlife Fund Trustee (1979-86) Commander of the British Empire 1974 Knight of the British Empire 1985 Faraday Prize 2003 Emmy TELEVISION BBC FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR Deep Blue (18-May-2003) The Blue Planet (12-Sep-2001) A Zed and Two Noughts (9-Apr-1986) |
http://www.wildfilmhistory.org/person/85/photo/207/David+Attenborough+during+filming+for+The+Living+Planet.html
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Photo credits
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Related links
 The Living Planet: The Making of the Living Planet (1984) |
 David Attenborough |
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0135096/plotsummary
Plot Summary for"The Living Planet" (1984) More at IMDbPro »
David Attenborough examines the ecology and biodiversity of each of Earth's major biomes, and warns of the dangers of humanity's current industrial life. Camera work is extraordinary, and all continents are visited at least once. Written by Jason A. Cormier
David Attenborough discusses the biomass and life in a variety of eco-systems spanning many of the environments found on Earth (from tropical to polar). Written by Ciné-ma-passion
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.....this is brendasue signing off from Rainbow Creek.
See You next time.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTMwNTMyOTY4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDI0NzgxMQ%40%40._V1._SY317_CR8,0,214,317_.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0135096/&h=317&w=214&sz=23&tbnid=mccdZ5_qwRXbXM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=61&zoom=1&docid=FGxCIct03p1CpM&sa=X&ei=9Fu1T9uvE4Pg2QWhroQO&ved=0CH0Q9QEwBA&dur=761
O+O
Muchas gracias por compartir este reportaje Brendasue.
ReplyDeletesuch great images here
ReplyDelete