Sir David Attenborough interview in the Sanctuary

[Guest guest]

http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/interviews/dattenborough.php

 

Interviews

 

February 2007

Sir David Attenborough

 

Sir David Attenborough's 50-year broadcasting career has taken him to the

far corners of our planet and has made him one of the most recognisable

faces in the world. His passion for the wilds and his exuberant love for

nature are palpable to anyone who has seen him on location, bringing

nature's hidden secrets to light. Too numerous to list, the series he has

presented on television include The Trials of Life and Life on Earth, which

did more to educate humans about the world they live in than almost any

other initiative launched in modern times. He was knighted in 1985 and was

awarded the Order of Merit by the Queen of England. He is currently filming

Life in Cold Blood, which explores the unseen lives of reptiles and

amphibians. Swati Thyagarajan, presenter of NDTV's Born Wild and winner of

the Sanctuary-ABN AMRO Wind Under the Wings Award 2006 met Sir David in U.K.

at the Wildscreen Film Festival and asked him about his life and his concern

for tomorrow.

[image: David Attenborough]

 

*Sir David, apart from the many achievements you are so well known for, is

it true that you were responsible for introducing colour television to

Britain?*

Yes, not because I was particularly clever or far sighted; it was determined

by the technological plans that the first network to go into colour would be

BBC 2 and that was determined before I joined BBC 2.

 

*You officially retired way back in 1973. Is it true what they say? That you

retired because you had not visited the Galapagos?*

That was a way of keeping journalists quiet. The reason I was leaving was

because I had spent eight years in administration and had I spent any more

time, I would have been moving further and further away from making and

devising programmes and that's what I enjoy doing most. So after doing

administration for eight years... yeah ...why not do what I enjoy rather

than sit behind a desk?

 

*When you launched zoo quest in the 1950s, you went to places where not too

many people had been before... that must have been adventurous. *

It was a huge privilege and unthinkable now. But in 1959-60,

I thought... why not go to Madagascar? What lives in Madagascar? It was

almost impossible to know really. There were all kinds of things, which had

never been photographed... extraordinary, isn't it? Well, think of that,

going to an island with unique fauna, which nobody has ever photographed.

What a privilege... huge privilege.

 

*So it was one of those explorer moments… going where no one had gone

before? *

Of course, lots of people had been to Madagascar. It's just that wildlife

filmmakers hadn't been to Madagascar. There have been times when I went to

places nobody had been to before. That was in the 1950s and that was very

exciting in a childish kind of way. It was very exciting and unforgettable

and is very difficult to do now. There are not many places like that.

*

How often have you been to India?*

Not enough… though I have seen some very nice animals there.

 

*You are reputed to have a rat phobia?*

Yes, certainly I do. I saw lots of rats in India and out of bravado…

foolishness… I wrote a shot involving rats into the script. I found it very

hard and I had a cynical, ghastly, appalling TV director friend shooting it,

and he said it would be perfectly OK. He said I'll put you on a stool so

you'll be above all the thousands of rats running on the floor and I turned

up early and saw him smearing banana on the legs of the stool to encourage

the rats to climb up the stool. It was terrible... the worst thing I've

done!

 

*You started out in the age of black-and-white. Have the immense changes

that have taken place in cinematography helped you to obtain a completely

different view of the natural world?*

Certainly! Every year, there is something new that can be the spur for a new

series. Originally, when I started you couldn't record in synch... couldn't

record someone talking and you couldn't film animals talking or squeaking or

whatever, and as time lapsed technology improved… and here we are now. It's

a paradox. There are more people now, I'm told, living in the cities than

those living in what we would call wild countryside. And yet, people living

in the cities have a broader view and understanding of what wildlife is than

ever before in history. Perhaps not as intimate and detailed, but

nonetheless extraordinary. For example, there is a move worldwide that we

should protect whales. One in 50 million humans must have seen a whale in

the wild... and yet everyone knows what whales are... they know very well

that we ought not to kill them… that's great… that's an advance and that is

something wildlife filmmakers can take credit for; not I, but certainly the

filmmakers who make films on whales can certainly feel that they have made a

contribution and pushed things forward.

 

*Do you feel that sometimes there is a disconnect with people in the cities

getting to see these fascinating programmes and learning about animals in

remote areas, while local communities are unaware of what they have? *

That's quite true, and many colleagues of mine work hard to send the films

we've made back to local people. But just sending the film back into space

is no good... it should go to someone who knows how to exhibit it, so people

can see it, understand what it means in the appropriate language. But again

all these things are changing at an enormous speed. I mean just consider DVD

discs now, compared with the problems of shooting on 16 mm. film and then

putting on separate sound tracks and lugging all that apparatus around.

People even in remote parts are getting the opportunity to see those films.

 

*As a naturalist is it your duty to talk about natural life and give us the

basic facts, or, considering the state

of the planet, include conservation messages with your films? *

Yes, conservation is important, but the first thing is to get the facts to

them. Until people know what these creatures are, what they do… why should

they care about them? Increasingly, people are losing sight of what the

natural world is, which puts a huge responsibility on those of us who make

films about nature.

 

*With so many threats to the world emerging, would you say that climate

change is the biggest threat to the world today?*

Yes. The human race is all over the world and there are more than twice the

number of people today than when I was born and it can't go on. It can't in

the next 50 years double again and double again. It's got to stop somehow

and if we don't make it stop, the natural world will make it stop by

spreading famine.