He's known for reporting from exotic and far-flung corners of the world, but Sir David Attenborough is a Londoner born and bred, calling the city his home since he was born in Isleworth in 1926.
Now, as he approaches his 100th birthday, he lives — as he has done for many years — in Richmond. Interestingly for a Londoner, given the old (untrue) adage that you're never more than six feet from a rat in London, Attenborough admitted in a 2011 episode of BBC Radio 4 series David Attenborough's Life Stories that rats are the only animals he's scared of.
But London's not just the place he calls home. The city has played a significant role in his career, too.
David Attenborough at the BBC
The BBC is where it all started, and where Attenborough’s work largely remains (with the occasional recent foray into Netflix and other channels).
He joined the BBC in 1952 as a trainee producer, working out of two small studios in Alexandra Palace. It wasn't long before a twist of fate kickstarted his (unintentional) presenting career.
At London Zoo in 1954, the then little-known producer teamed up with a reptile curator to create a new BBC programme discussing wildlife around the world. The programme was called Zoo Quest, and followed expeditions which retrieved animals from the wild to put into zoos.
For the first episode of Zoo Quest, the curator handled the animals. For the second episode, he fell ill so Attenborough was forced to step out from behind the camera and present. And so began a career spanning seven decades to date.
Zoo Quest ended in 1963, at Attenborough's own request: public opinion about capturing wild animals was changing. You can still see episodes (featuring a very young-looking, and dare we say it, inexperienced, Attenborough) on the BBC archive.
By 1965, Attenborough was controller of BBC2. By this time, BBC Television Centre at White City had opened as headquarters of BBC Television, with the exception of news programmes (which remained at Alexandra Palace until 1969). As controller, Attenborough oversaw the introduction of colour TV to Britain; the first colour signal was transmitted from Alexandra Palace in 1965. (Attenborough was subsequently behind the push to use yellow, rather than white, tennis balls at Wimbledon, though this only happened from 1986.)
Attenborough's career in television is still going strong. In an interview in November 2015, at the age of 89, he said: "I’ll keep on doing this job, even if I have to get there in a wheelchair". While it's (thankfully) not come to that yet, he has slowed down, rarely travelling long-haul these days, and instead voicing documentaries attributed to him.
Attenborough returned to Ally Pally, where his career had started decades before, in 2021, when he attended the awards ceremony for the inaugural Earthshot Prize. The competition celebrating ideas for environmental solutions is headed up by Prince William, but this is far from Attenborough's only brush with royalty, as you'll see below.
David Attenborough at London Zoo
Zoo Quest wasn't Attenborough’s first involvement with London Zoo. His first natural history programme, made in 1953, was a series called The Patterns of Animals. Creatures from London Zoo were brought into the studio to demonstrate the animal behaviours being discussed.
It was through this programme Attenborough met Jack Lester, the reptile curator who later fell ill during filming of Zoo Quest, forcing Attenborough into the presenting arena.
In 1998, Attenborough was named as an Honorary Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, the charity which runs London Zoo, and in 2004 he officially opened the zoo's new Komodo Dragons exhibit, which now bears his name. In 2020, during lockdown, Attenborough fronted an appeal to keep the charity going when it was facing financial troubles.
It's apt that in 2026, while Attenborough is celebrating his centenary, the ZSL charity is marking its own bicentenary. Find out more about the many links between the two.
David Attenborough at the Natural History Museum
For someone so closely associated with the natural world, it's no surprise that Attenborough has strong links with the Natural History Museum.
In 1981, he presented The Ark At South Kensington, a BBC programme celebrating the museum's 100th anniversary by going behind the scenes.
Visitors to the Natural History Museum today can visit the Attenborough Studio within the Darwin Centre, where film screenings and live events take place daily. Back in 2015, the museum ran a Great Barrier Reef virtual reality experience tying in with Attenborough's television series of the same name. Currently (until August 2026), it offers Our Story With David Attenborough, an immersive 360° experience, pairing projections of the natural world with Attenborough's narration to tell the story of the history of humankind on Planet Earth. If you want more of Attenborough's iconic voice, the NHM website offers a tour of the museum narrated by him.
While you're there, wander through to the Fossil Marine Reptiles Gallery (near the main gift shop). Look up outside the entrance to the restaurant to see Attenborosaurus, the skeleton of an extinct marine reptile, named after Sir David Attenborough.
David Attenborough at the Royal Institution
In 1973, Attenborough stepped up to the podium at the Royal Institution to present that year's Christmas Lectures for young people — though he considered pulling out at the last minute due to the difficulties of working with animals, as he revealed in the above video, filmed decades later.
His topic was the language of animals. Videos of the lectures are available to watch on the Royal Institution website (Lecture one | two | three | five | six — number four is missing with no known copy), and although the picture quality isn't always perfect, that smooth voice is instantly recognisable.
David Attenborough at Buckingham Palace
David Attenborough has received two knighthoods, in 1985 and 2022, but both ceremonies took place at Windsor Castle. He's not unfamiliar with Buckingham Palace though: 2018 film The Queen's Green Planet saw him wandering the palace gardens with Queen Elizabeth II, discussing the importance of trees and the need to protect them. It celebrated the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy project, which created a global network of protected forests in each of the 53 Commonwealth countries. The documentary sees the Queen talking about some of her favourite trees in the grounds, including the ones planted to commemorate the births of her children.
David Attenborough and Richmond Park
Attenborough’s love for wildlife isn’t restricted to the plains of Africa or the depths of the ocean. He's a patron of the Friends of Richmond Park, and is regularly involved in events at the park, such as planting trees in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2023.
In July 2015, Attenborough officially reopened Poets Corner, an area of the park overlooking Petersham Park, with a bench dedicated to 18th century Scottish poet James Thomson, best known for writing the words to Rule Britannia.
Attenborough has described the park as:
a very special place; a national nature reserve, a site of special scientific interest and home to a wealth of wonderful wildlife from thousands of rare beetles and birds to over 1,100 veteran oak trees, some over 700 years old.
It's the sort of place that inspires young people to get interested in London's fascinating flora and fauna. And who knows — maybe even the place that could inspire the next Sir David.
David Attenborough shows set in London
Attenborough's work has kept him close to home too. In early 2026, the BBC broadcast Wild London, a documentary delving into the capital's own wildlife, from parakeets to beavers to foxes to falcons. Locations from the Westway to the City, and Greenwich Park appear in brief clips, while foxes on an allotment in Tottenham, fallow deer in Epping, snakes on the Regent's Canal, pigeons on the Tube and peregrine falcons in Westminster all warrant a closer look. The show ends with Attenborough in an autumnal Richmond Park.
The show is available on iPlayer throughout 2026.
David Attenborough murals in London
A mural depicting the naturalist appeared just off Bethnal Green Road in 2019, the work of artist Jerome Davenport, coinciding with the release of Attenborough series Our Planet on Netflix.
Prior to that, the 'Wall of Heroes' mural alongside West Dulwich station depicted Attenborough alongside other big names in science fields, including DNA pioneer Rosalind Franklin, and fellow conservationist and author (and erstwhile Dulwich local) Gerald Durrell.
Down in Attenborough's own stomping ground in Richmond, the Attenborough's Ark mural graced the wall of a barber's shop on Church Terrace, around the corner from the bus station. At its centre, a young Attenborough cradles a chimp in a recreation of this famous image from Zoo Quest. He's surrounded by creatures from butterflies to rhinos, all the work of urban artist Paul Don Smith.
To the best of our knowledge, both the Wall of Heroes and Attenborough's Ark were still in situ as recently as 2024.
Though not a mural, another London tribute to Attenborough was lost when Foyles relocated its Charing Cross Road/Tottenham Court Road store in 2014. According to London Remembers, a plaque in the basement displayed a quote attributed to Attenborough, words he's said to have spoken during a Foyles Literary Luncheon in 1963:
The most ferocious thing I have ever encountered in any trip abroad is not a snake or even a charging rhinoceros, but the predatory immigration official.
To be fair to immigration officials Zoo Quest — the show which saw animals retrieved from the wild — had only finished earlier that year, so there's a chance that Attenborough and his companions were travelling with all manner of critters up to that point, and so they were likely right to be... wary as they ushered them through customs.
David Attenborough at Madame Tussauds London
Like anyone who's anyone these days, a wax likeness of David Attenborough can be found in Baker Street wax museum Madame Tussauds. It was unveiled in 2023, created using photos and video footage as reference, but it wasn't Attenborough's first foray into the world of wax: back in 1992, the conservationist unveiled a previous waxwork of himself at the attraction.
Boaty McBoat Face
It's fitting that a British icon (Attenborough) and one of the most British things that's ever happened (Boaty McBoat Face) are tied together. In 2016, the British public voted to give a new polar research ship the name Boaty McBoat Face, outvoting other suggestions including Usain Boat and Poppy-Mai. The Natural Environment Research Council, which ran the naming competition, did a massive U-turn (not easy with a 128m-long vessel) and named it the RRS Sir David Attenborough instead. To placate the public, an autonomous underwater vehicle (essentially a 🎵 yellow submarine 🎵 which adds another layer of Britishness to the whole situation) was named Boaty McBoat Face instead.
Anyway, Boaty Dave briefly moored up in Greenwich for three days in October 2021, giving the public a chance to see how it all works before it set off on its inaugural polar mission. The National Maritime Museum allows you to track the vessel's current location, though it's not expected back in London anytime soon.
David Attenborough's Green Planet in London
2022 documentary series The Green Planet enjoyed a healthy dose of promo here in London, including a large-scale takeover of Piccadilly Circus, featuring a subtitled clip of Attenborough talking about the importance of plants, and a 3D effect of foliage growing out of the famous advertising boards. Beneath the ground, Green Planet Tube roundels were installed at (where else?) Green Park station, and on Regent Street a free Green Planet AR experience was led by a David Attenborough hologram (not to be confused with the Conquest of the Skies VR experience which came to London a few months later, promoting another of his series).
David Attenborough has been to almost every corner of this globe, but it is London — and specifically Richmond — that he deems his "favourite place by a long way".
