Fascinated by nature from an early age

Sir David Attenborough was fascinated with fossils, stones, and natural specimens growing up and had an impressive collection.

He won a scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge in 1945 to study geology and zoology and has a degree in natural sciences.

Before he embarked on his remarkable career in nature television, the biologist, natural historian, and writer had to complete his national service in the Royal Navy from 1947 until 1949.

A year later, he married fellow natural historian, Jane Elizabeth Ebsworth Oriel, with whom he has grownup children Robert and Susan. His wife sadly died in 1997, aged 70, after she suffered a brain haemorrhage.