BBC Plans Special Programme and Event for Attenborough's 100th Birthday

A special BBC programme has been commissioned to mark Sir David Attenborough's 100th birthday. Additionally, a celebratory event for his birthday will be broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Concert Orchestra and special guests. Sir David Attenborough's career began when he applied to become a producer at the BBC as a young naturalist, but was initially rejected.

The BBC then encouraged him to apply for its television training scheme, and he was accepted into the BBC Television Training Course as a Talks Producer at age 26. A letter that launched his career was unearthed in December. The BBC says his second application to the television training scheme arguably changed the course of broadcasting.

According to Daily Mail - Home, Sir David Attenborough described not being afraid of death, but has previously spoken about his fears of growing old and becoming helpless. He also described the most important place on Earth as at sea, not on land, and expressed a hatred for rats, noting he has handled deadly spiders, snakes, and scorpions without batting an eyelid. Sir David Attenborough describes his career as 'swanning round the world looking at the most fabulously interesting things'.

In terms of health, Sir David Attenborough had a pacemaker installed in 2013 and both his knees replaced in major surgery in 2015. His wife Jane died in 1997 following a brain haemorrhage. Upcoming BBC projects include a new series called 'Secret Garden' featuring Sir David Attenborough revealing hidden worlds and wildlife in Britain's gardens, a programme called 'Making Life on Earth: Attenborough's Greatest Adventure' going behind-the-scenes of his series that began production in 1976, and 'David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth', which has been previously announced and will air on BBC One and iPlayer.