For the 70th anniversary edition of Desert Island Discs Kirsty Young invited Sir David Attenborough to make his fourth appearance on the show. He was first invited to select which tracks he'd take to a desert island in 1957 by the original host Roy Plomley. Almost every track from his five appearances have been classical compositions including 'The Bell Bird' by Francisco Yglesia, 'The Fire Bird' by Igor Stravinsky and 'Spring Symphony' by Benjamin Britten, and surprisingly 'The Lord is my light' by Handel, chosen in 1979.
David Attenborough has seen more of the world than anyone
else who has ever lived - he's visited the north and south poles and witnessed
most of the life in-between - from the birds in the canopies of tropical
rainforests to giant earthworms in Australia. But despite his
extraordinary travels, there is one part of the globe that's eluded him. As a
young man and a keen rock-climber, he yearned to conquer the highest peak in the
world.
"I won't make it now - I won't make it to base camp now - but as a
teenager, I thought that the only thing a red-blooded Englishman really should
do was to climb Everest." - Sir David Attenborough.
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David Attenborough with Kirsty Young (BBC)
Sir David's 3rd appearance in 1998
In December 1998 David Attenborough made his third appearance on Desert Island Discs with Sue Lawley. As she introduced him "He brought the
blue-footed booby into our sitting rooms, and revealed the secret lives of
plants. But we remember him best caught in the embrace of a female gorilla."
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