Sir David Attenborough – Landmarks on our journey with FFI’s greatest ambassador

1926 - Life on Earth begins for David Attenborough

David Frederick Attenborough is born in Isleworth, Middlesex.

That very same year, Sabi Game Reserve in South Africa is reborn as Kruger National Park, thanks largely to the vision and single-minded determination of its first warden, Major James Stevenson-Hamilton, founder member and twice honorary secretary of FFI in its original guise. Kruger is opened to the public the following year.

Today, around one million visitors pass through its gates annually.

1933 - Plant roots: Attenborough and Welwitschia

Fascinated by fossils and nature, Attenborough embarks on what will turn out to be the lifelong pursuit of a schoolboy’s hobby – looking at the natural world and trying to understand it.

The London Convention, chaired by FFI president Lord Onslow, spawns the first global wildlife conservation treaty, providing a blueprint for future wildlife conservation agreements throughout the world. It is the first such agreement to grant international protection to a named plant species, the weird and wonderful Welwitschia, native to Namibia.

Some six decades later, Welwitschia features prominently in Attenborough’s The Private Life of Plants, broadcast in 1995.

1959 - Attenborough joins FFI

After being introduced to our seminal conservation journal, Oryx, during the making of his first major TV series, Zoo Quest, David Attenborough becomes a card-carrying member of the organisation now known as FFI.

“Oryx was the only journal in the world that dealt scientifically with the problem of disappearing species. I had a degree in zoology and was very interested in Oryx, not necessarily because I recognised the danger of species losses at the time, but because here was a journal that described how elephant populations changed; what elephants did. Where other publications looked at animals in captivity, this journal looked at animals in the wild. And that was what I was interested in."

FFI launches Operation Noah to help avert ecological disaster following construction of a massive hydroelectric dam on the Zambezi River. This will leave the vast Kariba Gorge completely flooded, displacing 50,000 people and threatening the survival of marooned megafauna and other animals. Using funds raised by a public appeal, FFI embarks on a rescue mission, and wins the race against time to save the stranded wildlife – including irascible rhinos – from the rising waters of the new Lake Kariba.

1979 - Attenborough and mountain gorillas

Following a personal plea from David Attenborough, FFI establishes the Mountain Gorilla Project using funds generated by its hugely successful appeal, launched the previous year to protect the dwindling population of these iconic great apes, which the broadcaster had encountered during the course of filming his acclaimed Life on Earth series.

“By this time, I’d been a member of FFI for 20 years, so I went to John Burton, who was then director, and asked him what we could do. And there and then FFI set up a fund to raise money and made a plan as to how the gorillas could be protected.”

Shortly after returning to the UK, David Attenborough is elected as a vice-president of FFI, a position that he holds to this day. The mountain gorilla population has risen from an estimated low of 250-300 individuals at the time of FFI’s intervention to over 1,000 today – virtually a fourfold increase.

2003 - Sir David voices FFI’s Centenary Appeal

FFI marks a century of conservation achievement with a commemorative dinner at London’s Natural History Museum, scene of its inaugural meeting in December 1903. The celebrations are joined via satellite link by Sir David, who is guest of honour at an FFI fundraising lunch held simultaneously in Los Angeles.

He narrates a Centenary Appeal film, screened for the first time that day, and voices a BBC Lifeline charity appeal broadcast on national television in aid of FFI.

2015 - Sir David shines the spotlight on FFI

As guest of honour at FFI’s AGM, Sir David takes to the stage alongside FFI’s Chief Executive in a packed auditorium at London’s Royal Geographical Society for a question-and-answer session with a difference.

Shunning the spotlight, Sir David invites Mark Rose to lead the audience on a whistle-stop tour through some of FFI’s most iconic campaigns and success stories, interspersed with reminiscences about their shared experiences in conservation.

2019 - Sir David speaks out on plastic pollution

Sixty years after taking out FFI membership, and writing as our vice-president, Sir David pens a commentary in The Daily Telegraph – under the headline ‘Every corner of our planet is tainted. Humanity must act.’ – in which he urges governments, companies and citizens to take collective action ‘not only for the health of our planet, but for the well-being of people around the world.’

The open letter is in response to a shocking report, co-authored by FFI, that reveals the devastating effects of plastic waste.

2020 - Sir David endorses FFI’s Our One Home campaign

An emotional appeal from Sir David marks the launch of FFI’s Our One Home campaign.

On the eve of the pivotal UN Summit on Biodiversity, the campaign urged governments and businesses to invest massively in the local communities and organisations working on the front line of conservation.

An open letter addressed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres – signed by over 150 conservation groups from more than 50 countries worldwide – called on member states to collectively commit an initial $500 billion in funding, rising year on year, to protect the natural world.

2022 - New portrait of Sir David donated to FFI

Painted by Rosalie Watkins to mark Sir David’s extraordinary contribution to conservation and to serve in memory of Duncan Stewart, a young naturalist inspired by Sir David’s example, the portrait was donated by philanthropist and FFI trustee Kim Stewart.

It now takes pride of place outside FFI’s office in the building that bears Sir David’s name.

Sir David Attenborough – Landmarks on our journey with FFI’s greatest ambassador

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