Hello I'm Kirsty Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

The program was originally broadcast in 1998 and the presenter was Sue Lolly. My castaway this week is a naturalist and broadcaster. In the early days of

television he could be seen in black and white running around jungles looking

for exotic creatures. Today he's the internationally acclaimed presenter of some of the most lavish and authoritative

series about the planet that have ever been made. In between he also had a successful career

as a television executive serving as both a BBC channel controller and its director of programs.

But he's always preferred to be out in the wild, exploring and explaining.

It's the best job in the world, he says. He is, of course,

David Attenborough. I can see you now, David, all those years ago on Zuquest with

nobly knees and baggy boygy boy scout trousers rushing around.

The surprising thing I now learn is that you were never meant to present these programs at

all.

Not at all, no.

In 52, when I joined television, everybody did everything and I was one of about

a dozen people who handled all non-fiction television in the country and indeed

in Western Europe really come to that and we did everything we did knitting and

cooking and archaeology political programs so I... But as a producer?

Yeah, and Tani, oh yes, so he used to produce about two or three a week,

and they were terrible, of course, needless to say.

And then I hit on the idea of why don't I go to Africa,

if you can exploit this situation

...