VARIOUS: Sir David Attenborough on Earth's 'First Life'

Record ID: 189903

  • Title: VARIOUS: Sir David Attenborough on Earth's 'First Life'
  • Date: 23rd October 2010
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 21, 2010) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH, NATURALIST, SAYING: "I do remember - I was keen on fossils and I do remember having a little hammer and working on a quarry, a limestone quarry near my home in Leicester, in the middle of England and just hitting a boulder, clunk, like that and it fell open and there was the most perfect, beautiful shell, a coiled shell like that glistening and glinting in absolute perfection. And I realised I was the first person ever to see that in 200 million years. No eyes had ever clapped on it before then. Now if that isn't romantic, I don't know what is."
  • Embargoed: 7th November 2010 12:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVAEEW4F7GSLNOXSKLG2M026KSEI
  • Story Text: World renowned naturalist Sir David Attenborough explores the origins of modern life in his new documentary, 'First Life'.
    Sir David Attenborough embarks on a new quest to explain the origins of modern life in his latest documentary, 'First Life'.
    The world-renowned natural scientist examines how nature's first animals evolved and ultimately gave rise to the modern species we know today.
    'First Life' combines Attenborough's master storytelling ability and state-of-the-art computer-generated imagery, to explain the origins of Earth's past.
    For someone who never ceases to be amazed by the wonders of mother nature - even Attenborough appears in awe of the advanced CGI technology that was used in 'First Life'.
    "We couldn't have made this program 30, 40 years ago simply because we didn't have the knowledge. Neither could we have made it to the degree that we have in this program because we didn't have the computer imaging technology," Sir David Attenborough told Reuters Television during a satellite interview.
    "Today, cameras can film, can record in the dark, they can record at the bottom of the sea, you can take them up in the air, they can slow animals down, they can speed animals up, there's a camera the size of a hazelnut that you can put on a birds nest or down a mouse's tunnel. You can go everywhere and see everything. The amazement to me is just what these things are revealing. We see things now that no human being has ever seen before in history. Ever!," Attenborough exclaimed.
    With a television career spanning more than 50 years, the award-winning naturalist said there were still countless discoveries to be made and that there were questions about mother nature that continued to elude him.
    "After all, there are lots of creatures we don't even know the names of as it were. We've not given names to, we've not recognised them. New species which you can find all the time. In the forests of South America, for example there are hundreds of insects which have never been recognised and described by science, new species," Attenborough said.
    In 'First Life', Attenborough uses fossils to re-create creatures half a billion years old. Attenborough explained his love for nature and the desire to explore was triggered by a fossil that he found when he was just a small child.
    "I do remember - I was keen on fossils and I do remember having a little hammer and working on a quarry, a limestone quarry near my home in Leicester, in the middle of England and just hitting a boulder, clunk, like that and it fell open and there was the most perfect, beautiful shell, a coiled shell like that glistening and glinting in absolute perfection. And I realised I was the first person ever to see that in 200 million years. No eyes had ever clapped on it before then. Now if that isn't romantic, I don't know what is," Attenborough said.
    Despite his 84-years-of age, Attenborough's passion and enthusiasm for his work is as strong as ever. His secret?
    "I have a good time. The world's an interesting place, isn't' it? Don't you think it's an interesting place?," Attenborough asked.
    'First Life' premieres on October 24 on Discovery Channel.
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