Sir David Attenborough Reveals Most Heartbreaking Moment Of His Career

Sir David Attenborough has revealed the most heartbreaking moment of his career.

The 94-year-old has seen his fair share of truly magical sights over the decades, documenting every corner of our planet.

However, his countless projects have also laid bare the damage that humankind has done to the environment, which has been devastating to witness.

Appearing on the Call of the Wild podcast, hosted by White Lines actor Cel Spellman, he was asked what was the most shocking and heartbreaking of all the sights he has seen.

Attenborough replied: "I suppose the most obvious one that I remember particularly vividly, of course, is the first time when I went to a coral reef.

"I thought I was going to dive in, in eastern Australia on the Barrier Reef, and instead of seeing the most marvellous, beautiful, extraordinary, wonderful wonderland, it was a cemetery.

"It was just white, dead coral. And we were responsible."

In order to understand just how important it is that we protect our planet, Attenborough highlighted the importance of reconnecting with it.

He said: "I've never met a child older than three or four years who is not fascinated by the natural world.

"It's a thing that you and me and every other child, that you are amazed to see a slug suddenly move, in some miraculous way, over a stone with two little things sticking out at the front and finding its way on a bed of slime.

"I remember taking a godchild of mine, actually when they were about four, and he turned over a stone in the meadow and he said, 'Oh, look at that, what a treasure. It's a slug!'

"And he was right. It's amazing. And of course, as you get older, you get interested in other things. You get cars and motorbikes and one thing and another. But if you lose that pleasure of finding joy in the natural world and wanting to know how it works, you've lost a huge treasure."

Attenborough suggested an effortless and effective way of reconnecting with nature is to just stop and sit in the great outdoors for 10 minutes (just ignore the fact that's technically illegal in lots of places at the moment).

He said: "One of the simplest things that you should do if you get the chance, when you get the chance, is just naturally to stop. Sit down. Don't move. Keep quiet.

"Wait 10 minutes, you'll be very surprised if something pretty interesting didn't happen within 10 minutes.

"Doing that in a woodland, if you haven't done it, it's extraordinary. Don't get too impatient either. And then, speaking for myself, then you realise how ignorant you are, how you can't actually recognise what that birdcall is, which you ought to be able to, I certainly ought to be able to do, and I can't.

"Mind you, I can't hear either, my age; but nonetheless, there are things to see, and there are wonderful things to see and extraordinary things happen."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Celebrity, david attenborough, Animals, Nature

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey