David Attenborough says he has one main regret about his legendary career

Sir David Attenborough today (8 May) celebrates his 98th birthday and another year as one of the world's most celebrated broadcasters.

Generations have been raised on his programmes which have pointed a camera lens at the most spectacular of sights and brought them into our very homes.

All of it, of course, underpinned by warm and welcoming narration from the man himself.

Having reached the ripe old age of 98, there's not many parts of nature Attenborough hasn't educated us on.

However, the living legend has admitted that he does have one regret about has career - though he's also said that 'there isn't a lot' he feels regretful for in his long years in TV.

Sir David Attenborough has been around for 98 years, and on our screens for 70 of those. (BBC)

Sir David said that if there was one regret he had it was not being able to do more work in Britain, and he also revealed the reason why he couldn't.

Fortunately, he was able to remedy that with his Wild Isles show that took viewers on a tour of some of the most amazing nature on offer in Britain.

It released last year, but he explained that a deal he made near the beginning of his career was the cause of his regret.

"If there is one thing I regret, and to be honest there isn’t a lot, it would be that I spent so much time doing overseas natural history," he told the Telegraph last year.

Attenborough explained that early on in his career there was 'a chap trying to establish Bristol as a centre of natural history' which meant that Sir David was to focus on nature abroad.

Meanwhile, the BBC's Natural History Unit, established in 1957 in Bristol, would focus on British nature.

While he regretted not being able to work more in Britain, Sir David has managed to work on Wild Isles. (BBC/Silverback Films)

Attenborough said: "He knew which strings to pull and I could see things coming to a head.

"Eventually, we had a meeting and it was agreed I wouldn’t look at British natural history at all.

"Instead, I would go to Africa, South America and so on and [they] could deal with natural history in Britain. And I stuck to that until very recently."

Back when his career with the BBC started there were concerns about putting him in front of a camera as it was feared that his teeth might be too big.

However, he was able to produce and present the show Animal Patterns and in due course made friends with Jack Lester, curator of the reptile house at London Zoo.

Lester was meant to present 1954 nature documentary Zoo Quest, but fell ill and could only work on one instalment before he was hospitalised.

Attenborough stepped into the presenter role.

70 years later he's still going strong, here's hoping he has many more years on our screens.

Topics: David Attenborough, BBC, TV and Film, Animals, Documentaries

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

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