David Attenborough

He beams with pride and joy, and with good reason.

One sequence, perhaps the most famous of his career, has him in Rwanda, crouching a respectful distance from a mother gorilla and her offspring.

He's about to begin a prepared speech about the importance of opposable thumbs when the mother approaches and stares right into his face while her babies crawl on top of him affectionately.

In Life on Earth, Attenborough says this.

than any other animal I know.

And in this new special, looking back on that very sequence, he says this, obviously touched.

Attenborough's greatest adventure tells behind-the-scenes stories of the dangers Attenborough and his crew faced while filming Life on Earth.

Surprisingly, most of those dangers came not from wild animals, but from humans.

Poachers and soldiers, gunfire in Rwanda, and threatened imprisonment in Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

It also tells the story of how some of its most amazing TV moments were filmed.

That's reason enough to seek out this special, which allows Attenborough to put his amazing career into perspective.

But there's also his closing message, which really got to me, and which I'll close with as well.

Thank you, David Attenborough, for a lifetime of priceless television.

Pacific Ocean alone covers half the globe. You can fly across it non-stop for 12 hours and still see nothing more than a speck of land. This series will reveal the complete natural history of our ocean planet, from its familiar shores to the mysteries of its deepest seas.

I simply can't reply to each of you all separately, but I would like to thank you all most sincerely for your kind messages.

A car alarm and a chainsaw. He also, in his attempt to out-sing his rivals, incorporates other sounds that he hears in the forest. That was a camera shutter. And again. And now a camera with a motor drive.

I had rather thought that I would celebrate my 100th birthday quietly, but it seems that many of you have had other ideas.

I've been completely overwhelmed by birthday greetings from preschool groups to care home residents and countless individuals and families of all ages.

I simply can't reply to each of you all separately

But I would like to thank you all most sincerely for your kind messages and wish those of you who have planned your own local events tomorrow have a very happy day.