Lucy Tassell

I mean, it's kind of impossible to encapsulate how many kids might have watched one of his docos and become marine biologists because of it or been inspired to become climate advocates because of it or, you know, how many governments or individuals changed their plastics consumption or

cut back on how much red meat or fish they consume.

But the director of the Natural History Museum in London, Doug Gurr, put it well, I think.

He said every single person who's seen anything that Sir David has done has been inspired to care about nature.

Which really says it all.

I think that, you know, he is this person that makes you feel like there's something to care about and that the natural world is so majestic and worth preserving.

He's probably also at the top of the list for I reckon almost everyone in the world when it comes to that question if you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive, who would it be?

Right, right.

I think a lot of people dream of the opportunity of meeting someone like David Attenborough.

And someone who actually did get a chance to meet with him is Tom Tilly.

Now, Tom used to be the host of Hack on Triple J. In 2019, he actually got to sit down face to face with Sir David Attenborough and put some questions to him.

I actually reached out to Tom to ask him about what that experience was like and reflecting on meeting Attenborough now that we're at his 100th birthday.

He told me it was a life and career highlight.

He said it was like talking to the grandfather of the world, a total pinch me moment, which I can only imagine.

Tom said, quote, he was well into his 90s by that point and still gave such a generous 50 minute interview, absolutely lighting up the beauty of the natural world.

He was much more comfortable talking about nature than the politics of climate change.

But you could tell he decided that it was time to send a strong message to world leaders that drastic action was needed.

It was pretty surreal.

I mean, it sounds pretty surreal.

I'm so jealous of Tom Tilly that he got 50 minutes with David Attenborough.