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vr46
lanza
I always find it really weird when somebody on the anonymous internet talks about local places as if we're all neighbors or something. Googling "Richmond Hill" gave me multiple pages of results that had nothing to do with the one that Attenborough lives at.
hnlmorg
London isn’t exactly a small “local place” and there is only one Richmond Hill in London. So I’m not sure what the issue you’re having is.
sho_hn
Not to sound hipster about it, but if it's done in this way I find it charming. I also had to piece it together, which took me on a little virtual travel tour, and had me wonder about what Richmond Hill means to the locals. Rather fitting in context, too.
The "everyone on the internet is American" stuff in e.g. politics or job market convos is a lot more grating.
skrebbel
Yes, but it’s refreshing that for once it isn’t a San Francisco neighbourhood!
DavidPiper
I really enjoyed OP's story, and the way they told it. Knowing the location of Richmond Hill is really not the point.
wolvoleo
Well yes but it does open the question for me as to what the place is like and why he'd like it so much.
stuaxo
It's in the Richmond that's in London, not the one in Yorkshire.
barrkel
If you're familiar with London, you know where Richmond is and that it's a wealthy area. A search confirms there's a Richmond Hill in Richmond.
vixen99
Aa in the the old English folk song "The lass of Richmond Hill".
Phemist
Or if you've seen Ted Lasso
throwaway2037
Try this search: The Open Book in Richmond UK
jjulius
For me, I know "Richmond" is used numerous places near me locally, so my assumption would've been that "Richmond hill" is too generic a query.
"David Attenborough Richmond hill" would've been the way. I'd hardly fault OP for my own choice in query.
notahacker
Whilst we're doing random anecdotes that vaguely link to him, my late grandfather remembered David from his Wyggeston days as a good rugby player, which is a funny way to imagine him. Apparently he had the voice even then, but not so much to say about the world.
omnee
An outstanding voice for nature for all these years, and how kind nature has been to him in return. Long Live Sir David!
CSMastermind
He was just mentioned on today's Lateral podcast with Tom Scott.
Apparently, he's the reason tennis balls are yellow.
I guess they were traditionally white but when they started broadcasting matches on TV it was too hard to see the ball.
David who was at the BBC at the time suggested they use yellow balls instead so they would come through on camera. Ever since then tennis balls have been yellow.
wvbdmp
Amazing. It’s relatively easy to find color photos of this, for example one of the very last pics here, from 1970: https://www.esquire.com/sports/g36954688/wimbledon-1970s-pho...
But what is the oldest color photo of white ball tennis?
Also, do we have a good source for this story, because it’s not mentioned on Wikipedia: ”In 1972, the International Tennis Federation introduced yellow balls, as these were easier to see on television. Wimbledon continued using white balls until 1986.”
cody_ellingham
What do you mean tennis balls are yellow? I always thought they were green? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_ball#/media/File:Closeu...
.jpg){kind=link}
probabletrain
They're officially yellow. Many people (~50% in my experience) perceive this colour as green though.
> Tennis balls are fluorescent yellow in professional competitions
DANmode
Yellow and green are shown in the linked image.
burlesona
Mind blown. Thanks for sharing!
_jx
He definitely influenced my life and choices; some of the strongest memories of my youth in the '80s are tied to his documentaries Life on Earth and The Living Planet. I was lucky to live in the countryside and near a beautiful lake but his documentaries expanded my horizons so much more. I didn't love watching TV but that content was a magic window. They were dubbed by the magnificent voice of Claudio Capone and skillfully commented by Piero Angela, who died recently at 93. Piero was the most prominent Italian science journalist and his own career shaped TV and spanned 70 years. Their work made me and my family definitely more environmentally conscious. I don't doubt this content will have a lasting impact on humanity even if we can't clearly discern its effects right now.
Happy Birthday David! I'm so happy you are still alive and well.
forinti
I just love those documentaries where he starts off in Europe following some bird and ends up on a rock in the middle of the ocean. And he's been at it since when the world was much bigger. What a life!
deferredgrant
I wonder how many scientists and engineers were first pulled toward their field by an Attenborough documentary. That kind of slow cultural influence is hard to measure.
whyenot
A lot, especially in organismal biology / field biology. We even name things after him, like carnivorous plants (Nepenthes attenboroughii), the whole genus Sirdavida, a hawkweed (Hieracium attenboroughianum), ... more than 50 taxa in all.
The unfortunate thing is that the area of biology he has drawn people to is difficult to make a living in. Jobs are few, there is intense compettion for them, they don't pay well, and there is often little job security. In some ways it is the Art History of a STEM discipline.
sen
> We even name things after him, like carnivorous plants (Nepenthes attenboroughii), the whole genus Sirdavida, a hawkweed (Hieracium attenboroughianum), ... more than 50 taxa in all.
I assumed there’d be 1 or 2 would be, but 50+ is wild. I just went down the rabbit hole of “things named after Sir David Attenborough” and it’s a lot!
block_dagger
I wasn’t pulled toward the field of study, but came away with a great appreciation and wonder for nature. My parents recorded many of his documentaries on Betamax tapes in the 1980s and my brother and I watched all of them many times in our formative years. Happy birthday to a truly great human.
thamer
Searching for David Attenborough on Google also shows a tribute, with drawings of animals and a "Thank You Sir David".
Cider9986
I like that Google does easter eggs like this.
Of course, they'll still put tracking links in the share button. Got to get that sweet data of who shared David Attenborough's birthday.
Hasbaranews
Always found his voice genuinely soothing and a nice reprieve from all the other pressing issues
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owenpalmer
One of the most iconic voices.
aanet
TIL he's the brother of director Sir Richard Attenborough.
iainmerrick
There's a rumour, probably apocryphal, that Richard Attenborough only got his knighthood because of David.
Somebody at the palace or the civil service was reviewing the nominations, saw "David Attenborough" and thought "that's a typo, they must have meant Dickie Attenborough".
ge96
I remember watching blue planet seas of life in middle school in the early 2000s crazy.
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Top man, lives up on Richmond Hill and absolutely loves it - when asked about his travels and adventures and where he would choose to live, he replied, "I already live there"
Fairly well-known locally is that my favourite bookshop, The Open Book in Richmond, stocks signed copies of all his books. They used to be signed directly on the page, but since he got to the mid-to-late nineties in age, tons of hardbacks are too much, so Helena wanders up there to get a load of bookplates signed these days.
Apart from that, I order all my books from them when I'm in London and a subsequent chat with Madeleine usually lasts ten times as long as the book shopping.
Anyway, I digress, yes, Sir David, amazing body of works and the books are wonderful.