Life on Air: Memoirs of a Broadcaster was published by BBC Books in 2002 (revised edition 2009). Attenborough’s autobiography begins with his childhood in Leicester — his father was principal of University College — and his early passion for collecting fossils, newts, and anything else that could be found in the English Midlands. He joined the BBC in 1952, not as a naturalist but as a trainee producer, and his first series, Zoo Quest, came about almost by accident: the presenter fell ill, and Attenborough stepped in front of the camera.
The middle sections cover his years as an administrator — he was controller of BBC Two from 1965 to 1969, responsible for introducing color television to Britain, commissioning Civilisation, and giving Monty Python’s Flying Circus its first broadcast slot. This period is the least known part of Attenborough’s career and the most revealing: he was a gifted administrator who transformed British broadcasting, and his decision to leave management and return to program-making was a conscious choice of vocation over career.
The later chapters cover the great series — Life on Earth, The Living Planet, The Trials of Life, and their successors — with behind-the-scenes accounts of filming that are often as dramatic as the programs themselves. Attenborough writes about himself with characteristic modesty: the prose is precise, understated, and occasionally very funny, and the overwhelming impression is of a man who has been extraordinarily lucky in his work and knows it.
Collecting Life on Air
First edition (BBC Books, London, 2002): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $20–$50
- Very good/very good: $8–$20
- Signed: $60–$200