Trilobite fossils david attenborough biography

Sir David Attenborough has always loved fossils.

"When I was growing up in the Midlands, the rocks and limestone you found were full of the most magical things," he recalls.

"You hit a stone and it suddenly fell open, and there was this amazing coiled shell, beautiful and extraordinary, and nobody had seen that for million years, except you."

He found the experience romantic and exciting.

And it appealed to his small boy's instinct of collecting things.

"To be honest I don't think I've really lost that," he says.

Trilobite fossils david attenborough biography

So it seems appropriate that his latest series, First Life, explores the very origins of life on Earth.

Long wait

For a broadcaster now age 84, he reveals that First Life is actually a long-awaited first chapter: one that he had not yet had the chance to visit during a long and illustrious career.

"We always started at c