Sir David Attenborough has spoken out about the horrors of war at Christmas, urging people to think about “refugees and migrants” and describing the UK bombing campaign as “dreadful” in an interview.
Asked about his forthcoming Christmas television special in an interview in the Radio Times, the BBC presenter, who turns 90 next year, said: “At Christmas we’re under the impression we have it all: we have turkey and brandy butter and Christmas pudding and the family and we have a great time, by and large.
“But think of those poor refugees and migrants. My God, the state of the world. Madmen dropping bombs in places, as if that solves anything. And poor people being bombed by us. It’s dreadful.”
Attenborough, who joined the BBC after his national service, told the Radio Times that he was very concerned about the future of the corporation, and that it’s in “real danger.”
Speaking a few weeks after the BBC announced £150m worth of cuts following a financial settlement with the government, Attenborough said: “The BBC is an extraordinary organisation and it’s got enough problems trying to keep up with changing social demands, let alone what the politicians want to do with it, so I am very concerned about the future of the BBC.”
As controller of BBC2 in 1967, Attenborough helped introduce colour television, saying he was motivated to beat the Germans after hearing that their national broadcaster was ahead of the game. “When I heard that the Germans were going to introduce colour television, I said: ‘hang on, we can’t have that’. And we got on the air three weeks before them. It was fairly childish, but it made me laugh.”
Attenborough also talks about the dangers of climate change ahead of a new documentary to be shown over the festive period, 60 years after he first scuba dived the Great Barrier Reef in 1957. “The natural world simply can’t accommodate these sudden changes we inflict on it,” he said.
David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef (BBC1, 9pm)
