AGENDA ITEM NO 3

BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL FULL COUNCIL

17 DECEMBER 2013

Report of:

Title: Proposal to Confer the Honour of the Freedom of the City on Sir David Attenborough

Ward: Citywide

Report presented by: The Lord Mayor of Bristol

Contact Telephone Number: Lord Mayor's Office - 0117 903 1450

RECOMMENDATION (i) That the Freedom of the City of Bristol be conferred upon Sir David Attenborough; and

(ii) That his name be placed on the Roll of Honorary Freeman of the City;

Summary To propose the granting of the Freedom of the City to Sir David Attenborough

Policy

1. The proposal is made in accordance with the provision of the Local Government Act 1972.

Consultation

2. The City Council's Party Group Leaders.

Background and Assessment

3. The Citation attached to this report outlines the distinguished and eminent service rendered by Sir David Attenborough and his influence as a 'friend' of the city.

4. Legal and Resource Implications

Legal The Council may admit to be an honorary freeman a person of distinction, and persons who have in the opinion of the Council, rendered eminent service to the City. The resolution must be passed by no less than two thirds of the members who vote upon it.

Financial None

Revenue The estimated cost of recognising the granting of the Freedom of the City would be less that £200 and would be met within existing budgets.

Capital None

Land None

Personnel None

Appendices: Appendix A - Citation outlining the distinguished and eminent service rendered by Sir David Attenborough.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT (ACCESS TO INFORMATION) ACT 1985 Background Papers:

None

Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA Member of the Order of Merit, Companion of Honour, Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the Zoological Society of London.

This citation provides a glimpse into the achievements of a man who is widely acknowledged as the face and voice of natural history filmmaking in a career that has endured for more than 50 years. He is best known for writing and presenting the nine 'Life' series, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, which collectively form a comprehensive survey of all life on the planet. He is also a former senior manager at the BBC, having served as Director of Programming for BBC in the 1970's.

Sir David Attenborough's association with natural history programmes began when he produced and presented the three-part series The Pattern of Animals, leading onto his next project Zoo Quest broadcast in 1954. In 1957, the BBC Natural History Unit was formally established in Bristol. Attenborough was asked to join it, but declined, not wishing to move from London where he and his young family were settled. Instead he formed his own department, the Travel and Exploration Unit, continuing with Zoo Quest and producing other documentaries, notably the Travellers' Tales and Adventure series.

In the early 1960s, Attenborough resigned from the permanent staff of the BBC to study for a postgraduate degree in social anthropology at the London School of Economics. He then returned to the BBC in 1965 as the Controller of BBC 2 and in 1969 was promoted to Director of Programmes. The demands of being responsible for both BBC Channels were now far removed from film making and when in 1972 he was being mooted as a candidate for the position of Director General of the BBC he was determined to return to his first love, full time programme making. After his resignation from the BBC Sir David Attenborough became a freelance broadcaster and having re-established his links with the Natural History Unit in Bristol, began work on his next big project; 'Eastwards with Attenborough'.

With Life on Earth, Attenborough set about creating a body of work which became a benchmark of quality in wildlife film-making and influenced a generation of documentary film-makers. The success prompted the BBC to consider a follow-up, and five years later, The Living Planet was screened. It was another critical and commercial success, generating huge international sales. In 1990, The Trials of Life completed the Life trilogy.

In 1993, he presented Life in the Freezer, demonstrating the natural history of Antarctica. Although past normal retirement age, he embarked on a number of specialised surveys of the natural world, beginning with plants. The Private Life of Plants (1995), showed plants as dynamic organisms by using time-lapse photography to speed up their growth.

Prompted by an enthusiastic ornithologist at the BBC Natural History Unit, Attenborough then turned his attention to the animal kingdom and in particular, birds. As he was neither an obsessive twitcher, nor a bird expert, he decided he was better qualified to make The Life of Birds (1998) on the theme of behaviour. For The Life of Mammals (2002), low-light and infrared cameras were deployed to reveal the behaviour of nocturnal mammals. Advances in macro photography made it possible to capture natural behaviour of very small creatures for the first time, and in 2005, Life in the Undergrowth introduced audiences to the world of invertebrates.

At this point, Attenborough realised that he had spent 20 years unconsciously assembling a collection of programmes on all major groups of terrestrial animals and plants — except reptiles and amphibians. When Life in Cold Blood was broadcast in 2008, he had completed the set, brought together in a DVD encyclopaedia called Life on Land.

Other documentaries

Alongside the "Life" series, he wrote and presented a series on man's influence on the natural history of the Mediterranean basin, The First Eden, in 1987. Two years later, he demonstrated his passion for fossils in Lost Worlds Vanished Lives.

Attenborough narrated every episode of Wildlife on One, a BBC One wildlife series which ran for 253 episodes between 1977 and 2005. At its peak, it drew a weekly audience of eight to ten million, and the 1987 episode "Meerkats United" was voted the best wildlife documentary of all time by BBC viewers. He has also narrated over 50 episodes of Natural World, BBC Two's flagship wildlife series. (Its forerunner, The World About Us, was created by Attenborough in 1969, as a vehicle for colour television) In 1997, he narrated the BBC Wildlife Specials, each focussing on a charismatic species, and screened to mark the Natural History Unit's 40th anniversary.

As a writer and narrator, he continued to collaborate with the BBC Natural History Unit in the new millennium. Alastair Fothergill was making The Blue Planet (2001), the Unit's first comprehensive series on marine life in which Attenborough narrated. The same team reunited for Planet Earth (2006), the biggest nature documentary ever made for television and the first BBC wildlife series to be shot in high definition. In 2011, Fothergill gave Attenborough a more prominent role in Frozen Planet.

In 2009, he co-wrote and narrated Life, a ten-part series focussing on extraordinary animal behaviour, and narrated Nature's Great Events, which showed how seasonal changes trigger major natural spectacles. By the turn of the millennium, Attenborough's authored documentaries were adopting a more overtly environmentalist stance. In State of the Planet (2000) the impact of man's activities on the natural world was examined, global warming discussed in The Truth about Climate Change (2006) human population growth explored in How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth? (2009), and the plight of endangered species was highlighted in Saving Planet Earth project (2007), the 50th anniversary of the Natural History Unit.

Attenborough is also forging a new partnership with Sky, working on documentaries for the broadcaster's new 3D network, Sky 3D. Their first collaboration was Flying Monsters 3D, a film about pterosaurs which debuted on Christmas Day of 2010. A second film, The Bachelor King, followed a year later, and further collaborations are planned.

Current projects Attenborough celebrates his 60th year in broadcasting in 2012, and continues to work on a number of television, film and radio projects. The anniversary will be marked by the BBC with the screening of Attenborough's Life Stories.

Sir David Attenborough's contribution to broadcasting and wildlife filmmaking has brought him international recognition. He has been called “the great communicator”, “the peerless educator” and “the greatest broadcaster of our time”. His programmes are often cited as an example of what public service broadcasting should be, even by critics of the BBC, and have influenced a generation of wildlife filmmakers. Throughout his long career, Sir David Attenborough has maintained a close working relationship with the BBC's Natural History Unit here in Bristol and despite having taken the decision not to relocate to Bristol back in 1957, his catalogue of work is largely associated with the city.

Councillors, I commend Sir David Attenborough to you as a worthy recipient of the 'Freedom of the City'.