Well, that was pretty good, but it still didn’t feel like quite enough. So much of Attenborough’s archives are on iPlayer, going all the way back to Zoo Quest, and perhaps the best way to celebrate an occasion like this is to put aside a weekend to immersing yourself in them. He really is the greatest broadcaster we have ever had. That’s all from the liveblog. See you for his 150th birthday, everyone.
David Attenborough’s 100 Years on Planet Earth – as it happened
This article is more than 1 month old
It’s the Royal Albert Hall birthday party for Britain’s most beloved broadcaster. Which big names will do the speeches? What will the orchestra play? And will it all be overshadowed by the great man’s TV clips? Follow along here
Updated
Fri 8 May 2026 17.03 EDT
First published on Fri 8 May 2026 14.59 EDT
The last word goes to Attenborough himself, delivering the lyrics to What a Wonderful World like he’s creeping through the jungle. It’s a clip he recorded 15 years ago, and it’s still absurdly affecting.
And now everyone sings Happy Birthday to David Attenborough, who looks absolutely giddy about it. He gets another standing ovation, one that goes on and on and on. A long, rolling round of applause and surges on and on, and it couldn’t be more deserved.
As the show wraps up, Young announces that Blue Planet III is coming this year. We get a clip of Attenborough narrating some of it with exactly the same care and precision that he always has. This will be good.
Time for the final performance of the night. It’s Sienna Spiro, singing Nature Boy. Because David Attenborough likes nature and was a boy, presumably.
More birthday wishes now, from the Secretary-General of the United Nations and also Cate Blanchett. From the curator of the Natural History Museum to Louis Theroux. And also Camilla Cabello and Alan Titchmarsh and Phoebe Waller Bridge. And Nile Rogers. What a weird mix of people.
It’s a long speech, delivered monotonously like a church service. When it is over, David Attenborough stands up, and he gets a standing ovation just for doing that.
And now here’s the Prince of Wales to deliver a tribute. He gets a standing ovatio too, but it takes a lot longer to happen than Attenborough’s. He begins by promising that he won’t be taking his top off, and then points out that Attenborough was ahead of his time in his environmental warnings.
As they make this wonderful non-Paddington, they tell us what Attenborough means to them, and how he has inspired a love of nature to them. The ‘something beautiful’ turns out to be a number 100 made out of moss and sticks, by the way.
And now, Blue Peter viewers scavenging a beach to make ‘something beautiful’ fir him. They’re not revealing what it is yet, but if it’s Paddington I’m going to flip my television over.
Clips of his extracurricular activities now. He plays the piano! He acts! He advises the royal family! He has inspired several imitators! He flirts with Cameron Diaz something rotten!
And now a bit about Blue Planet II, and how it affected a global crackdown on single-use plastic. This alone would be a tremendous legacy.
When the final marine iguana escapes the snakes, the entire Albert hall erupts in cheers like it’s a World Cup final. Am I suggesting that we replace organised sport with setting animals on each other for entertainment? Apparently I am.