The day it dawned on me: David Attenborough is the world’s most-loved man

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It’s 2006 and I’m sitting in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, as nervous as I’ve ever been. I am supposed to be sharing the podium with Sir David Attenborough. The topic: the climate crisis.

The cathedral is packed with a crowd of thousands. With minutes to go, there’s still no sign of David, and I’m certain that they haven’t turned up to hear me. The chaplain says that we must start, so I mount the podium, shaking, and begin explaining how carbon dioxide helps regulate Earth’s temperature and climate.

And then, up the central aisle strides David, and I relax enough to complete my oration.

David replaces me at the podium. His speech is brief and to the point: the climate crisis is real, and we must act. I look into the crowd, at the thousands of upturned, adoring faces, and understand that David Attenborough is the most-loved man in the world. That realisation will return to me as David marks his 100th birthday on Friday.

With our event at St Paul’s over, he told me that he had been in Bristol, recording voice-over for a documentary, when he was reminded that........

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