Dear Gareth2-ga
This is information that you requested. As for high?s and low?s I
could not find a specific reference in his interviews but I believe
the following moments of his life will be good examples to use in your
talk.
?Sir David Frederick Attenborough is the son of Frederick Levi
Attenborough and Mary Clegg. He was born on 8 May 1926.1 He married
Jane Elizabeth Ebsworth Oriel in 1950.?
http://www.thepeerage.com/p12677.htm
Two Children: Robert and Susan.
http://www.nndb.com/people/180/000023111/
Newspaper reports indicate they were born in the early 1950s.
You will see from the antecedents provided above he has had a
brilliant academic career which must certainly rank as a one of the
high points of his life.
You will also obtain information from these BBC pages.
Frequently asked questions and his answers
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/programmes/tv/lifeonair/faq.shtml
There are a number of video interviews on this page which will help
with the highlights of his career, In particular he describes ?one of
the most memorable things in my life? as an encounter with mountain
gorillas.
Missing a magic moment
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/programmes/tv/lifeonair/anecdotes.shtml
The below are from interviews and his autobiography and you will see
the loss of his wife after 40 years of marriage was clearly a low
point.
?His wife Lady Jane died two years ago during the making of this
series - they were a devoted couple and had been married for over 40
years. His daughter Susan now runs his business affairs.[?] And so I
ask what Sir David has achieved in his career. He says he is also
proud that his work makes a contribution to education. It was a matter
of ?huge pride? that his Life series was used by college students as a
study aid. His father was a university lecturer who trained his sons?
inquiring minds. ?And that's what I suppose I am, a teacher.?
http://www.pbs.org/lifeofbirds/sirdavid/
?Attenborough does command extraordinary loyalty. Jane, his wife of 47
years, who died recently after a brain haemorrhage, insisted - almost
to the end of her life - on attending to all his business affairs.
"She was seriously ill two years before she died and, when she went
into hospital, the one thing she was worried about was the VAT. She
kept asking me: 'How will people know where the books are? You' re
hopeless. You don't know anything.' "Now Susie, one of Attenborough's
two children, has put her career on hold to look after her father's
financial affairs.[?] David, grammar-school educated and his middle
son, was told that he did not deserve to take the natural science
tripos at Cambridge unless he could prove his worth by winning an open
scholarship. "It still brings tears to my eyes as I speak. I was
digging on our allotment, planting potatoes. I can see father running
down, limping on his bad leg, shouting 'You've got it.'"
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FQP/is_4416_127/ai_53567157
?What, for you, is the most magical place you've been to on this planet?
Sir David Attenborough: Well, I suppose, actually, it wouldn't be too
far from Komodo because? I'm talking now of 45, 50 years ago. Uh, and
we went to Bali.?
More on the article>>
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s951650.htm
The Mirror (London, England), Oct 26, 2002 p16
?"The worst dangers I've faced are travelling in helicopters and small
aircraft," he says.
Once when he was coming back from West Africa in a two-engined
20-seater plane he noticed the engine was leaking oil. "The stewardess
was shouting, `We're going to lose an engine'. She gripped my arm and
said, `What are we going to do?' I said, `You're supposed to be
comforting me!'" Luckily one engine got them down. [?]David still
lives in the family home in Richmond and Susan is his assistant, while
Robert is an anthropologist in Australia.
Accessed via my local library.
His autobiography David Attenborough: Life on Air refers to the death
of his wife (see extracts below)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0691113238/ref=sib_rdr_dp/002-9056835-7574412?%5Fencoding=UTF8&no=283155&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&st=books
?The death in 1997 of his wife, Jane, from a cerebral haemorrhage on
the eve of their 47th wedding anniversary - which everyone close to
Attenborough says has devastated him in ways he will never show - is
approached in four sorrowful but guarded paragraphs.?
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/13/1047431127635.html
The Times (London, England), Sept 17, 2002 p4
?The focus of my life, the anchor, had gone. Jane had always been
there. She had been at the airport, unfailingly, every time I came
back from a trip. She had supported me in everything I had done.
Indeed, most of the things I had done were, in actuality, joint
enterprises. I could not have led the life I had, were it not for her
unwavering support. Now, I was lost.?
Accessed via my local library.
I hope this answers your question. If it does not, or the answer is
unclear, then please ask for clarification of this research before
rating the answer. I shall respond to the clarification request as
soon as I receive it.
Thank you
answerfinder
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