60 free David Attenborough trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
David Attenborough trivia for anyone who grew up with that hushed voice explaining what the lyrebird was doing. The quiz starts in Leicester, where a boy sold newts to the university zoology department, and follows him through Cambridge, the Navy, a BBC that thought his teeth were too big for television, and the 1954 series Zoo Quest that made him a presenter by accident. Then it covers the part of his career many fans skip: the years running BBC Two, when he scrapped the kangaroo mascot, commissioned Civilisation and Monty Python's Flying Circus, and put snooker on colour television. From there it works through the nine Life series, Wildlife on One, The Blue Planet, Planet Earth, Frozen Planet, Blue Planet II and the Netflix films, before finishing with the ship, the studio, the album cover and the twenty-odd species that carry his name. Questions run from easy to expert, and every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its source. If you enjoy this one, try our nature, animals and BBC quizzes next.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which English county town-area was David Attenborough born in 1926?
Isleworth, Middlesex
He grew up not there but in Leicester, on the campus of the university college his father ran.
Q 02Attenborough grew up on the campus of which institution, where his father was principal?
University College, Leicester
The family lived in College House on the campus, and young David spent much of his time in the university grounds.
Q 03What did David's older brother Richard become famous as?
An actor and film director
Richard Attenborough directed Gandhi and played the park owner in Jurassic Park; John, the youngest brother, went into the car business.
Q 04David's younger brother John was an executive at which car manufacturer?
Alfa Romeo
All three Attenborough boys left home for very different careers: film, cars and the natural world.
Q 05Aged about 11, Attenborough supplied a university zoology department with which animals for threepence each?
Newts
He did not mention that his source was a pond right next to the department building.
Q 06In 1936 the young Attenborough brothers were inspired by a Leicester lecture from which conservationist?
Grey Owl
Grey Owl was really an Englishman named Archibald Belaney; Richard Attenborough directed a film about him in 1999.
Q 07Attenborough won a scholarship in 1945 to which Cambridge college?
Clare
He read geology and zoology and came away with a natural sciences degree before national service called.
Q 08Attenborough did his national service in which branch of the armed forces?
Royal Navy
He spent two years stationed in North Wales and on the Firth of Forth rather than anywhere exotic.
Q 09Why was Attenborough initially discouraged from appearing on camera at the BBC?
His teeth were thought too big
The verdict came from Mary Adams, head of the Talks department, so he began as a producer instead.
Q 10Which 1954 series launched Attenborough's presenting career?
Zoo Quest
It followed animal-collecting expeditions for London Zoo, and he only ended up in front of the camera because the planned presenter fell ill.
Q 11Attenborough took over Zoo Quest when Jack Lester fell ill. What did Lester curate at London Zoo?
The reptile house
The two men had met while making Animal Patterns, a studio series that borrowed London Zoo animals to discuss camouflage and courtship.
Q 12Attenborough left BBC staff in the early 1960s to study for a postgraduate degree in what?
Social anthropology
He never finished it: the BBC lured him back to run BBC Two before the degree was complete.
Q 13In which year did Attenborough become Controller of BBC Two?
1965
He insisted on a contract clause letting him keep making the occasional programme, and was filming elephants in Tanzania the same year.
Q 21The BBC co-produced Life on Earth with which American company?
Turner Broadcasting
The scale of the project meant the BBC needed a partner before production could begin in 1976.
Q 22Which 1984 series, built around the theme of ecology, followed Life on Earth?
The Living Planet
It looked at how living things adapt to their environments and sold hugely for the BBC abroad.
Q 23Which 1990 series on animal behaviour completed Attenborough's original 1979-1990 trilogy?
The Trials of Life
It examined animal behaviour through the different stages of life.
Q 14On taking over BBC Two, Attenborough abolished the channel's mascot. What animal was it?
A kangaroo
The channel had launched in 1964 and struggled to catch on; the quirky mascot was one of the first things to go.
Q 15Which sport did Attenborough bring to the BBC to show off the benefits of colour television?
Snooker
The programme was Pot Black, and it is credited with the game's boom in the 1980s.
Q 16Attenborough influenced which change to tennis equipment in 1986?
Yellow balls
White balls were hard to see on colour television, so the game changed to suit the cameras.
Q 17Attenborough commissioned a 13-part 1969 series on Western art to show off UHF colour. Who presented it?
Kenneth Clark
Civilisation became the blueprint for landmark authored documentaries that BBC insiders nicknamed 'sledgehammer' projects.
Q 18Which comedy series was among the programmes Attenborough commissioned for BBC Two?
Monty Python's Flying Circus
His schedule also included Call My Bluff, The Old Grey Whistle Test and The Money Programme.
Q 19Which broadcaster's job application to present on BBC Two did Attenborough turn down?
Terry Wogan
He later explained the channel already had an Irish announcer and two would have 'looked ridiculous'.
Q 20In which year was Life on Earth first broadcast?
1979
It launched a strand of nine authored 'Life' series spanning three decades.
Q 24Which 1993 series was the first television series to survey the natural history of Antarctica?
Life in the Freezer
Alastair Fothergill produced it; the two later teamed up again for The Blue Planet and Frozen Planet.
Q 25What technique let The Private Life of Plants (1995) show plants as dynamic organisms?
Time-lapse photography
Producers had worried about filling hours of television with essentially immobile subjects; the series won a Peabody Award.
Q 26Life in Cold Blood (2008) completed Attenborough's survey of terrestrial life by covering which animals?
Reptiles and amphibians
The nine series were then boxed together in a DVD encyclopaedia called Life on Land.
Q 27How many episodes of Wildlife on One did Attenborough narrate between 1977 and 2005?
253
At its peak the BBC One series drew eight to ten million viewers a week.
Q 28Which animals starred in the 1987 episode voted the best wildlife documentary of all time by BBC viewers?
Meerkats
The episode was 'Meerkats United', from Wildlife on One.
Q 29Which producer made The Blue Planet (2001) and asked Attenborough to narrate rather than present?
Alastair Fothergill
He decided speaking to camera through diving gear was impractical, so the series has no on-screen presenter.
Q 30Planet Earth (2006) was the first BBC wildlife series shot in what format?
High definition
It was the biggest nature documentary ever made for television at the time.