Editing David Attenborough (section)

==Early life and family==
David Frederick Attenborough was born on 8 May 1926 in [[Isleworth]], [[Middlesex]],<ref name=whoswho>{{Who's Who | author=Anon| title=Attenborough, Sir David (Frederick) | id = U5973 | year = 2015 | edition = online [[Oxford University Press]]|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.5973}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/42130/Sir-David-Attenborough |title=Sir David Attenborough (English broadcaster and author) |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140409032823/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/42130/Sir-David-Attenborough |archive-date=9 April 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> and grew up in College House on the campus of the [[University of Leicester]], where his father, [[Frederick Attenborough|Frederick]], was [[principal (academia)|principal]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.le.ac.uk/careers/collegehouse.html |title=History of College House |access-date=24 September 2006 |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060924005526/http://www.le.ac.uk/careers/collegehouse.html |archive-date=24 September 2006}}</ref> He is the middle of three sons; his elder brother, [[Richard Attenborough|Richard]], became an actor and director and his younger brother, [[John Attenborough|John]], was an executive at the Italian car manufacturer [[Alfa Romeo]].<ref name=":4">{{cite web |last1=Robinson |first1=David |title=Remembering Richard Attenborough |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/remembering-richard-attenborough |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |access-date=14 February 2017 |date=2 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705051641/http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/remembering-richard-attenborough |archive-date=5 July 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> During the [[Second World War]], through a British volunteer network known as the [[Refugee Children's Movement]], his parents also fostered two Jewish [[refugee]] girls from Germany.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/the-children-britain-took-to-its-heart-1.8535?highlight=attenborough |title=The children Britain took to its heart |work=The Jewish Chronicle |date=2 April 2009 |access-date=18 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818091145/https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/the-children-britain-took-to-its-heart-1.8535?highlight=attenborough |archive-date=18 August 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Attenborough spent his childhood collecting [[fossil]]s, stones and natural specimens.<ref name="BAFTA Guru">{{cite web |url=http://guru.bafta.org/david-attenborough-life-television |title=David Attenborough: A Life in Television |work=[[BAFTA]] Guru |date=19 May 2009 |access-date=18 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150801192215/http://guru.bafta.org/david-attenborough-life-television |archive-date=1 August 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He received encouragement when a young [[Jacquetta Hawkes]] admired his collection.<ref name="Hitchhiker">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/plain/A20218628 |title=Sir David Attenborough – Naturalist |publisher=BBC |access-date=26 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328212319/http://h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/plain/A20218628 |archive-date=28 March 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> He spent much time in the grounds of the university. Aged around 11, he heard that the zoology department needed a large supply of [[newt]]s, which he offered through his father to supply for [[Threepence (British coin)|3d]] each. The source, which he did not reveal at the time, was a pond adjacent to the department.<ref name=merc>{{cite news |url=http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Picture-day-12-Leicester-celebs-famous/story-20596134-detail/story.html |title=Picture of the day: Leicester celebs, before they were famous |work=Leicester Mercury |date=11 February 2014 |access-date=11 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222033240/http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Picture-day-12-Leicester-celebs-famous/story-20596134-detail/story.html |archive-date=22 February 2014}}</ref> A year later, his adoptive sister Marianne gave him a piece of [[amber]] containing prehistoric creatures; some sixty years later, it would be the focus of "[[The Amber Time Machine]]", an episode of his series ''[[Natural World (TV series)|Natural World]]''.''<ref name=amber>{{cite news |title=Jewel of the Earth |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3305_jewel.html |access-date=2 July 2021 |publisher=PBS |archive-date=3 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603022425/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3305_jewel.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1936, Attenborough and his brother Richard attended a lecture by [[Grey Owl]] (Archibald Belaney) at [[De Montfort Hall]], [[Leicester]], and were influenced by his advocacy of conservation. According to Richard, David was "bowled over by the man's determination to save the beaver, by his profound knowledge of the flora and fauna of the Canadian wilderness and by his warnings of ecological disaster should the delicate balance between them be destroyed. The idea that mankind was endangering nature by recklessly despoiling and plundering its riches was unheard of at the time, but it is one that has remained part of Dave's own credo to this day."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Robinson|first1=David|date=2 September 2014|title=Remembering Richard Attenborough|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/remembering-richard-attenborough|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705051641/http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/remembering-richard-attenborough|archive-date=5 July 2017|access-date=14 February 2017|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]}}</ref> In 1999, Richard directed a biopic of Belaney entitled ''[[Grey Owl (film)|Grey Owl]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/oct/27/culture.features1 |title=Animal Magic:Richard Attenborough on the Life and Times of Grey Owl |last=Attenborough |first=Richard |date=26 October 2000 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=16 July 2014 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725205221/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/oct/27/culture.features1 |archive-date=25 July 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Attenborough was educated at [[Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys]] in Leicester.<ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news |author1=Rebecca Tyrrel |title=David Attenborough: in the beginning |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8090747/David-Attenborough-in-the-beginning.html |access-date=26 May 2016 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=29 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510133918/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8090747/David-Attenborough-in-the-beginning.html |archive-date=10 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> He won a scholarship to [[Clare College, Cambridge]] in 1945 to study geology and zoology and obtained a degree in [[natural science]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.clarealumni.com/s/845/file_lib/1/1/clarenews11_633540413018489651.pdf |title=Cover.Qxd |access-date=4 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708163043/http://www.clarealumni.com/s/845/file_lib/1/1/clarenews11_633540413018489651.pdf |archive-date=8 July 2011}}</ref> In 1947, he was called up for [[national service]] in the [[Royal Navy]] and spent two years stationed in [[North Wales]] and the [[Firth of Forth]].<ref name="Hitchhiker" />