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55 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.
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Q 01In which English county town-area was David Attenborough born in 1926?
Isleworth, Middlesex
Isleworth, Middlesex — David Attenborough was born there on 8 May 1926, the middle of three brothers; Isleworth is now part of the London Borough of Hounslow.
Q 02Attenborough grew up on the campus of which institution, where his father was principal?
University College, Leicester
University College, Leicester — Attenborough's father Frederick was its principal, and the family lived in College House on the campus, where David roamed the 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
Alfa Romeo — John Attenborough, the youngest of the three brothers, spent his career in the motor trade and became a senior executive at Alfa Romeo.
Q 05Aged about 11, Attenborough supplied a university zoology department with which animals for threepence each?
Newts
Newts — aged about eleven, Attenborough sold them to the university zoology department for threepence each, netting them from a pond beside the 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
Clare College — Attenborough went up to Clare, Cambridge, in 1945 and read geology and zoology for a natural sciences degree.
Q 08Attenborough did his national service in which branch of the armed forces?
Royal Navy
Royal Navy — Attenborough served two years' national service from 1947, posted to North Wales and 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
His teeth were thought too big — the verdict came from Mary Adams, head of the BBC's Talks department, so he began behind the camera as a producer.
Q 10Which 1954 series launched Attenborough's presenting career?
Zoo Quest
Zoo Quest followed animal-collecting expeditions for London Zoo; Attenborough only ended up in front of the camera because the planned presenter fell ill.
Q 11Which London Zoo section did Zoo Quest's original presenter, Jack Lester, curate?
The reptile house
The reptile house — Jack Lester was London Zoo's curator of reptiles; he and Attenborough had met making Animal Patterns, a studio series that borrowed zoo animals.
Q 12Attenborough left BBC staff in the early 1960s to study for a postgraduate degree in what?
Social anthropology
Social anthropology — he enrolled for the degree at the London School of Economics but never finished it, because the BBC lured him back to run BBC Two.
Q 13In which year did Attenborough become Controller of BBC Two?
1965
1965 — Attenborough became Controller of BBC Two in March that year, insisting on a contract clause that let him keep making occasional programmes.
Q 21The BBC co-produced Life on Earth with which American company?
Warner Communications
Warner Communications — Life on Earth was made by the BBC in association with Warner Bros. Television and Reiner Moritz Productions, the partners it needed before filming began in 1976.
Q 22Which 1984 series, built around the theme of ecology, followed Life on Earth?
The Living Planet
The Living Planet (1984) — the sequel to Life on Earth looked at how living things adapt to their environments, habitat by habitat, and was a major BBC export.
Q 23Which 1990 series on animal behaviour completed Attenborough's original 1979-1990 trilogy?
The Trials 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
Snooker — Attenborough commissioned Pot Black in 1969 because the coloured balls showed off colour television; the series fed snooker's 1980s boom.
Q 16Attenborough influenced which change to tennis equipment in 1986?
Yellow balls
Yellow balls — white balls were hard to follow on colour television, which Attenborough's BBC Two had brought to Wimbledon in 1967; Wimbledon adopted yellow balls in 1986.
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 1973 history-of-science series did Attenborough commission as BBC Two's counterpart to Civilisation?
The Ascent of Man
The Ascent of Man — Attenborough commissioned Jacob Bronowski's 13-part history of science, broadcast in 1973 as BBC Two's scientific counterpart to Civilisation.
Q 19Which broadcaster's job application to present on BBC Two did Attenborough turn down?
Terry Wogan
Terry Wogan — Attenborough rejected the young Irishman's application, later explaining that BBC Two already had one Irish announcer and two 'would have looked ridiculous'.
Q 20In which year was Life on Earth first broadcast?
1979
1979's Life on Earth launched a body of work that became a benchmark of quality in wildlife film-making and influenced a generation of documentary makers.
The Trials of Life (1990) — the trilogy's closing series followed animal behaviour through the stages of life, from birth to raising young, across twelve episodes.
Q 24Which 1993 series was the first television series to survey the natural history of Antarctica?
Life in the Freezer
Life in the Freezer (1993) — the six-part series was the first television survey of Antarctica's natural history, from emperor penguins to the elephant seals of South Georgia.
Q 25Which technique let Attenborough's The Private Life of Plants (1995), a Peabody winner, show plants as dynamic organisms?
Time-lapse photography
Time-lapse photography sped up the plants' growth; producers had worried about filling hours of television with essentially immobile subjects, and 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
Reptiles and amphibians — Life in Cold Blood (2008) was the last of Attenborough's nine Life series, closing his survey of life on land, from crocodiles to chameleons.
Q 27How many episodes of Wildlife on One did Attenborough narrate between 1977 and 2005?
253
253 — Wildlife on One ran on BBC One from 1977 to 2005 and Attenborough narrated 253 episodes; at its peak it 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
Alastair Fothergill — the series producer decided that talking to camera through diving gear was impractical, so The Blue Planet has no on-screen presenter.
Q 30Planet Earth (2006), then the biggest nature documentary ever made for television, was the first BBC wildlife series shot in what format?
High definition
High definition — Planet Earth (2006) was the first BBC wildlife series shot in HD, filmed over five years in more than 60 countries.