By Sammie Jones-
Sir David Attenborough has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award, a testament to his outstanding contribution to television.
The Rose d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award honours a television personality for their exceptional contribution to the entertainment industry, and will celebrate Sir David’s 60-year career as a natural history broadcaster.
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On receiving the esteemed award, Sir Attenborough said: “Television has achieved a great thing worldwide, making people everywhere aware of what’s happening to our environment.
“If I’ve been a part of that and if this is a reward for that, well then, I thank you very much indeed. I’m most grateful.”
Attemborough is a former senior manager at the BBC, having served as controller of BBC Two and director of programming for BBC Television in the 1960s and 1970s. He is the only person to have won BAFTAs for programmes in each of black and white, colour, HD, 3D and 4K. In both 2018 and 2019, he received Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Narrator.
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Attenborough was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester and then won a scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge in 1945, where he studied geology and zoology and obtained a degree in natural sciences. 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.
His latest ambitious multimedia projects include both apps and virtual reality (VR) which both entertain and educate global audiences of all ages.
Sir David joins a list of previous recipients of the Rose d’Or special awards including last year’s Lifetime Achievement winner Maren Kroymann, as well as Joanna Lumley, James Corden, Angela Lansbury and John Cleese.
Jean Philip De Tender, EBU Media Director, said “It is fitting that in this year, of all years, the Rose d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award should go to that force of nature, Sir David Attenborough.
“We are celebrating a broadcaster of multiple talents – naturalist, activist, storyteller, writer, presenter, preserver, explorer. He has inspired audiences for decades and continues to do so.
“The expression ‘ground-breaking’ can be over-used – especially in our industry – but Sir David has changed how we view the world – and it doesn’t get more ground-breaking than that.”
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