Tributes have been paid to David Attenborough, as the acclaimed broadcaster marks his 100th birthday. 

Born in Isleworth, London, during the year of the General Strike, the young David grew up fascinated by fossils. 

This interest in the natural world led him to study Natural Sciences at Clare College, Cambridge.

Following the end of the Second World War, he joined the Royal Navy and then got a job at the BBC. 

In the coming decades, his captivating voice and easy manner on screen would go onto captivate millions as he regaled them with tales of the natural world. 

On Lunchtime Live, listener Brendan recalled how he met in London for a dinner, which was raising money for a zoo’s conservation project. 

“Initially, I was very much speechless because I’m sure, like everyone listening, you’ve a huge respect for this man,” he said. 

“Living 100 years and hopefully for many more, still doing what he can do. 

“[It’s] just the way he communicates, I suppose, it’s incredible. 

“It’s such an easy message and how he originally really brought the world to people’s living rooms in the 1950s and 60s, places people had never seen.” 

David Attenborough with a salamander in the garden of his home in Kew. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Brendan also praised the way he presents his documentaries, noting that Mr Attenborough always gets his delivery right. 

“When he’s on TV, he doesn’t talk too much,” he said. 

“He’s giving the right amount of information and then, of course, the visuals go amazing with it. 

“He’s just a spectacular human being for me - he’s my number one hero in this world, that’s for sure.” 

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II sits alongside Sir David Attenborough at the Royal institute of International Affairs, Chatham House. Picture by: Eddie Mulholland, Pool via AP.

Also on the programme, biologist Éanna Ní Lamhna said it had been a joy to meet him in 2008, while she was working on Mooney Goes Wild. 

“He came in, we were all sitting there and spends the whole programme talking and listening to us,” she said. 

“We were chatting away like old friends about where he'd been and the things he had done… when he was away in different parts around the world.

“He was talking about looking at birds of paradise; when he started out away in the Far East looking at these, there were so many of them that the tribesmen in the local area all dressed up in their feathers. 

“Now, of course, you could see a bird of paradise at all, you’d be doing well.”

Main image: David Attenborough. Picture by: Alamy.com.