'You just can't help but listen' - West Midlands fans wish Sir David Attenborough a 'Happy 100th Birthday'

He has been the ‘soothing’ voice behind the camera on over 100 documentaries spanning over 70 years and today, he turns 100.

Sir David Attenborough, who was born on May 8, 1926, is a man many remember listening to as a child, with his voice being associated with nature documentaries since Zoo Quest in 1954.

A legend on screen and a dear friend to the late Queen Elizabeth II, he has long been regarded a national treasure.

Now, birthday wishes and tributes have begun pouring in from those who have admired him for so long - with many in the West Midlands dubbing him the ‘voice of their childhoods’ and some claiming his work inspired the careers they went on to do.

Science teacher at Ark Victoria Academy, in Small Heath, Birmingham, Abdul Aziz said that as a boy growing up in East London, he always looked forward to watching Attenborough documentaries with his dad.

"I grew up at a time when there were very few TV channels. I had fights with my sister because she wanted to watch a movie, and I wanted to watch Life on Earth,” he said.

“He has that gravitas. With just a few words he manages to have all the impact really. And that soothing voice. You just can't help but listen”.

Aziz claims he has used Attenborough’s Green Planet documentary to teach photosynthesis to his classes.

Chris Millward, who grew up in Staffordshire but became the creator of the Brum Biosphere initiative to safeguard Birmingham's green lungs and the co-founder of biodiversity group Team4Nature said:"Life on Earth in 1979 brought the fascinating wider world of wildlife to me.

“Aged 10, I was growing up in Staffordshire where my local patch covered farmland that had been partially shaped by mining activity. I remember the excitement and counting down the minutes till it came on! My favourite parts were the evolutionary story, the descent into Grand Canyon and the music and camera technology.

"Sir David’s infectious enthusiasm and passion inspired and guided me in the art of powerful storytelling. We will never know how many millions of lives this special man has touched and influenced".

Former NHS ward manager Paulette Williams-Jones, who runs Willenhall cycling group Give a Girl a Bike and is a keen gardener with a plot at Dovedale Avenue allotments, says that when she watches an Attenborough documentary, “I'm thinking, 'oh my goodness, I did not know that'. Not only has he educated me, he's amazed me... Things that you wouldn't dream of thinking about, and things that you'd have no clue about, he's brought that to life, and he's made us think that this is happening around us.

"It doesn't matter what country David Attenborough is in, it always brings it to home. What's happening across the world is happening right here in England. It makes you open your eyes that this is our planet, we need to be more aware of the things that we do, how we're doing it... All the time now I am thinking of ways I can save the planet".

North Edgbaston resident Nettes Derbyshire chiefly remembers his earlier work on safari and in jungles. “I am sure everyone has very fond memories of the programme he did with the gorillas, which for me led into quite a fascination with behaviour and communication in general,” she says.

“My husband absolutely loved the 'prehistoric planet', and still frequently comments on how old some species we still have with us actually are. This does give me hope that, even if we destroy ourselves, the planet and life on it will continue”.

Dave Taylor of Ryecroft Community Hub in Blakenall said: “He's really engaging, number one. He makes things easy to understand, he's got a nice way of things. And he's innovative, so over all of the programmes you know it's not going to be the same, it's going to be different and really engaging.

“I used to love Wildlife on One. All these exotic animals and places that you wouldn't dream of seeing brought to life - absolutely brilliant for a kid who lives in Walsall.

“If we can all take on board the message he's sending out, it’s that the earth is precious and we've only got one chance at this. We need to look after what we've got or there's just no coming back. We've got to speak to the leaders, locally, nationally, internationally and just say: listen, we've got to start looking at things now”.

James Benwell who works in communications for Birmingham & Black Country Wildlife Trust said that his early fascination with Sir David’s documentaries developed into a lifetime love of nature and ultimately to a career in conservation.

"I enjoyed watching Wild London at New Year,” Benwell says. “Attenborough is a man who has travelled the world and seen it all but still manages to shine a light on the beauty and importance of urban wildlife. Here in Birmingham there is just as much of a wealth of wildlife to be discovered, whether it's wild deer or wild orchids, if you only take the time to look!

Dr Rob Tilling, project co-ordinator of Fruit & Nut Village which tends orchards and forest gardens across Birmingham, said he and his Zoology coursemates at Newcastle University treated Sir David’s works as an unofficial learning aid. “The diversity of information his programmes contained are great additional knowledge to any biological sciences undergraduate.

“Before that, David was part of my growing up. As a child I would spend long periods of the summer in green spaces, searching out the fine details of the natural world under leaves, behind dry stone walls, hopping across long grass - I had been helped to understand that nature is all around us.

"I've spent my career focused on outdoor spaces and how we interact as a species with nature,” Tilling says. “Now at Fruit & Nut Village, I can still trace the origins of my understanding of human-nature interactions to those early learnings".

Ward End teacher Zafroon Bibi suggests a suitable commemoration of Attenborough reaching 100 would be an annual event in the school calendar to get pupils out and about engaging with the natural world.

Bibi has conceived David Attenborough Day as “one day a year in the curriculum where no-one spends time indoors, but goes outdoors and looks after nature. Switches all the power off!” It would be an invitation to "celebrate, plant, look around, write poems, do a bit of art, enjoy the nature,” in honour of the great scientist, filmmaker and communicator, she says.