Paul X Walsh working on a tribute mural to Sir David Attenborough, who turns 100 on May 8, 2026, at the Rotunda in Auckland Zoo. Photo / Alex Robertson
Sir David Attenborough’s impact is felt far an wide – including here in New Zealand. We mark his 100th birthday with these previously untold stories, tributes and reflections.
In 2017, moments before Sir David Attenborough took to the stage at Auckland’s Civic Theatre, the famed conservationist looked at promoter Simon Baggs with an air of unease.
“He goes; there’s something not quite right. I’m not feeling well, I’m not feeling quite right’,” Baggs recalls.
To say the Lateral Events founder was concerned was an understatement, as the black curtain began to split.
“[Attenborough] looks at me very seriously and says, I think what I need [pause] is the adoration of a couple of thousand people,” Baggs says.
“Then he looked at the audience, and he looked at me, as I was walking backwards with the curtain, and said, ‘I’m fine now’.”
It turns out, along with his deep love for the natural world, Attenborough has a wonderful sense of humour, too.
Baggs and Attenborough have been close friends since the late 2000s, with the promoter taking the naturalist on multiple speaking engagements since then.
While his 2017 appearance was his first speaking tour here, Attenborough’s love for New Zealand is long-standing.
The Planet Earth host has visited multiple times and continues to feature the work of New Zealand photographers and videographers in his documentaries.
“I think he also has this appreciation about the uniqueness of New Zealand and the fact that, a bit like Australia, it is so far from the other parts of the world. The natural environment is so unique and untouched. It’s far less damaged. He just loves to get out and about and sit out in the countryside somewhere and just be [when he’s here],” Baggs says.
The pair even sent paparazzi on a wild goose chase across Auckland by sending out an empty limousine after the show.
“We went on a drive through Remuera and all over the place, then went into the loading dock at the hotel and snuck him indoors.”
Baggs says that Attenborough continuing to work as he celebrates turning 100 is a reflection of an idea he once shared with him.
“He has an interesting philosophy I stole, which is, as we get older, you should rid yourselves of all the things you don’t want to do. Identify what they are and work out how you can not do them. Then only spend your time doing things that you love.”
In the 90s, Ruud Kleinpaste was best known to New Zealanders as The Bug Man. He says even when growing up in the Netherlands, he idolised Attenborough and the work he did.
“David Attenborough’s always been in my life because I was a nature nerd,” Kleinpaste says.
Their first encounter was in the mid-90s, and one thing that immediately stood out to Kleinpaste was Attenborough’s work ethic.
“I was working at Maggie’s Garden Show with Maggie Barry and on Newstalk ZB in the old days, and I suddenly got this signal saying ‘Attenborough’s coming over, do you want him on your talkback radio show on Sunday morning?’” he recounts.
“He landed on NZ1, which was the plane route from the UK to Auckland ... He arrived at 6am, and at 9am that day, he was in my studio doing talkback radio.”
Kleinpaste likes to joke with people that he does “full frontal nerdity” for a job. When Attenborough heard this, he burst out laughing.
“When David heard that, he pissed himself. He thought it was quite funny. The moment the light on the camera goes off, he can tell you the most wonderful, brilliant joke,” he says.
The pair proceeded to chat on air about things that “nobody talked about” in those days when it came to environmental education.
“We talked about natives and endemics, creatures that only live in Aotearoa and nowhere else in the world. We talked about predator free. There was this enormous amount of knowledge that came out of his brain, and that, I believe, helped me get to where I am today.”
Steve Hathaway and his daughter Riley have spent years inspiring Kiwi kids to fall in love with the ocean, through their school education programme Young Ocean Explorers.
Hathaway is an underwater cameraman who provides footage for local and international documentaries, including Attenborough’s. He says it was the conservationist’s work that inspired him to follow his dream of filming underwater.
“I was over in LA for a year with my family, and when I came back to New Zealand, I had this dream of doing my own underwater show,” he says.
“We were staying at a friend’s house, and he had the [Attenborough series] Blue Planet on video in the house. I watched it, and it was just so inspirational.”
He was drawn to an “absolutely magnificent” scene, showcasing the life of creatures like marlin and bait ball formations. He thought those underwater cameramen were the luckiest on the planet.
“Fast forward a few years, and I’m sitting on the back of my boat with the director of Open Ocean – The Blue Planet I , and they’re filming behind the scenes on me for Open Ocean – The Blue Planet II . I just had this surreal moment of realisation.”
While he hasn’t yet met Attenborough, he was invited to the team screening of Open Ocean - The Blue Planet II in Bristol, where he heard him speak.
“At the end of it, [Attenborough] walked out on stage as a surprise and just congratulated the teams. He goes, ‘I’m not the star of the show, I’m just a voice. The underwater camera people are the stars of the show’.”
Hathaway also attended special screenings of the series here at home and ended up taking a life-size cardboard cutout of Attenborough along with him.
“It’s amazing how he spans the generations. I’ve said for years that when he eventually passes, and hopefully he has quite a few years left, I think there’s going to be more mourning than when the Queen died. He goes across culture, nations, and different ages, and he’s just universally loved.”
Seeing kākāpō up close, visiting Kāpiti Island as birdlife returned, and opening the Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project in Nelson Lakes National Park are standout moments from Attenborough’s time in the country according to Conservation Minister Tama Potaka.
He describes the broadcaster as “truly remarkable”.
“He has always shown us something simple but powerful, that people protect what they care about, and they care when they truly experience the natural world.”
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson believes that, for generations of whānau in New Zealand, Attenborough is the voice that has brought nature to life.
“He has spent a lifetime helping us fall in love with the natural world and trusting us with the truth about what’s happening to it,” she says.
“The storytelling alone would have been a legacy. What makes it extraordinary is that he kept listening. He let the science change what he said. He named the loss alongside the wonder, and never let either one go. Kaitiakitanga [guardianship, stewardship, and protection of the environment], the responsibility to care for our taiao [environment] for those who come after us, is at the heart of what he’s modelled for the world”.
Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald’s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke’s Bay Today.