Sometimes the planets align in mysterious ways. As Clarke Gayford's partner PM Jacinda Ardern met Sir David Attenborough in Switzerland last week, news came that Gayford would be stepping into the iconic wildlife broadcaster's shoes in the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO) Planet Earth II Live in Concert, in May.
Gayford,41, who hosts his own fishing TV show, will take the role of narrator, as Attenborough did for the BBC.
On Wednesday morning, Ardern met Attenborough privately before taking part, with former Vice President Al Gore, in a panel discussion on climate change at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. And she had a surprise for Gayford.
"I actually woke this morning to a picture she sent me of the two of them together, with the words, 'Told Sir David all about you'. The world would be a much better place with more people like him," Gayford tells Spy.
Gayford thinks highly of the 92-year-old wildlife legend. Like most of us he grew up watching him and appreciates what Sir David has done over a seven-decade career educating his viewers.
"One of the best tools for conservation is creating a connection to the environment with people who might not have the chance to experience it for themselves. That connection then helps drive people when it comes to caring and taking action. The environmental messages we run through our series are but a drop in the ocean of what Sir David does, but we are all pulling in the same direction," he says.
Gayford says he couldn't be more proud to be part of the APO Planet Earth concert. "We will have iconic big screen scenes of nature at its best, captured by the best cinematographers on Earth and enhanced with the emotion that only live music can elicit, thanks to the world-class APO. It really doesn't get much better than that.
"My love of television was cultivated on Sunday nights watching Our World with my parents. I have always been fascinated by the craft of nature documentaries and Planet Earth is the shining jewel among them. So to be asked was a privilege."
