Attenborough in Paradise and Other Personal Voyages
Encyclopedia
Attenborough in Paradise and Other Personal Voyages is a DVD collection of seven David Attenborough
/ BBC
documentary specials.
in his book, "The Malay Archipelago
". He visits New Guinea
and surrounding islands to track down these breath-takingly beautiful birds. Their plumage, colours and mating dances are spectacular. The environment is so benign that the female birds can build their nests and raise their young without the help of males, so the females choose a mate on the basis of his beauty and dancing ability alone. As a result, sexual selection has produced the most incredible variety of extravagant displays imaginable.
was thought to be uninhabited until aerial photographs showed signs of human habitation. Attenborough
accompanies an expedition into the interior to find and make contact with these people and map the area.
. It was cheap because the seller believed it was a forgery. During the course of this programme its whole history is discovered: carved on Easter Island while there was still wood of the Toromiro
tree (now extinct on the island), to represent the god Makemake
, traded with the crew of captain Cook's ship, transported to Tahiti
, probably traded by the Tahitians with the crew of an American whaling ship and ended up in the US.
and was first transmitted in 2002.It takes an in depth look at Attenborough’s career in television: from his earliest application for a job with BBC radio, through his elevation to BBC Director of Programmes where they were kind enough to let him out of his suit every now and then to go and be intrepid, his rejection of the job of BBC Director General so that he could film "Life on Earth".
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
/ BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary specials.
Attenborough in Paradise (1996)
Attenborough achieves a childhood ambition of finding and filming the birds-of-paradise described by Alfred Russel WallaceAlfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace, OM, FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist...
in his book, "The Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago is a book by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace that chronicles his scientific exploration, during the eight year period 1854 to 1862, of the southern portion of the Malay Archipelago including Malaysia, Singapore, the islands of Indonesia, then known as the Dutch...
". He visits New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
and surrounding islands to track down these breath-takingly beautiful birds. Their plumage, colours and mating dances are spectacular. The environment is so benign that the female birds can build their nests and raise their young without the help of males, so the females choose a mate on the basis of his beauty and dancing ability alone. As a result, sexual selection has produced the most incredible variety of extravagant displays imaginable.
A Blank on the Map (1971)
The central area of New GuineaNew Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
was thought to be uninhabited until aerial photographs showed signs of human habitation. Attenborough
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
accompanies an expedition into the interior to find and make contact with these people and map the area.
The Lost Gods of Easter Island (2000)
A carved wooden idol that Attenborough purchased in an auction room is traced back to its origin: Easter IslandEaster Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
. It was cheap because the seller believed it was a forgery. During the course of this programme its whole history is discovered: carved on Easter Island while there was still wood of the Toromiro
Toromiro
Sophora toromiro, commonly known as Toromiro, is a species of flowering tree in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to Easter Island. Heavy deforestation had eliminated most of the island's forests by the first half of the 17th century , and the once common toromiro became rare and...
tree (now extinct on the island), to represent the god Makemake
Makemake (mythology)
Makemake in the Rapa Nui mythology of Easter Island, was the creator of humanity, the god of fertility and the chief god of the "Tangata manu" or bird-man cult .He is a frequent subject of the island's Petroglyphs.-In Astronomy:The trans-Neptunian...
, traded with the crew of captain Cook's ship, transported to Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
, probably traded by the Tahitians with the crew of an American whaling ship and ended up in the US.
Bowerbirds: The Art of Seduction (2000)
Attenborough heads to Australia and New Guinea. Like the Birds of Paradise, Bowerbird females build their nests and raise their young alone so the male has all day to gather his treasures and create his bower. There seems to be a bowerbird rule: the more elaborate the bower the plainer the bird - the simpler the bower, the more vivid the plumage. David mischievously moves a leaf or a piece of lichen to see what the bird will do, then moves away. The bird flies back scoldingly and fussily returns his artistic display to its former perfection. Fascinating.The Song of the Earth (2000)
This natural history of music begins with Attenborough playing the piano. Searching for the origins of human music, he traces its connections to the musical sounds that other animals make: the beauty of the wolf's howl, the complexity of the bat's cry, the deep rumble of the elephant's signals, the acoustically sophisticated sounds the dolphin produces and the songs of whales and birds. Why do these animals produce this amazing variety of sounds? It's all tied up with sex and territory.Life on Air: David Attenborough's 50 Years in Television (2002)
This BBC documentary traces David Attenborough's career. It is presented by Michael PalinMichael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
and was first transmitted in 2002.It takes an in depth look at Attenborough’s career in television: from his earliest application for a job with BBC radio, through his elevation to BBC Director of Programmes where they were kind enough to let him out of his suit every now and then to go and be intrepid, his rejection of the job of BBC Director General so that he could film "Life on Earth".