As he reaches the sprightly young age of 97, here are five surprising facts from the life and career of the nation’s natural history sweetheart, David Attenborough.

He was warned against appearing on TV…

After a stint editing children’s science textbooks at the beginning of his career, Attenborough was accepted onto a training course at the BBC, in the growing TV department. At that point in his life Attenborough didn’t own a TV and had only ever seen one programme, probably a re-run of Only Fools and Horses on UKTV Gold. The head of factual entertainment who hired him discouraged Attenborough from appearing on TV himself, as she thought that his teeth were too big. Thank god he didn’t listen.

As controller of BBC2 he commissioned shows that are still on TV…

After first launching, BBC2 struggled for viewers and failed to capture the public imagination – meaning programmes must have been especially bad given that it was literally the third channel on TV ever in the UK . Attenborough was put on the case as controller of BBC2 and immediately started to shake things up, commissioning a number of popular programmes like Monty Python’s Flying Circus and even one still being made today, footie favourite Match of the Day.

He came late to climate change…

Despite his years of covering the natural world in its entirety, Attenborough has described how he only came to believe in the human impact on the Earth’s climate after attending a 2004 lecture on the subject. Since then Attenborough has become an ambassador for climate care and emissions reduction, working with the UN, the Queen and Crown and more.

He has more UK honorary degrees than anybody else…

With at least 32 honorary qualifications, David Attenborough is the most decorated person in UK academia, having collected honorary degrees from top-tier unis like Oxford and Cambridge, as well as those that get less love, like Durham, The Open University, and Nottingham Trent, as well as schools as far flung as Ghent in Belgium.

Over 20 species have been named after him…

Attenborough has been such an inspiration to scientists around the world that over 20 species have been named after him, both living and extinct. A number of spiders, a snail, a breed of shrimp, a Peruvian frog, a lizard and even a parasite have all been given the suffix attenboroughi. As long as we heed his warnings on climate change, his legacy should safely live on!

Happy birthday David!