Sir David Attenborough thinks about dying every day.
The 90-year-old presenter – who lost his brother Richard Attenborough two years ago just days before his 91st birthday – has admitted he can’t help but think about his own mortality on a daily basis but, despite his fears, he has no plans to retire just yet.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror newspaper, he said: "Not in a morbid kind of way but I suppose in an observational kind of way.
"I have no intention of retiring, as long as I can do the job and anybody wants me to. Who wouldn’t go on? It is a joy and a huge privilege."
David is set to bound back on to screens next month with ‘Planet Earth II’ – 10 years after his first ‘Planet Earth’ series – and, although the opening scene sees him two miles above the Swiss Alps in a hot air balloon, he found the experience a "doddle."
He explained: "It’s a doddle. You get in this laundry basket – it is perfect for the job because it is light and strong and pliable, so it doesn’t shatter when you land.
"When you get in, you start talking and suddenly realise you are 50ft up because there is no noise and no wind, so there is nothing to tell you that you are moving. Once you get up there you just sit there and think, ‘This is great.’ "
Although he has no plans to retire, the naturalist’s producer Anthony Geffin – who has worked with him for seven years – believes the veteran’s last series ‘The Great Barrier Reef’ may be the last "proper" documentary he does.
He said recently: "In a way I feel this one is the last of what I call ‘on-the-road’ David Attenboroughs. That does not mean this is his last film, because he’ll top and tail films, and he’ll do narrations forever. But I think the idea of taking Attenborough … for a year to two years on a project where he’s involved intensely and goes on locations a lot – I think at 90, that can’t go on forever."
Sir David Attenborough thinks about death
