Editing David Attenborough (section)

===Early years at the BBC===
After leaving the navy, Attenborough took a position editing children's science textbooks for a publishing company. He soon became disillusioned with the work and in 1950 applied for a job as a radio talk producer with the [[BBC]].<ref name="Life on Air, p.13"/> Although he was rejected for this job, his [[Curriculum vitae|CV]] later attracted the interest of [[Mary Adams (broadcaster)|Mary Adams]], head of the Talks (factual broadcasting) department of the BBC's fledgling television service.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fara |first1=Patricia |title=A Lab of One's Own: Science and Suffrage in the First World War |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=266}}</ref> Attenborough, like most Britons at that time, did not own a television and had seen only one programme in his life.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Attenborough, David |title=Life on Air |publisher=BBC Books |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-563-53461-7}} pp. 10–11.</ref>

He accepted Adams' offer of a three-month training course. In 1952 he joined the BBC full-time. Initially discouraged from appearing on camera because Adams thought his teeth were too big,<ref name="Life on Air, p.13">''Life on Air'', p.13.</ref> he became a producer for the Talks department, which handled all non-fiction broadcasts. His early projects included the quiz show ''Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?'' and ''Song Hunter,'' a series about [[folk music]] presented by [[Alan Lomax]].<ref name="Life on Air, p.13"/>

Attenborough's association with natural history programmes began when he produced and presented the three-part series ''Animal Patterns.'' The studio-bound programme featured animals from [[London Zoo]], with the naturalist [[Julian Huxley]] discussing their use of [[camouflage]], [[aposematism]] and [[courtship display]]s. Through this programme, Attenborough met Jack Lester, the curator of the zoo's reptile house, and they decided to make a series about an animal-collecting expedition. The result was ''[[Zoo Quest]],'' first broadcast in 1954, where Attenborough became the presenter at short notice due to Lester being taken ill.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/05/david-attenborough-used-to-steal-the-animals-he-found-in-the-jungle-and-take-them-home/ |title=David Attenborough used to steal the animals he found in the jungle and take them home |first=James |last=Walton |date=21 May 2016 |magazine=The Spectator |access-date=8 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408234820/https://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/05/david-attenborough-used-to-steal-the-animals-he-found-in-the-jungle-and-take-them-home/ |archive-date=8 April 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1957, the [[BBC Natural History Unit]] was formally established in [[Bristol]]. Attenborough was asked to join it, but declined, not wishing to move from London where he and his young family were settled. Instead, he formed his own department, the Travel and Exploration Unit,<ref name="Life on Air, pp.60–61">''Life on Air'', pp. 60–61.</ref> which allowed him to continue to front ''Zoo Quest'' as well as produce other documentaries, notably the ''Travellers' Tales'' and ''Adventure'' series.<ref name="Life on Air, pp.60–61"/> In the early 1960s, Attenborough resigned from the permanent staff of the BBC to study for a postgraduate degree in [[social anthropology]] at the [[London School of Economics]], interweaving his study with further filming.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wildfilmhistory.org/helpers/force-download.php?file=pdf/David_Attenborough.pdf |title=Transcript of interview with David Attenborough |access-date=4 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202034238/http://www.wildfilmhistory.org/helpers/force-download.php?file=pdf%2FDavid_Attenborough.pdf |archive-date=2 December 2008 |url-status=usurped}}</ref> However, he accepted an invitation to return to the BBC as controller of [[BBC Two]] before he could finish the degree.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/famous-alumni-from-lse-2015-10 |title=These 18 insanely successful people all went to the London School of Economics |website=Business Insider |access-date=17 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180526073843/http://uk.businessinsider.com/famous-alumni-from-lse-2015-10#mick-jagger-was-studying-at-lse-when-he-began-playing-with-the-rolling-stones-in-1961-at-first-he-played-with-the-stones-just-on-weekends-and-attended-classes-during-the-week-but-he-ultimately-dropped-out-to-pursue-his-music-career-2 |archive-date=26 May 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>