Sir David Attenborough's first Zoo Quest

Sir David Attenborough's first Zoo Quest

From Witness History by BBC World Service

May 8, 2026 · 11 min

About this episode

The episode recounts Sir David Attenborough's first natural history expedition for Zoo Quest in 1954.

In 1954, the BBC broadcast a new television programme in Britain. It was called Zoo Quest and it launched the career of a man who has since brought the natural world into millions of homes around the world, the broadcaster Sir David Attenborough. In 2021, Louise Hidalgo dove into the BBC archives to hear Sir David tell the story of the first natural history expedition for Zoo Quest - the hunt for the White-necked Picathartes in Sierra Leone in West Africa. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’…

People in this episode

Host: Louise Hidalgo

Topics covered

  • natural history
  • television history
  • expeditions
  • wildlife
  • Sir David Attenborough
  • BBC archives

Keywords

  • Zoo Quest
  • Sir David Attenborough
  • natural history
  • Sierra Leone
  • White-necked Picathartes
  • BBC archives

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC

Places: Sierra Leone, West Africa

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