Sir David Attenborough Tells Prince William He Once “Nearly Drowned”

Veteran broadcaster Sir David Attenborough has shared in a discussion with Prince Wiliam that he almost drowned when he was given faulty diving equipment at the beginning of his career.

The Guardian newspaper reports that the 99-year-old veteran broadcaster was discussing his latest documentary Ocean when he recalled an incident on a 1957, when he put his first ever scuba-diving helmet on his head.

Attenborough said: “I suddenly felt water coming around [my chin and up over my mouth]” he said. “I thought, ‘This can’t be right’. And by the time [the water rose to my nose], I thought, ‘I’m sure this is not right.’

“But then, of course, if you got this thing screwed on top of you, you can’t breathe. You can’t even make yourself heard.”

Attenborough related how a testy director of operations refused to believe the equipment had a fault. “So he put it on and I’m happy to say he went under the water and came up even quicker than I did because there was actually a fault.”

Ocean, Attenborough’s documentary which launched this weekend on National Geographic streaming platforms to mark World Oceans Day, looks at life underwater and confronts the loss of much biodiversity due to man-made ocean warming.

Attenborough told William: “The awful thing is that it’s hidden from you and from me and most people. The thing which I was appalled by when I first saw the shots taken for this film, is that what we have done to the deep ocean floor is just unspeakably awful.

“I mean, if you did anything remotely like it on land, everybody would be up in arms,” he said. “If this film does anything – if it just shifts public awareness – it’ll be very, very important, and I only hope that people who see it will recognise that something must be done before we destroy this great treasure.”