‘Inspiring’ Sir David Attenborough inundated with birthday messages

Tens of thousands have shared messages of congratulations to celebrate Sir David Attenborough’s birthday.

Sir David turned 93 on Wednesday and tributes poured in for the naturalist and broadcaster on Twitter.

“What you’ve done and continue to do, is inspiring,” wrote singer-songwriter Paloma Faith.

Television presenter Carol Vorderman described Sir David as “the top man”.

Fellow presenter Jeremy Vine signed his birthday greeting “from planet Earth”.

Sir David is a vocal and highly influential conservationist and the conservation group WWF reflected this in their message.

“Sir #DavidAttenborough’s voice has been inspiring us to protect nature since he first appeared on our screens 65 years ago,” tweeted the WWF.

The Natural History Museum noted that dozens of plants and animals have been named after Sir David, offering the Attenborosaurus, an extinct aquatic species, as an example.

The BBC, where Sir David has worked since the 1950s and was once controller of BBC Two, created a 93-second compilation video for his big day.

“David Attenborough – this is your life,” the BBC One account tweeted.

Elsewhere BBC Radio 1 shared the moment Sir David was persuaded to narrate the music video for Adele’s 2015 hit Hello by DJ Greg James.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) congratulated Sir David and thanked him “for all you do for television and for the planet”.

Sir David’s recent releases include Netflix series Our Planet and the BBC documentary Climate Change: The Facts.

In the latter he warned of a “man-made disaster on a global scale” and a “devastating future” if action is not taken to combat climate change.