‘Sir David Attenborough changed my life’

Three CAs speak

As the great broadcaster reaches his century, we talk to three CAs inspired by the man who has done more than anyone else to bring the great outdoors into our living rooms

Interviews by Cris Andrews

‘Sir David Attenborough changed my life’

Three CAs speak

As the great broadcaster reaches his century, we talk to three CAs inspired by the man who has done more than anyone else to bring the great outdoors into our living rooms

Interviews by Cris Andrews

Sir David Attenborough turns 100 on 8 May. The man regularly cited as the most trusted living Briton has been producing and presenting documentaries that have revolutionised our understanding of the natural world for more than 70 years, having started at the BBC in 1952 and fronted his first major wildlife documentary, the long-running Zoo Quest, in 1954.

Attenborough with King Charles at the premiere of Ocean

Attenborough with King Charles at the premiere of Ocean

Since then the programmes he has written and presented – Life on Earth, The Living Planet, Trials of Life, The Blue Planet, Planet Earth, Frozen Planet and more – have been seen throughout the world. As far back as 2014, the Guardian pointed out he was the only person to have won Baftas for shows in black and white, colour, high-definition and 3D. He was awarded the Bafta Fellowship as long ago as 1980.

Attenborough’s influence spans territories and generations, including of primates. In A Gorilla Story (now on Netflix) he revisits the family of apes he met for Life on Earth almost half a century earlier, while his latest BBC documentary, Secret Garden, is screening this month. Here we speak to three CAs whose lives he has touched: one is currently collaborating with him on a major exhibition; another is a senior figure on a fundraising project he has supported; and a third has carved out a later-life career in wildlife and filmmaking.

Sir David Attenborough turns 100 on 8 May. The man regularly cited as the most trusted living Briton has been producing and presenting documentaries that have revolutionised our understanding of the natural world for more than 70 years, having started at the BBC in 1952 and fronted his first major wildlife documentary, the long-running Zoo Quest, in 1954.

Attenborough with King Charles at the premiere of Ocean

Attenborough with King Charles at the premiere of Ocean

Since then the programmes he has written and presented – Life on Earth, The Living Planet, Trials of Life, The Blue Planet, Planet Earth, Frozen Planet and more – have been seen throughout the world. As far back as 2014, the Guardian pointed out he was the only person to have won Baftas for shows in black and white, colour, high-definition and 3D. He was awarded the Bafta Fellowship as long ago as 1980.

Attenborough’s influence spans territories and generations, including of primates. In A Gorilla Story (now on Netflix) he revisits the family of apes he met for Life on Earth almost half a century earlier, while his latest BBC documentary, Secret Garden, is screening this month. Here we speak to three CAs whose lives he has touched: one is currently collaborating with him on a major exhibition; another is a senior figure on a fundraising project he has supported; and a third has carved out a later-life career in wildlife and filmmaking.

Stephanie Wilson CA,
Financial Controller, Natural History Museum

Our Story with David Attenborough is the Natural History Museum (NHM)’s immersive cinematic experience, where David, as the narrator, explores the impact that we’re having on our planet.

It’s a fantastic exhibition, and it’s my job to track expenditure and income, to see if the exhibition is making a profit – which it has been; a great moneymaker for the museum, in fact. It’s a collaboration between Sir David and Open Planet Studios, which is something we don’t usually do, so we have regular meetings to work out what needs to be done.

The Our Story exhibition at the Natural History Museum

The Our Story exhibition at the Natural History Museum

David’s exhibition has a powerful message about what we can do to save the planet. It also supports another NHM initiative called Fixing Our Broken Planet, which is in the next gallery. This other exhibition explores practical, nature-based solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing the planet today. It looks at the food we eat, the energy we consume, the stuff we use and the impact of all of this on our health. It’s basically the story of our impact on the natural world and an exploration of how we might save it.

“I used to watch David Attenborough’s TV shows as a kid, and I now watch them with my own kids. We have lots of conversations about the future of the planet, fossils, why dinosaurs went extinct and whether that could happen again”

Stephanie Wilson CA, Natural History Museum

Surveys show a big change in user engagement with this gallery since we’ve had the Attenborough exhibit up. David drops in from time to time, but he tends not to tell anyone – he likes to walk around quietly and enjoy the exhibition. 

I have a biology degree, so science and the natural world have always been my passion. At work now, I’m not a scientist, but I am working with scientists, talking to them about their projects, what budgets they have and how best to support them with financial guidance.

As Financial Controller I work with auditors, prepare financial data for our year-end report, manage the accounts operations team, cashflows and finance system. The financial accounting team assist me in preparing reports and I report to Head of Finance.

Sixty per cent of our funding comes from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, so we report monthly to them, providing evidence in line with government guidelines. Working with government officials means you have to stick to their rigid timetables. They need information from you at certain times so they can feed it upwards.

When it comes to fundraising, I’m concerned with compliance, making sure what we do stays within charitable and tax laws. We’re currently trying to raise £150m to transform the museum for our 150th anniversary in 2031. We want to redo the galleries, make them more accessible and user-friendly. We also have a lot of exhibits in storage that we’d like to show, and we’re planning a new children’s gallery.

Attenborough at the Natural History Museum

Attenborough at the Natural History Museum

I’m on the finance committee for this project and I do the budget forecasting. I have to show where the funding gaps are and how much we can realistically raise. We’re pursuing lots of grants and talking to many high-net-worth individuals.

My ICAS training has helped me tremendously throughout my career. Being a CA helps you get your foot in the door when applying for lots of positions, particularly those at senior level. It shows that you have a certain level of skill, resilience, a good work ethic and that you can multitask. It also helps you think about what you want to do in the future.

I used to watch David Attenborough’s TV shows as a kid, and I now watch them with my own kids. We have lots of conversations about the future of the planet, fossils, why dinosaurs went extinct and whether that could happen again. The other day, my kids invented the creatures that they thought would exist were an asteroid to hit the planet again – very weird creatures!

Stephanie Wilson CA,
Financial Controller, Natural History Museum

Our Story with David Attenborough is the Natural History Museum (NHM)’s immersive cinematic experience, where David, as the narrator, explores the impact that we’re having on our planet.

It’s a fantastic exhibition, and it’s my job to track expenditure and income, to see if the exhibition is making a profit – which it has been; a great moneymaker for the museum, in fact. It’s a collaboration between Sir David and Open Planet Studios, which is something we don’t usually do, so we have regular meetings to work out what needs to be done.

The Our Story exhibition at the Natural History Museum

The Our Story exhibition at the Natural History Museum

David’s exhibition has a powerful message about what we can do to save the planet. It also supports another NHM initiative called Fixing Our Broken Planet, which is in the next gallery. This other exhibition explores practical, nature-based solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing the planet today. It looks at the food we eat, the energy we consume, the stuff we use and the impact of all of this on our health. It’s basically the story of our impact on the natural world and an exploration of how we might save it.

“I used to watch David Attenborough’s TV shows as a kid, and I now watch them with my own kids. We have lots of conversations about the future of the planet, fossils, why dinosaurs went extinct and whether that could happen again”

Stephanie Wilson CA, Natural History Museum

Surveys show a big change in user engagement with this gallery since we’ve had the Attenborough exhibit up. David drops in from time to time, but he tends not to tell anyone – he likes to walk around quietly and enjoy the exhibition. 

I have a biology degree, so science and the natural world have always been my passion. At work now, I’m not a scientist, but I am working with scientists, talking to them about their projects, what budgets they have and how best to support them with financial guidance.

As Financial Controller I work with auditors, prepare financial data for our year-end report, manage the accounts operations team, cashflows and finance system. The financial accounting team assist me in preparing reports and I report to Head of Finance.

Sixty per cent of our funding comes from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, so we report monthly to them, providing evidence in line with government guidelines. Working with government officials means you have to stick to their rigid timetables. They need information from you at certain times so they can feed it upwards.

When it comes to fundraising, I’m concerned with compliance, making sure what we do stays within charitable and tax laws. We’re currently trying to raise £150m to transform the museum for our 150th anniversary in 2031. We want to redo the galleries, make them more accessible and user-friendly. We also have a lot of exhibits in storage that we’d like to show, and we’re planning a new children’s gallery.

Attenborough at the Natural History Museum

Attenborough at the Natural History Museum

I’m on the finance committee for this project and I do the budget forecasting. I have to show where the funding gaps are and how much we can realistically raise. We’re pursuing lots of grants and talking to many high-net-worth individuals.

My ICAS training has helped me tremendously throughout my career. Being a CA helps you get your foot in the door when applying for lots of positions, particularly those at senior level. It shows that you have a certain level of skill, resilience, a good work ethic and that you can multitask. It also helps you think about what you want to do in the future.

I used to watch David Attenborough’s TV shows as a kid, and I now watch them with my own kids. We have lots of conversations about the future of the planet, fossils, why dinosaurs went extinct and whether that could happen again. The other day, my kids invented the creatures that they thought would exist were an asteroid to hit the planet again – very weird creatures!

Peter Batchelor CA,
Managing Director, Rothbury, with the Wildlife Trusts

David Attenborough came to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s 70th birthday party in 2016, back when I was its Director of Finance. David is the most humble, pleasant person, despite all his fame; it’s part of why he’s so inspiring. For him it’s all about sharing his message, not about promoting himself.

I’m very proud to work for the Wildlife Trusts, a federation of the UK’s 46 local wildlife trusts. I’m Managing Director of the Rothbury Estate project in Northumberland, and, last October, David made a video appeal to support our efforts to raise the £30m we need to buy the estate. Within a few days we received £1m in donations. We’ve now raised £17m and are hopeful that we will achieve our target.

The Wildlife Trusts plan to use the almost 10,000-acre estate as an exemplar site for nature where people and wildlife can co-exist. We want to create a nature-based economy that ties in with the wider local one. As well as the wilder areas, there are tenant farmers on the estate, 22 properties in all, a pub and an old railway track that we’d like to turn into a greenway nature walk. Biodiversity is the main objective but we’re also looking to better understand its history and heritage, and implementing green finance, carbon and nature-based solutions.

As Managing Director, I’m responsible for fundraising, overseeing the acquisition, site operations and business planning. We also have to come up with a sustainable financial model for the site. If we don’t buy the estate, it would still be sold off, but most likely piecemeal, with 15–20% of it going to commercial forestry, which is not great for wildlife or local farming jobs.

I took an interest in wildlife at an early age. The TV programmes David Attenborough narrated inspired me to want to see wildlife and understand it. As an adult, I’ve seen bears in Canada, whales off the South African coast, been on safari in Kruger National Park and watched white-tailed sea eagles in Scotland.

“I want to do my own bit to help restore nature to a place where it can thrive, so every child in the country can have those magic wildlife moments which will stay with them for the rest of their lives”

Peter Batchelor CA, Rothbury Estate, Wildlife Trusts

Seeing animals do what they do in their own natural environment fills you with immense excitement. Being in a role where I can bring that love for wildlife to others is amazing. To know that what you’re doing, the end goal you’re aiming for is so special, that’s a great feeling to have.

My ICAS training underpins so much of what I’ve achieved in my career. It helped me understand how businesses work financially and commercially, and how to manage clients and stakeholders. The training set me up as the professional that I wanted to be. As a CA, you’re not just an accountant or auditor. Finance is important, but you also learn soft skills, how to communicate and work with people. It can open so many doors.

Wildlife has been in decline in the UK for 50 years, and it’s the same around the world. David Attenborough’s early programmes used to showcase these amazing wildlife spectacles, but more recently he’s started to look at the negative effect humans have had on the natural world.

I want to do my own bit to help restore nature to a place where it can thrive, so every child in the country can have those magic wildlife moments which will stay with them for the rest of their lives. David inspired my love of wildlife. That I’m still following him on that journey is, well, just amazing.

Peter Batchelor CA,
Managing Director, Rothbury, with the Wildlife Trusts

David Attenborough came to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s 70th birthday party in 2016, back when I was its Director of Finance. David is the most humble, pleasant person, despite all his fame; it’s part of why he’s so inspiring. For him it’s all about sharing his message, not about promoting himself.

I’m very proud to work for the Wildlife Trusts, a federation of the UK’s 46 local wildlife trusts. I’m Managing Director of the Rothbury Estate project in Northumberland, and, last October, David made a video appeal to support our efforts to raise the £30m we need to buy the estate. Within a few days we received £1m in donations. We’ve now raised £17m and are hopeful that we will achieve our target.

The Wildlife Trusts plan to use the almost 10,000-acre estate as an exemplar site for nature where people and wildlife can co-exist. We want to create a nature-based economy that ties in with the wider local one. As well as the wilder areas, there are tenant farmers on the estate, 22 properties in all, a pub and an old railway track that we’d like to turn into a greenway nature walk. Biodiversity is the main objective but we’re also looking to better understand its history and heritage, and implementing green finance, carbon and nature-based solutions.

As Managing Director, I’m responsible for fundraising, overseeing the acquisition, site operations and business planning. We also have to come up with a sustainable financial model for the site. If we don’t buy the estate, it would still be sold off, but most likely piecemeal, with 15–20% of it going to commercial forestry, which is not great for wildlife or local farming jobs.

I took an interest in wildlife at an early age. The TV programmes David Attenborough narrated inspired me to want to see wildlife and understand it. As an adult, I’ve seen bears in Canada, whales off the South African coast, been on safari in Kruger National Park and watched white-tailed sea eagles in Scotland.

“I want to do my own bit to help restore nature to a place where it can thrive, so every child in the country can have those magic wildlife moments which will stay with them for the rest of their lives”

Peter Batchelor CA, Rothbury Estate, Wildlife Trusts

Seeing animals do what they do in their own natural environment fills you with immense excitement. Being in a role where I can bring that love for wildlife to others is amazing. To know that what you’re doing, the end goal you’re aiming for is so special, that’s a great feeling to have.

My ICAS training underpins so much of what I’ve achieved in my career. It helped me understand how businesses work financially and commercially, and how to manage clients and stakeholders. The training set me up as the professional that I wanted to be. As a CA, you’re not just an accountant or auditor. Finance is important, but you also learn soft skills, how to communicate and work with people. It can open so many doors.

Wildlife has been in decline in the UK for 50 years, and it’s the same around the world. David Attenborough’s early programmes used to showcase these amazing wildlife spectacles, but more recently he’s started to look at the negative effect humans have had on the natural world.

I want to do my own bit to help restore nature to a place where it can thrive, so every child in the country can have those magic wildlife moments which will stay with them for the rest of their lives. David inspired my love of wildlife. That I’m still following him on that journey is, well, just amazing.

Iain Gordon CA,
Director, Young Films Foundation; formerly Finance Director, Loch Lomond National Park

David Attenborough has been such a great man over the years. He’s made so many fantastic programmes from wonderful locations right across the world and has been an inspirational figure for generations. You can only imagine what the life of the photographers and camera operators must be like, working to get those fantastic shots of animals.

During my time at Loch Lomond National Park, and now with the Young Film Foundation, I have come to realise just how much work goes into looking after the natural world and making TV productions like the ones Sir David has made and presented.

I started my career as part of a small firm and ended up at Johnston Carmichael. But aged 60, I wasn’t the sort to retire and spend my time playing golf, so in 2009 I was thrilled when an opportunity arose to work at the Loch Lomond National Park. I’d climbed many of the Bens in the park when I was younger so knew the area well. Then all these years later, there I was, authorising spend on how best to protect the park for future generations.

It was amazing travelling around the park, meeting the field officers, finding out about the projects they were involved in, working out how much money they needed, and helping them find solutions so they could carry out their important work. One project aimed to get more visitors into the Trossachs, which was particularly rewarding as it isn’t an easy place to get into.

“Having the CA qualification opens so many doors worldwide. No matter what your interests are, having that qualification helps you follow your hopes and dreams”

Iain Gordon CA, Young Films Foundation; formerly Loch Lomond National Park

We had to spend our budget by the end of the financial year, or any shortfall would have to come off next year’s funding. I had been in industry all my career, so this was the first time that I wasn’t being asked to save money.

Having the CA qualification opens so many doors worldwide. No matter what your interests are, having that qualification helps you follow your hopes and dreams.

I got involved with the Young Film Foundation in 2018 when I was working for Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Scotland’s National Centre for Gaelic Language and Culture. Chris Young, a film producer, had a Gaelic language TV series called Bannan, so he came to the centre from time to time. He was in the process of setting up the foundation and needed someone with financial expertise. 

The foundation links young Scottish film-makers with industry wheelers and dealers from London. The students get guidance from industry mentors, assessment and a week’s residency on Skye where they meet directors and producers. The students are also paid to write a screenplay.

My job is to make sure the numbers add up. The foundation gets funding from major TV companies, and some big industry names come up for the residency, so they need looking after, usually in one of Skye’s beautiful hotels.

I’ve always loved films and I’m a member of a cinema club in Nairn. We have monthly showings of selected old and new films and the next one scheduled is David Attenborough’s latest offering, Ocean. The underwater footage I’ve seen in the trailers is incredible. It’s probably going to be the absolute highlight of Attenborough’s career. I can’t wait to see it.

 

For more resources visit the ICAS sustainability hub

Iain Gordon CA,
Director, Young Films Foundation; formerly Finance Director, Loch Lomond National Park

David Attenborough has been such a great man over the years. He’s made so many fantastic programmes from wonderful locations right across the world and has been an inspirational figure for generations. You can only imagine what the life of the photographers and camera operators must be like, working to get those fantastic shots of animals.

During my time at Loch Lomond National Park, and now with the Young Film Foundation, I have come to realise just how much work goes into looking after the natural world and making TV productions like the ones Sir David has made and presented.

I started my career as part of a small firm and ended up at Johnston Carmichael. But aged 60, I wasn’t the sort to retire and spend my time playing golf, so in 2009 I was thrilled when an opportunity arose to work at the Loch Lomond National Park. I’d climbed many of the Bens in the park when I was younger so knew the area well. Then all these years later, there I was, authorising spend on how best to protect the park for future generations.

It was amazing travelling around the park, meeting the field officers, finding out about the projects they were involved in, working out how much money they needed, and helping them find solutions so they could carry out their important work. One project aimed to get more visitors into the Trossachs, which was particularly rewarding as it isn’t an easy place to get into.

“Having the CA qualification opens so many doors worldwide. No matter what your interests are, having that qualification helps you follow your hopes and dreams”

Iain Gordon CA, Young Films Foundation; formerly Loch Lomond National Park

We had to spend our budget by the end of the financial year, or any shortfall would have to come off next year’s funding. I had been in industry all my career, so this was the first time that I wasn’t being asked to save money.

Having the CA qualification opens so many doors worldwide. No matter what your interests are, having that qualification helps you follow your hopes and dreams.

I got involved with the Young Film Foundation in 2018 when I was working for Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Scotland’s National Centre for Gaelic Language and Culture. Chris Young, a film producer, had a Gaelic language TV series called Bannan, so he came to the centre from time to time. He was in the process of setting up the foundation and needed someone with financial expertise. 

The foundation links young Scottish film-makers with industry wheelers and dealers from London. The students get guidance from industry mentors, assessment and a week’s residency on Skye where they meet directors and producers. The students are also paid to write a screenplay.

My job is to make sure the numbers add up. The foundation gets funding from major TV companies, and some big industry names come up for the residency, so they need looking after, usually in one of Skye’s beautiful hotels.

I’ve always loved films and I’m a member of a cinema club in Nairn. We have monthly showings of selected old and new films and the next one scheduled is David Attenborough’s latest offering, Ocean. The underwater footage I’ve seen in the trailers is incredible. It’s probably going to be the absolute highlight of Attenborough’s career. I can’t wait to see it.

 

For more resources visit the ICAS sustainability hub

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