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Sir David Attenborough: I'm struggling with memory loss

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that an elderly person is having trouble with their memory, but we have to admit that this latest news about Sir David Attenborough’s health has broken our hearts a bit.

Sir David Attenborough has had over nine plants and animals named after him (Picture: REX Features)
Sir David Attenborough has had over nine plants and animals named after him (Picture: REX Features)

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The legendary wildlife presenter is fast approaching the grand age of 91 years old and he has admitted that he has “run into a few problems” while writing his scripts for ‘Blue Planet II’ because he’s struggling to remember the names of his beloved plants.

Sir David is currently travelling around the globe filming the follow up to the epic series that was last seen on screen in 2007 and the TV star noticed his memory lapse while he was trying to recall the name of a flower during a recent trip to Jura Mountains in Switzerland.

He confessed it has slowed down production on ‘Blue Planet II’.

Sir David Attenborough and Prince William.
Sir David Attenborough and Prince William.

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Speaking to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, he said he is still ‘coming to terms’ with his forgetfulness, explaining: “There were these searing yellow fields and I can’t think of the damn name.

“I wanted to say something about it but I couldn’t and it wasn’t until we got quite close to Geneva that I thought, of course, oil seed rape.”

He said that he is not a big fan of “electronic communication”, adding: “When it comes to making television programmes, I like to think that I know what the latest gear is and what tomorrow’s latest gear is, but maybe I’m deceiving myself.”

Nepenthes Attenboroughi was named after Sir David (Picture: Getty)
Nepenthes Attenboroughi was named after Sir David (Picture: Getty)

Bosses at the BBC announced they were planning to do a second instalment of ‘Blue Planet’ after ‘Planet Earth II’ went down such a storm with viewers late last year.

The naturalist will make two appearances in the forthcoming seven-part series – the same amount of times he was seen in last year’s ‘Planet Earth II’ – and is convinced that people will be blown away by the footage they’ve managed to obtain from the shores in Florida.

The crew used two unmanned submersibles, which allowed them to record footage from 1,000 metres under the Antarctic Ocean, to capture footage of never-before filmed creatures, including hairy-chested Hoff crabs, snub fin dolphins that spit water, and a tool-using tusk fish.

David Attenborough/BBC
David Attenborough/BBC

He said: “I’ve just come back from Florida where we have been filming spinner sharks. There are 20,000 of them and people don’t even know they’re there.

“From a helicopter you can see this great column of fish and sharks, and just over there, there are people exercising their dogs on the beach.”

The fact that Sir David is still working this hard at his age is amazing to see and we can’t wait to watch his latest series.