University of Leicester reveals rarely seen photo of Sir David Attenborough to mark his 100th birthday

The University of Leicester has revealed a rarely seen photograph of Sir David Attenborough in his student days, ahead of the national treasure’s 100^th birthday.

The photo was taken towards the end of the Second World War, in 1945 during the brief time Sir David was a University College Leicester student.

Sir David spent his formative years on campus from 1932 after his father Frederick Attenborough was appointed as the second Principal of University College Leicester – which later become the University of Leicester.

When David and his brothers first came to Leicester, Richard Attenborough was eight, David was five and youngest brother John had just turned four. All three boys attended Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys, now Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College, which backs onto the University campus.

Sir David stayed at Leicester throughout the war, studying at University College Leicester for a brief period in 1944-45 while waiting for his scholarship to study at Cambridge University to be processed.

The rarely seen image shows a 19-year-old Sir David with fellow students and staff posing for an official University College Leicester photograph on the lawn, outside the Fielding Johnson Building.

The building, which was the first to be occupied by the University, was a former Victorian lunatic asylum, which provided an exciting playground for Sir David and his brothers, while growing up. Lunatic was an all-encompassing term used at the time for many mentally and physically debilitating illnesses.

At that time the building still retained some of the original padded cells, and on one occasion his brother, Richard, mischievously locked David inside one.

Life on campus could also be profitable. When the Zoology Department needed newts, David went pond-dipping for amphibians and sold them to the College at three pence each.

Sir David was interviewed in 2022 by University of Leicester research associate, Dr Elizabeth Blood, about his Leicester childhood.

He said: “There were lots of places to play, not the least of which were the disused sections of the lunatic asylum. And they were rather, rather ghoulish, really. There were still long corridors, long blocks… …which were still closed. And we would explore these as boys and we found a padded cell, which was quite frightening, really. It was a small… …with padding on it all the way round. And… …there was a small window just at the top beyond reach… …so I couldn't possibly get to the window, and my brothers, being brothers, you know, shut me in.

“It was quite adventurous place and there was a glorious copper beech tree just outside College House. Of course, there was the lawn, I spent a lot of time there with the tree house and so on. And we were next to Victoria Park, too. So, it was a lovely place to go, to be a child. And plenty of space.”

Dr Simon Dixon, Associate Director for Community and Heritage at the University said: “Sir David spent a year studying Botany and Zoology at Leicester after leaving Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in 1944. He also travelled to Nottingham for Geology classes, which wasn't taught here at the time.

"The photograph captures the small student community towards the end of the Second World War.

"Standing behind Frederick Attenborough are three Technical Officers from the Chinese Army who had come to Leicester to study Radar under Professor E. A. Stewardson.

“We would love to hear from anyone who can help us to identify the other students in the photo.”