Didn't know he was in charge of BBC 2 at one point and pretty much made it what it is.
Stolen from his Wiki
"Attenborough became the controller of
BBC Two in March 1965, but had a clause inserted in his contract that would allow him to continue making programmes on an occasional basis. Later the same year, he filmed elephants in Tanzania, and in 1969, he made a three-part series on the cultural history of the Indonesian island of Bali. For the 1971 film
A Blank on the Map, he joined the first Western expedition to a remote highland valley in
New Guinea to seek out a
lost tribe.
BBC Two was launched in 1964, but had struggled to capture the public's imagination. When Attenborough arrived as controller, he quickly abolished the channel's quirky kangaroo mascot and shook up the schedule. With a mission to make BBC Two's output diverse and different from that offered by other networks, he began to establish a portfolio of programmes that defined the channel's identity for decades to come. Under his tenure, music, the arts, entertainment, archaeology, experimental comedy, travel, drama, sport, business, science and natural history all found a place in the weekly schedules. Often, an eclectic mix was offered within a single evening's viewing. Programmes he commissioned included
Man Alive,
Call My Bluff,
Chronicle,
Life,
One Pair of Eyes,
The Old Grey Whistle Test,
Monty Python's Flying Circus and
The Money Programme. When BBC Two became the first British channel to broadcast in colour in 1967, Attenborough took advantage by introducing televised
snooker, as well as bringing rugby league to British television on a regular basis via the
BBC2 Floodlit Trophy.
One of his most significant decisions was to order a 13-part series on the
history of Western art, to show off the quality of the new
UHF colour television service that BBC Two offered. Broadcast to universal acclaim in 1969,
Civilisation set the blueprint for landmark authored documentaries, which were informally known as "tombstone" or "sledgehammer" projects. Others followed, including
Jacob Bronowski's
The Ascent of Man (also commissioned by Attenborough), and
Alistair Cooke's
America. Attenborough thought that the story of evolution would be a natural subject for such a series. He shared his idea with
Chris Parsons, a producer at the Natural History Unit, who came up with the title
Life on Earth and returned to Bristol to start planning the series. Attenborough harboured a strong desire to present the series himself, but this would not be possible so long as he remained in a management post.
In 1969 Attenborough was promoted to director of programmes, making him responsible for the output of both BBC channels. His tasks, which included agreeing budgets, attending board meetings and firing staff were now far removed from the business of filming programmes. When Attenborough's name was being suggested as a candidate for the position of
Director-General of the BBC in 1972 he phoned his brother Richard to confess that he had no appetite for the job. Early the following year, he left his post to return to full-time programme-making, leaving him free to write and present the planned natural history epic.
[12]"
.
