'It was one of the key moments of my life': The thrilling fossil discoveries that sparked Attenborough's love for nature

Fossils fascinated Sir David Attenborough throughout his childhood. The BBC retraces the steps of Sir David's formative experiences roaming the British countryside. For Sir David Attenborough, it was a moment that would shape his childhood – and quite possibly his entire career. It was the late 1930s, and he had cycled into the English countryside. Arriving at an exposed rock face, he began searching among fallen fragments below. He picked up a promising stone, and split it apart with his hammer. "There, perfect in every detail, glinting as though it had just been polished, was a coiled seashell… an object of breathtaking beauty," he recalled in 2009. "And my eyes were the first to see it since its occupant died 200 million years ago." As Sir David Attenborough turns 100 years old, we look back to the key influences of his extraordinary career as a naturalist and broadcaster. You can read more on the eccentric photography pioneer who inspired his work here. It was a fossil ammonite – a spiral-shelled creature around the size of his palm. Due to their coiled appearance, local people once believed they were snakes, but they were actually cephalopods: a marine mollusc similar to the m