The Legendary David Attenborough
Here he is at 90 — a legend in his own lifetime — truly
He has given us the eyes to see beneath the waves, through the ice, into the dark belly of the earth, deep into the singing rainforest and the snowy taiga. He has shown us the world through the eyes of an eagle, a dolphin, an ant.
From your sofa to the far Pacific islands or the melting polar ice caps, David Attenborough has made travellers and naturalists of us all. He has made us pay attention. And without being evangelical, he has shown us the horror and the sadness of what has happened to our dear planet over his lifetime.
David Attenborough is surely one of the greatest television broadcasters. The stories he has told have changed lives and influenced ideas all over the planet.
He is 92 today — and his astrology birth chart tells a story.
From astrodatabank AA rating
The chart is dominated by the extraordinary fixed Grand Cross — Sun in Taurus, Saturn in Scorpio, Neptune in Leo and Jupiter-Ascendant in Aquarius.
• Aquarius Rising gives him the common touch, despite the patrician mien. Jupiter there gives him a kind of warmth and generous spirit plus a humanitarian outlook. These are opposed by Neptune — TV, the screen — in glamourous Leo. So he has always photographed well, and it’s one reason he’s a natural communicator. That glamourous opposition makes a perfect aspect to young Mercury in Aries — and of course, Attenborough’s great gift is to express complex ideas in simple, clear language. He synthesises a huge amount of information and packages it in small digestible gobbets. He is, after all, a populariser.
• That Jupiter rules the Sagittarian MC — no wonder he is known for his travels around the globe, an his appeal is international.
• Sun in Taurus has tremendous stamina, and an appreciation of all five senses. It’s also the sign with greatest affinity for Mother Earth. And that Sun is opposed by Saturn, made even more persistent and penetrating in Scorpio. Scorpio is, of course, a sign that digs beneath the surface — just as Attenborough has taken us into the depths of the Blue Planet. Saturn up there near the top of the chart might have something to do with his incredibly long public career too. Sun in Taurus in the Second House can give a very lovely speaking voice, another of his gifts.
Young David Attenborough was not only easy on the eye, he was so fashion-forward. In this film, shot in 1961, he’s wearing a nifty pair of Converse sneakers — how Aquarius Rising + Venus-Uranus!
But there’s another outstanding feature to this chart — the extraordinary conjunction of Moon-Uranus-Venus.
• Moon-Uranus are in unbounded Pisces — and indeed Attenborough managed to make the world seem simultaneously so large and so small, so complex and simple, so limited and so boundless. Uranus is associated with broadcasting — and you can see right from the start of his career, that Attenborough was at home on screen. The camera, as they say, loved him (Neptune on the Desc), and he knew how to speak to it naturally (All the Aquarian).
• Venus in Aries loves adventure, and loves to be first – and Mars Rising echoes these themes. A love of physical adventure. It adds an easy grace and agility.
I’ve put in the asteroids, because they often seem to be prominent in the charts of people who are here to care for mystical well-being of our planet, our species and the relations between the two. Ceres in the 6th certainly shows the desire to nurture and protect small animals. The Neptune-Ceres contact is a priestly, spiritual one. And indeed, Jupiter Rising is also a priestly sign, especially with political Juno. Attenborough has managed to skirt politics — despite the attempts of some to turn climate change into a political issue — but in fact his programmes have a deeply political message. We are all equal — me, you and the birds and the trees.
Finally, look at that legacy conjunction Vesta-Pluto-North Node-Pallas. His transforming legacy (Vesta-Pluto) is wisdom about nurturing (Pallas in Cancer). (Of course, he also had to real life children — a schoolteacher and a zoologist)….
Happy Birthday to him!
(See the Astrology Podcast on David Attenborough in May 2025)
Hi Christina, it is a little confusing : I take it he has Chiron at 29 degr. Aries ?? Maybe you switched the degrees and minutes ?
If his Chiron is at 29 Aries, he has currently Uranus transiting his Chiron while his Chiron is transiting his Venus ! Some birthday ! I whish he could go on forever making his documentaries about the earth, they are simply awesome !
mimi
That’s right — ! Hope he’s OK!
Awww! What a lovely chart and article. 🙂
Interesting to learn about the asteroids. I have Ceres in the 6th, 19 pisces, trine neptune 19 scorpio, which is my sun-moon midpoint too. I’m very protective of little things!! I’m protective in general, I think. My Ceres is conjunct Chiron 18 pisces, and wide conjunct saturn 10 pisces. So they’re up to something together. And my neptune is conjunct mercury, so they’re doing something too. There’s loads of aspects in my chart, they all seem to be busy. :/
I have Vesta sextile uranus/pluto, Cancer and Virgo. Hadn’t noticed that before. My north node and Pallas are trine in air signs, Gemini and Aquarius. Hadn’t noticed that before either! So that’s not nurturing. Unless it’s another type of nurturing? Like collective issues? Would make sense with my Vesta conjunct my MC. Hmmm!
What’s the asteroid at 10 Cancer?
I like learning more about my chart by reading other people’s. 🙂
Thanks for this – fascinating! And what a great man he is. Non astrology comment. Those nifty converse sneakers were, in 1961, commonly worn by most boys I knew then and called baseball boots! Love your blogs!
There was a lovely clip with David Attenborough and The Queen about a month ago. Incredible to think that they are both in their 90s, and Taureans born 2-3 weeks apart. They were walking around the grounds of Buckingham Palace and Attenborough gently poking fun at a sundial that was sited in the shade. The Queen’s reaction was typically Taurus taking in the facts slowly and pondering them.
[…] I wrote a fest-piece on his birthday pre-Covid, using the data from astrodatabank, which turns out to be less certain than they thought at the time. It means that DA may have Moon in Pisces, or Aries. Here is that piece. […]