Buckingham Palace enlist a barn owl in lieu of the Royal Mail We’re given a whistlestop tour of Attenborough’s early career. Sadly none of the knitting shows he apparently worked on have survived the ravages of time, but Zoo Quest has. This was Attenborough’s big breakthrough, and the BBC of 2026 does a very good of minimising the weirdness of a show where a guy goes abroad to kidnap animals for a zoo. The dog passes it to an eagle, the eagle passes it to a hedgehog, who passes it to a swan and a fox and a seal and an owl and a deer. The message is clear: training and hiring an elaborate army of animals is quicker and more cost effective than the Royal Mail. Also, let’s applaud the BBC for not making Paddington do any of that journey. The restraint! Kirsty Young is explaining that people get a birthday card from the King on their 100th birthday. But this is David Attenborough , after all, a man who is several hundred times more beloved than anyone in the royal family.…