Renowned natural historian and documentarian Sir David Attenborough, who once called Australia his favourite place in the world besides his home, has celebrated his 100th birthday.

One of the world’s most recognisable voices has brought the beauty, as well as the plight, of the natural world into millions of homes around the world during his seven decades on screen.

Seen as one of the leading voices for global conservation, Attenborough’s living legacy includes documentaries such as Planet Earth, The Blue Planet, and Life On Earth and the passion they have ignited for the natural world.

Born in England in 1926 and growing up at the University of Leicester, where his father worked as principal, Attenborough fostered a love of nature and science at a young age, collecting and studying fossils and stones.

He went on to study geology and zoology at the University of Cambridge in 1945 and obtained a degree in natural sciences.

After joining the BBC television series Zoo Quest in the early 1950s, he made his first trip to Australia in 1957 visiting the Great Barrier Reef and other areas in Far North Queensland — a visit that would stay with him for the rest of his life.

“I had dreamt about the Great Barrier Reef as a boy,” he said in an interview at the 2015 London premier of his Great Barrier Reef documentary.

“I’m asked fairly frequently, ‘Where is your favourite place in the world?’. I start off by saying ‘Home’. ’But if not home, where would it be?’ (The answer is) actually north Queensland.”

Attenborough described travelling through Cairns, through the Daintree Rainforest and the sparsely populated Cape York Peninsula and out to the remote Raine Island as a defining memory of his early trip.

“It’s a wonderful, wonderful place. It has mountains, it has tropical rainforests, it’s got the Great Barrier Reef, it’s got wonderful creatures that occur nowhere else — it’s a great place,” he said.

The beloved filmmaker, who has travelled to all seven continents, has reportedly visited Australia no less than 37 times during his career, imparting his love for the country to his own son, Robert, who works as a senior lecturer in bioanthropology for the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Last year, the Attenborough celebrated the release of his most recent documentary Ocean, with the centenarian reflecting on his long life and the need to protect the Earth.

“When I first saw the sea as a young boy, it was thought of as a vast wilderness to be tamed and mastered for the benefit of humanity,” he said.

“Now, as I approach the end of my life, we know the opposite is true.

“After living for nearly a hundred years on this planet, I now understand that the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea.

“If we save the sea, we save our world.”

Attenborough has been awarded two knighthoods, multiple Emmy and BAFTA awards, has had over 40 species named in his honour, holds numerous honorary degrees and medals and is closely affiliated with numerous environmental, conservation, and wildlife organisations.

The living legends 100th year will be brought in in style, celebrated with a birthday party held at London’s Royal Albert Hall with a music line-up that includes musicians who features in the Planet Earth series and broadcast on the BBC.