Sir David Attenborough has undoubtedly seen some of the planet’s most impressive sights and extraordinary phenomena.

But the esteemed broadcaster and naturalist has never made a secret of the fact he considers the most wondrous place in the world to be Richmond, his home.

With the borough celebrating its golden anniversary this year, Sir David told the Richmond and Twickenham Times why there is no place he would rather be.

He said: "I am sure there are some places in the south of France which are equally delectable but this is my home, where my friends and family live.

"I grew up in Leicester and when I moved to London, it seemed there were two places which were really lovely to live - one is Richmond and the other, Hampstead.

"Both are real towns with real communities but of the two, I preferred Richmond.

"In fact it was cheaper than Hampstead when I came here in 1952, I don’t know if that is still the case, but in addition to Richmond Park there is Kew Gardens and the river."

Living on the boundaries of Richmond Park had its appeal to a man so renowned for his work to promote and preserve the natural world.

He said: "I don’t walk as much as I used to, I used to walk in Richmond Park every week with my family.

"I don’t really know if there is anything I would change about Richmond, it has good book shops such as the Open Book, it has cricket on the green.

"The only thing is that it does get crowded, which is understandable because for such an attractive place, people will come from all over."

Sir David has spent his career observing and exploring wildlife and ecosystems all over the world, but one species he is well-versed on its south-west London’s parakeet population.

He says: "Their natural home is in India and Africa but the climate suits them perfectly well here.

"There have been records of them appearing here since the 1850s and like many creatures from other ecosystems, they hang around for a long time maintaining a presence and then, for some reason we don’t understand, they just explode in numbers."

Parakeets adorning Bushy Park are just one example of wildlife on our own doorstep, according to Sir David.

Discussing pets, he highlights the merits of owning a stick insect or chameleon, as he has done throughout his life, but in particular aquatic species.

He said: "One thing that takes us beyond loving affection in a pet, and that is not to denigrate that, is an aquarium - not necessarily tropical but British fish.

"You can watch stickleback building their own nests in your own home and can see what requirements living organisms need."

Preserving the natural world and the environment are issues close to his heart and Sir David has spoken at length on the dangers of over-population.

He said: "We are part of the natural world and we need the natural world as it is under huge amount of pressure because of increasing size of population.

"If we don’t treat it in the right way, we will damage ourselves - for people to grow up and not have any contact with the natural world is a huge loss.

"If you have never seen a dragonfly for example, your life is poorer.

"I have a little pond and it is a joy to see those wonderful creatures whizzing around in the garden."