"But I'm not an animal lover," says Attenborough emphatically. His face scrunches up in disdain. "Animal lover means sentiment; a cloying, anthropomorphising sentiment. I don't love earth worms or spiders. They're rivetingly interesting and they give me huge intellectual pleasure. And aesthetic pleasure, I suppose. But that's a different thing altogether."
That's not the same as loving them? "No. It's the word 'love' I don't like. The phrase 'animal lover' - well, it just grates on me! That's why I'm irritated when people use it on me. They say, Oh, you're an animal lover!" He glowers. "I say, I am NOT an animal lover."
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