David Attenborough to make a bid for Christmas No 1

Sir David Attenborough could land this year’s Christmas number one with a single of music he recorded while travelling in South America.

The broadcaster and naturalist is set to release a double CD album of field recordings from earlier in his career, with The Sun reporting that a social media campaign is being launched to get the first single from the album, a recording of indigenous musicians in Paraguay, to the number one slot this Christmas.

The track, titled “La Llegada (The Arrival)”, was played for the first time on Jo Whiley & Simon Mayo’s Radio 2 Drive Time show on Wednesday. A source at Wrasse, the label releasing the album, said: “We’re going to start a campaign: David Attenborough for Christmas Numb

If he does make it to number one, Attenborough, 92, will become the oldest person to have a Christmas number one single. Sir Tom Jones currently holds the record, earning the top spot when he was 68 with the Comic Relief song “(Barry) Islands in the Stream”.

The album, David Attenborough – My Field Recordings from Across the Planet, which combines narration alongside recordings of locals musicians made in the 1950s and 1960s, is released on Friday.

Attenborough recently returned to screens in Dynasties, in which he narrates the epic stories of family groups from across the animal kingdom.