[vr46]

Top man, lives up on Richmond Hill and absolutely loves it - when asked about his travels and adventures and where he would choose to live, he replied, "I already live there"

Fairly well-known locally is that my favourite bookshop, The Open Book in Richmond, stocks signed copies of all his books. They used to be signed directly on the page, but since he got to the mid-to-late nineties in age, tons of hardbacks are too much, so Helena wanders up there to get a load of bookplates signed these days.

Apart from that, I order all my books from them when I'm in London and a subsequent chat with Madeleine usually lasts ten times as long as the book shopping.

Anyway, I digress, yes, Sir David, amazing body of works and the books are wonderful.

[notahacker]

Whilst we're doing random anecdotes that vaguely link to him, my late grandfather remembered David from his Wyggeston days as a good rugby player, which is a funny way to imagine him. Apparently he had the voice even then, but not so much to say about the world.

[lanza]

I always find it really weird when somebody on the anonymous internet talks about local places as if we're all neighbors or something. Googling "Richmond Hill" gave me multiple pages of results that had nothing to do with the one that Attenborough lives at.

[sho_hn]

Not to sound hipster about it, but if it's done in this way I find it charming. I also had to piece it together, which took me on a little virtual travel tour, and had me wonder about what Richmond Hill means to the locals. Rather fitting in context, too.

The "everyone on the internet is American" stuff in e.g. politics or job market convos is a lot more grating.

[DavidPiper]

I really enjoyed OP's story, and the way they told it. Knowing the location of Richmond Hill is really not the point.

[wolvoleo]

Well yes but it does open the question for me as to what the place is like and why he'd like it so much.

[skrebbel]

Yes, but it’s refreshing that for once it isn’t a San Francisco neighbourhood!

[skeeter2020]

You had context, it piqued your interest and you did a tiny amount of work to figure it out. You could have quit without all three but you didn't; I wish the internet had a lot more of these types of experiences. It's only in the last ~25 years when the Internet became an anonymous place where we aren't all neighbours, and I mourn the loss.

[barrkel]

If you're familiar with London, you know where Richmond is and that it's a wealthy area. A search confirms there's a Richmond Hill in Richmond.

[Projectiboga]

The hill offers the only view in England to be protected by an Act of Parliament—the Richmond, Ham and Petersham Open Spaces Act passed in 1902—to protect the land on and below it and thus preserve the fine views to the west and south. Two years before the wooded isle centrepiece of the view, Glover's Island (also known as Clam Island), was bought by a local resident and given to the Richmond Corporation (Borough) in return for the latter noting against its records that it and its successors would not develop the isle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Hill,_London

[vixen99]

Aa in the the old English folk song "The lass of Richmond Hill".

[vr46]

That's about Yorkshire, but yes

[Phemist]

Or if you've seen Ted Lasso

[psvv]

In hindsight it maybe should have also been obvious from the language alone. "Richmond Hill" feels a bit like saying "Rich Hill Hill" which is basically like saying "Wealthy Desirable Area."

[Tagbert]

BTW there is a linguistic tradition of “hill hill”. When new immigrants come to an area and ask the locals what that hill is called, the locals say “big hill” in their language. The newcomers call it “bighill” hill in their language. I forget the examples but this has happened enough in England that there are places whose names are five hills deep (Brythonic -> Latin -> Saxon -> Norse -> Norman).

[tomalpha]

One of my favourite quotes from the late Terry Pratchett:

> When the first explorers from the warm lands around the Circle Sea travelled into the chilly hinterland they filled in the blank spaces on their maps by grabbing the nearest native, pointing at some distant landmark, speaking very clearly in a loud voice, and writing down whatever the bemused man told them. Thus were immortalised in generations of atlases such geographical oddities as Just A Mountain, I Don't Know, What? and, of course, Your Finger You Fool.

[JimDabell]

These are known as tautological place names: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tautological_place_nam...

[hnlmorg]

London isn’t exactly a small “local place” and there is only one Richmond Hill in London. So I’m not sure what the issue you’re having is.

[bluebarbet]

The second sentence was unnecessary.

[hnlmorg]

Really? It’s mild compared to the average tone on HN.

[Toutouxc]

Less than 0.2% of the world's population lives in the wider metropolitan area of London.

I live in Europe, I've been to London a few times, I have no idea what "Richmond Hill" is or whether Sir Attenborough actually lives in London.

[torben-friis]

I get where he's coming from, Attenbrorough is vocal about being a londoner to the point he has a whole documentary about the city, and he's very present in UK media.

I get why it doesn't seem so obvious from the outside, but for British people it's as obvious as Apple headquarters being in California.

[hnlmorg]

You didn’t need to know any that because the GP literally referenced London in their comment.

[pyb]

I don't think full context should be provided at all times in casual internet conversations.

However, in your defense, "Richmond" is one of the most overloaded geographical names, second only to "Kingston".

[serf]

would you rather less anecdotes or more hard coordinates?

[ASalazarMX]

I'd bet "Richmond Hill, London" would have been geographically adequate. Don't we criticize USAians for their provincialism?

[stuaxo]

It's in the Richmond that's in London, not the one in Yorkshire.

[jjulius]

For me, I know "Richmond" is used numerous places near me locally, so my assumption would've been that "Richmond hill" is too generic a query.

"David Attenborough Richmond hill" would've been the way. I'd hardly fault OP for my own choice in query.

[duncans]

Get better at Googling https://www.google.com/search?q=The+Open+Book+in+Richmond

[msikora]

Richmond Hill, London

[saalweachter]

Now I just hear the Cinema Sins "ding!".

[throwaway2037]

Try this search: The Open Book in Richmond UK

[DANmode]

and when you googled the book shop name?

[johnny_reilly]

Just around the corner from The Open Book is Richmond Green. And that's where David Attenborough's brother lived; Richard Attenborough. Jurassic Park at the bottom of Richmond Hill and Blue Planet at the top of the hill.

Oh and if you were at Richmond Green today, you could have gone to the May fair.

[why-el]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Hill,_London