The Royal Institution must be saved, says Sir David Attenborough Since the start of its pioneering public lecture programme, through which science first entered popular culture, this building has not only nurtured some of science's exciting and beneficial achievements, it has beamed them out to the world. It said that millions of families still watch the annual Christmas Lecture on television, more than 200 years after it was first given. The letter went on: "If Britain loses the Royal Institution, it loses a part of its past. This institution, with its iconic lecture room where almost all the Christmas lectures have been delivered, is just as precious as any ancient palace or famous painting. This must not happen in a country that cares about culture, and least of all in one that pins its hopes for future prosperity on a new generation of scientists and engineers. Richard Dawkins, leading scientist and prominent atheist, and Colin Blakemore, Neuroscience Professor at Oxford, were among the 22 signatories of the letter. The Royal Institution is an independent charity devoted to scientific research and education. Its famous Christmas lectures began in 1825.