Jackie Darrell biography. The Life and Amazing Travels of Gerald Durrell

1984-85

Younger brother of the famous novelist Lawrence Durrell (1912-1990), Leslie Durrell (1918-1981) and Margo Durrell (1920-2007).

Biography

He was the fourth and most youngest child in the family of British civil engineer Lawrence Samuel Durrell and his wife Louise Florence Durrell (née Dixie). According to relatives, at the age of two, Gerald fell ill with “zoomania,” and his mother later recalled that he was one of the first to utter the word “zoo.”

There were few real educators among Gerald Durrell's first home teachers. The only exception was the naturalist Theodore Stephanides (-). It was from him that Gerald received his first systematic knowledge of zoology. Stephanides appears more than once on the pages of one of the most famous books Gerald Durrell's novel My Family and Other Animals. The books “Birds, Animals and Relatives” () and “Amateur Naturalist” () are dedicated to him.

Familiar places evoked a lot of childhood memories - this is how the famous “Greek” trilogy appeared: “My Family and Other Animals” (1956), “Birds, Animals and Relatives” (1969) and “Garden of the Gods” (1978). The first book of the trilogy was a wild success; it was reprinted 30 times in the UK and 20 times in the USA.

In total, Gerald Durrell wrote more than 30 books (almost all of them were translated into dozens of languages) and made 35 films. The debut four-part television film To Bafut With Beagles (BBC), released in 1958, was very popular in England.

Thirty years later, Darrell managed to film in the Soviet Union, with the active participation and assistance of Soviet side. The result was the thirteen-episode film “Durrell in Russia” (also shown on Channel 1 of USSR television in 1986-1988) and the book “Durrell in Russia” (not officially translated into Russian).

In the USSR, Darrell's books were published repeatedly and in large editions.

Darrell's main idea was to breed rare and endangered species of animals in a zoo with the aim of further resettling them in their natural habitats. This idea has now become a generally accepted scientific concept. If it were not for the Jersey Foundation, many species of animals would only be preserved as stuffed animals in museums. Thanks to the Foundation, the pink pigeon, Mauritian kestrel, golden lion marmoset and marmoset monkeys, Australian corroboree frog, radiated tortoise from Madagascar and many other species were saved from complete extinction.

Gerald Durrell died on January 30, 1995, of blood poisoning, nine months after a liver transplant, at age 71.

Durrell's main expeditions

Major literary works

Awards and prizes

Animal species and subspecies named after Gerald Durrell

• Clarkeia durrelli- a fossil Early Silurian brachiopod from the order rhynchonellids, discovered in 1982 (however, there is no exact information that it was named in honor of Gerald Durrell).
• Nactus serpensinsula durrelli- subspecies of the island bare-toed gecko from Krugly Island from the group

And we should all be grateful for this gunter_spb (to a large collector of “tanks”), who, in turn, “obtained” them in a very intricate way. But here I would rather quote him himself:

"IN detailed biography Gerald from Douglas Botting's "Travel to Adventure" I came across a mention that the Cameroonian expedition of 1957 (on which the book "The Zoo in My Luggage" was written, and before that - "The Hounds of Bafut" about the first voyage to Cameroon) included a correspondent Life magazine Donald Sucharek and took a lot of photographs there.

I’m a simple person: when I saw the magical combination of the words “photographer + Life”, I immediately went into the Life archive, entered the keywords and - lo and behold! - discovered all the characters I knew from childhood. From Darrell himself, to Von Bafut and his wives. Well, pure time travel. Darrell is 32 years old, still young and full of enthusiasm.

I suggest that connoisseurs of Darell’s creativity take a look at the live illustrations for the book. But first, a photograph of the family (again without Leslie's dissolute brother) from 1960, taken at Jersey Zoo. And also Life.

Cheerful family from left to right: Gerald, Margo (on the hood of the Land Rover), mom, Larry.

1. The Mater himself and the baby red monkeys.

In general, it’s unusual to see Gerald without a beard, but this is understandable - in the African heat, especially humid, the skin under the beard begins to “hurt.” Therefore, it is clear why he constantly shaved.

2. In " Guest house"provided by the Background, on the veranda where the collection was kept. In the foreground is the wife - Jackie Darrell

3. Stairs to the "Guest House"

4. With the natives in Bafut. We draw for them the animals we want to catch

5. Locals brought small prey - as usual, in pumpkin vessels, baskets and bags

6. Chimpanzee. The same one from the book. Remember the text?

We acquired a male baby first. He arrived one morning, reclining in the arms of a hunter. There was such a mockingly arrogant expression on the cub’s wrinkled face, as if he imagined himself to be some kind of oriental nobleman and hired a hunter to carry him. We immediately decided to give him a name worthy of such a high-born primate, and christened him Cholmondeley Saint John, or, with the pronunciation adjusted, Chumley Sindgen.

7. We drink not with anyone, but with the Fon himself. More precisely - Ahirimbi II, Fon (king) of Bafut from 1932 to 1968.

8. Fon's Numerous Wives

9. Background near his “country” palace

10. Gerald and Jackie Darrell.
In my opinion, she's just a sweetheart... Don't you think?
It's a pity that they living together ended so badly. But so far everything is fine and they are busy in Bafut with a common cause

11. Again with Fon (let’s pay attention to the touching European boots on the monarch’s feet. Surely they are very painful for him - however, there is also a book about these boots). In the background is Sophie's secretary.

12. And again drinking with the king...

One of Fon's wives brought a tray of bottles and glasses. Fon generously filled three glasses with Scotch whiskey and handed it to us, smiling happily. I looked at the four inches of neat whiskey in my glass and sighed. Whatever Von had done since my last visit, he had not joined the temperance society.

Let's pay attention to the number of bottles on the table and the already empty ones - in the lower right corner under the chairs.))

13. Back with Chumley the Chimpanzee

14. Gerald caught a monitor lizard

15. In trouble with new prey

16. Happiness for a zoologist!

17. Dancing in the Fon Palace. Background with Jackie Darrell to the right

18. "Guest house". Catching a snake crawling out of a pumpkin

Made an invaluable contribution to European culture. Literature, architecture, philosophy, history, other sciences, state system, laws, art and myths of ancient Greece laid the foundation of modern European civilization. Greek gods known all over the world.

Greece today

Holidays in Greece

Real estate in Greece

Russian Greece

It so happened that I received Ilya Astakhov’s article about Gerald Durrell
March 8, being on the shore of that same Ionian Sea, waiting
funny papers with round bluish seals that will allow you to walk
on the local salt water. Outside the window - pouring rain. Steam from the mouth. Under
with your hand - a glass of ouzo (local anise). And Darrell. What more could you want? :)

And since today is March 8, then let this publication become
congratulations to our grandmothers, mothers, sisters and daughters, for
whose books Durrell became the first pebble to jump across
smooth the water towards the endless world full of amazing
plants and intricate animals. I'm sure Ilya will support me!

Kostya Guide

Anyone who dreamed of traveling to distant, unknown lands as a child knows Gerald Durrell. Most have read his books, which tell of the naturalist’s expeditions with love and humor. Many have seen the Soviet television series " Darrell in Russia", where the middle-aged, but still tireless Gerald constituted serious competition for Drozdov and Senkevich.

Ten year old Jerry saw Corfu in 1935. His eccentric family lived on the island until the outbreak of World War II. About what Darrell told in the trilogy " My family and other animals, Birds, animals and relatives, Garden of the Gods"and in other books. Since then, grateful readers have been striving for Corfu to revive book pages and walk the paths of a young naturalist.

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Of course, a lot has changed over the past eighty years. Nature and patriarchal world old Greece fairly spoiled by modern tourism business. But something can still be seen now.

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Corfu - capital of Corfu

In the park you can see bas-relief busts of Gerald and Lawrence, whose noses are traditionally rubbed by tourists until they shine. It seems to me that Jerry doesn't mind such familiarity.

House in Kalami

The house is nice, you can have a snack in it and even rent a room.

To lure fans Gerald, there are figurines of funny animals placed around.

Three Durrell villas

Mother Darrell was a widow with three minor children in her arms. And with the interest from the capital remaining after the death of her husband (a civil engineer), she could not afford quality housing in England. Greece was much cheaper. That's how we moved The Durrells from house to house on the island of Corfu, calling the properties villas and giving them colorful names.

By the way, off to school Jerry didn't go at all. His education was carried out by random people, which seemed to benefit the future naturalist.

On old photograph from the book by D. Botting “Biography Gerald Durrell" - one of the teachers of the young Darrell, Dr. Theo Stefanidis, who shared and encouraged the young man’s penchant for studying nature.

Strawberry pink

View of the island of Pontikonissi (Mouse) from the side of the Durrell house (in the lower left corner - archival photo with little Jerry). His sister Margot loved to sunbathe naked on the island, embarrassing the monk who lived there.

And this is what the same island and village look like Perama from a modern dam. Now planes are landing right above him, and the boys are gawking at the roaring, sprawled iron birds.

Narcissus Yellow

“Bootle Bumtrinket” - that’s what Lawrence, with his sharp tongue, dubbed it, hinting at some design features. The translator of the Soviet edition successfully chose the phrase "Bootle Thicknose" and made life easier for the censors.

On Bootle, an eleven-year-old boy commits independent travel along the coast, studying the life of sea inhabitants and enjoying nature. This was the start of a career Darrell-naturalist.

View from the shore of the island of Lazarette, where Admiral Ushakov set up a Russian hospital, and during the Second World War there was a concentration camp. Now the island is uninhabited, only ruins and memorial plaques remain on it.

Almost the whole family is on the porch Narcissus Yellow Villa(from left to right: Margot's sister, Nancy, Lawrence's wife, Lawrence himself, Jerry and mother Darrell, photographed by middle brother Leslie)

This villa has been preserved but is privately owned. There are legends about fans breaking into the territory Darrell and a kind maid who, in the absence of the owners, allowed me to photograph something there. A certain blogger-yachtsman John did something simpler: he came up from the sea on a boat and did nice photos:

Snow White

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The building is still privately owned by the family that rented it out. Durrells. They say that no repairs have been made there. If so, then, I believe, due to lack of funds, and not out of respect for the memory of the famous writer.
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Jerry was here

You can sail to Mouse Island. Wander around the shallow lagoon of Halikopoulou, where I gravitated every morning Jerry for frogs and water bugs. Currently, the airport's runway occupies approximately half of the lagoon, but is closer to Perama If you wish, you can see traces of those same ditches, the first of which were made by the Venetians to collect salt. And now this half-flooded shore, occupied in some places by vegetable gardens, serves as a nesting ground for birds and is teeming with shallow-water marine life. It is also not uncommon for fishermen to explore what Jerry called them “chess fields.” Of course, they look completely different now.

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A similar lake, Scottini, is located somewhere near Kontokali, around Narcissus Yellow Villa, but I couldn't find it. By the way, not far from Lawrence's house in Kalami there is a place called Kuluri. After the war Gerald was going to buy a house there, but enter the same river a second time carefree childhood Did not work out. It’s a pity... There are nice places there that are not as affected by civilization as the neighboring Lawrence Memorial House Darrell. For example, a wild bay with the name Khukhulio, funny to the Russian ear.

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Interestingly, Gerald Durrell until the end of his life he felt guilty before the residents Corfu. He believed that with his books and films he was helping to increase the flow of tourists and thereby destroying the nature of the island. What to say? Everyone would like such self-criticism - it would definitely not hurt nature.

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The series was filmed in 1984-85 during two visits of the film crew to the USSR. During this time they visited different corners Soviet Union, visiting some of the largest and most famous nature reserves, located from the Arctic tundra to the Central Asian desert.

Series

• 1. "The Other Russians" - Gerald and Lee Durrell meet their fans in Moscow and visit the Moscow Zoo
• 2. “Flood Rescue” - saving wild animals from floods in the Prioksko-Terrasny Nature Reserve
• 3. “Cormorants, Crows and Catfish” - huge colonies of birds and other animals of the Astrakhan Nature Reserve
• 4. “Seals and Sables” - Baikal seals and sables of the Barguzin Nature Reserve
• 5. “Last of the Virgin Steppe” - Askania-Nova Nature Reserve in the Ukrainian steppe
• 6. “From Tien Shan to Samarkand” - Chatkal Nature Reserve in the Tien Shan Mountains and ancient city Samarkand
• 7. “Red Desert” - the Durrells’ journey on camels through the Karakum Desert and the Repetek Nature Reserve
• 8. “Saving the Saiga” - nursery of saigas and goitered gazelles near Bukhara
• 9. “Behind the Forests” (Beyond the Forest listen)) - flora and fauna of the Soviet far north, thriving during the short summer
• 10. “Return of the Bison” - a trip through the Caucasus in search of bison
• 11. “Children in Nature” - children helping nature in the Berezinsky Nature Reserve
• 12. “Song of the Capercaillie” - spring mating ritual of wood grouse in the Darwin Nature Reserve
• 13. “The Endless Day” - a herd of musk oxen in the Arctic tundra in Taimyr

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Literature

• Durrell G., Durrell L. Durrell in Russia. MacDonald Publisher, 1986, 192 pp. ISBN 0-356-12040-6
• Krasilnikov V. Gerald Durrell. Newspaper "Biology", No. 30, 2000. Publishing house "First of September".

Links

Excerpt characterizing Darrell in Russia