Gerald Durrell
British naturalist and writerWikipedia
21
MENTIONS
13
EPISODES
12
PODCASTS
Search complete. 21 mentions across 13 episodes found for "Gerald Durrell".
Sep 30, 2026
Malcolm LewisGUEST
Without a doubt, you have to go and visit Durrell Zoo.
Malcolm LewisGUEST
Gerald Durrell, who was this amazing zoologist, decided to create this zoo on the island of Jersey back in the late 50s, early 60s.
Malcolm LewisGUEST
The zoo still exists today.
Malcolm LewisGUEST
It's a very important seat of learning, of conservation and discovery and it has projects all over the world about making sure that endangered species survive.
Cheryl WilliamsGUEST
It was one of those things I was always really, really interested in.
Cheryl WilliamsGUEST
I used to read a lot, a lot of Gerald Durrell's books in the old days.
Cheryl WilliamsGUEST
And, you know, it was like a magical world, all these animals that lived out there in wild places.
Cheryl WilliamsGUEST
But it was never something that I ever thought would be part of my actual working future.
37 MINS LATER
James DennisHOST
The next one was a real quickfire question.
James DennisHOST
It's evolved into a giant of a question throughout this podcast, and that's within the industry, throughout your journey, who's your idol?
Cheryl WilliamsGUEST
Well, probably I would have to go back to Gerald Durrell, simply because...
Cheryl WilliamsGUEST
Those were the books when I was probably about 10, I was reading avidly and they sucked me into the whole world of animals and Africa and that whole sort of romance of all the possibilities that were out there.
James O'BrienHOST
And, well, you do by the time you're at the house in Provence, which the new book is about, and you've got people like Robin.
James O'BrienHOST
Well, everyone from Gerald Durrell to Robin Williams coming to visit.
Eric IdleGUEST
Yes, but the French didn't know who he was.
James O'BrienHOST
Oh, I suppose not, but you did.
David WhiteGUEST
And I think as a child, I remember watching zoos.
David WhiteGUEST
sort of Attenborough and hearing about Gerald Durrell and, you know, all these famous people.
David WhiteGUEST
And I just was fascinated by them, fascinated by learning, you know, about these weird and wonderful creatures that, you know, sounded like pretty mythical creatures, really.
David WhiteGUEST
I love my books.
9 MINS LATER
David WhiteGUEST
from one end of it to the other in an hour.
David WhiteGUEST
That's how small it is.
David WhiteGUEST
So taking a ride back to Gerald Durrell's time in his collection missions, this was a species that he was very passionate about when he visited the island in the 70s.
David WhiteGUEST
He wanted to go back to an island that had these species that were obviously extinct, like the dodo.
Christy LevyGUEST
Okay.
Gary Temple BodleyGUEST
Gerald Durrell.
Christy LevyGUEST
That's correct.
Christy LevyGUEST
That is who it is.
AlanHOST
It was
GarethHOST
Gerald Durrell.
GarethHOST
So I remember that being adapted for television when I was a kid in the 80s.
AlanHOST
Yeah.
AlanHOST
Imelda Staunton was in it as the mum.
AlanHOST
So that's a relevant example.
AlanHOST
He's also did a show called The Durrells, which was based on Gerald Durrell's other work.
AlanHOST
And most recently, literally just a couple of years ago, he has done a new adaptation of The Larkins.
Pippa HudsonHOST
Amazing.
Pippa HudsonHOST
I mean, Mark, I also grew up reading the Gerald Durrell, the James Herriot books and thinking I wanted to be a vet, but it was something that I kind of grew out of as I hit my teens.
Pippa HudsonHOST
Clearly, you never grew out of the fascination.
Pippa HudsonHOST
At what point did you realize this was actually something you wanted to make your life's work?
OliviaHOST
So for a long time I read all the James Herriot books.
OliviaHOST
Then I found this book, My Family And Other Animals by Gerald Jer- My Family And Other Animals by Gerald Durrell.
MandaHOST
Some might pronounce that Gerald.
OliviaHOST
[laughs] Geraldo Durrell.
MandaHOST
[laughs]
OliviaHOST
By Gerald Durrell.
OliviaHOST
This is, uh, and I've talked about this before, but I paused it for so long, and this is why, because I lost it.
MandaHOST
Oh.
Natalie LawrenceGUEST
Yeah, that idea of being alone in the dark with a, with one candle, this kind of creature of the night, that is amazing.
Natalie LawrenceGUEST
[laughs] There was a, there was a great book by Gerald Durrell called The Aye-Aye and I.
Roland SquireHOST
Yeah.
Natalie LawrenceGUEST
Have you read that?
Naomi LeitchNARRATOR
The Durrells have left a lasting impression here.
Naomi LeitchNARRATOR
In the capital, busts of Lawrence and Gerald can be found in Boschetto, sometimes dubbed Durrell's Gardens.
Naomi LeitchNARRATOR
And with birdsong as the soundtrack and butterflies and bees as the background characters during my visit, it's easy to see how the diversity of flowers and fauna inspired naturalist Gerald's My Family and Other Animals.
Naomi LeitchNARRATOR
But as I approach the north-east of the island, his novelist brother Lawrence's muse for Prospero's Cell comes into view.
Naomi LeitchNARRATOR
Perched at the edge of the village, the White House, Lawrence Durrell's 1930s home, overlooks Kalami Bay.
3 more episodes mention Gerald Durrell.
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