Gerald Durrell: The Authorised Biography

THE AUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY

Douglas Botting

Copyright

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers in 1999

Copyright © Douglas Boning 1999

The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780006387305

Ebook Edition © JANUARY 2014 ISBN: 9780007381227 Version: 2017-06-09

Further reviews for Gerald Durrell:

‘Douglas Botting is to be congratulated on Gerald Durrell. He has done a magnificent job in telling the complex story of a complex person, wrinkles and all. Here is your chance to rediscover the man who for over sixty years exasperated and fascinated his friends and fans, giving hope to generations that there was a future for animals, plants and people.’

DAVID BELLAMY, Literary Review

‘The book serves up so much by way of compelling detail that the reader forges happily ahead … [an] affectionate account of a rumbustious figure.’

PENELOPE LIVELY, Daily Telegraph

‘Douglas Botting’s biography of Gerald Durrell is a whacking great book … But then, the environmentalist, naturalist, humorist, bestselling author and adventurer was a whacking great personality. His riotous enjoyment of life and his passion-ate, loving struggle for animal conservation fly off the pages. It’s an absorbing, hugely appealing story.’

New Scientist

‘Botting’s admiration and affection for his subject are infectious.’

Sunday Times

‘An extraordinary story … a biographer’s dream.’

EDWARD MARRIOTT, Evening Standard

‘Douglas Botting quotes continually from unpublished material – letters, journals, diaries – which prove to be a treasure-house of agile and acute observation … [He] is a perceptive, vigorous, unabashed chronicler … at his best in dealing with the complexities of Durrell’s own character and the crises in his life … This is the most enjoyable biography I have read for years.’

J.B. PICK, Scotsman

‘A compelling read.’

DAVID NICHOLSON-LORD, Financial Times

‘Botting gives us a full-on Durrell … a wonderfully detailed account.’

RICHARD D NORTH, Independent

‘Exhaustive research … poignant reading.’

CAROLINE MOOREHEAD, Spectator

‘Absorbing.’

Tatler

‘Gerald Durrell was a man of immense character as this enormous biography testifies … and he shines out of these pages. Botting’s writing style is a delight. He has a wry eye and his own dry wit … He has told a powerful story.’

JULIA LANGDON, The Herald (Glasgow)

‘Wonderfully affectionate account … wonderfully readable.’

CHRISTINE BARKER, Birmingham Post

‘The best parts are the descriptions of furry animals – both Durrell’s and the author’s – which appear on page after page … the book is a love story of a sort.’

ROY HATTERS LEY, Mail on Sunday

‘Joyful reading … Botting is on sure, captivating ground as he relates Durrell’s escapades … a valuable chronology of Durrell’s experiences.’

ROSEMARY GORING, Scotland on Sunday

‘Douglas Botting paints a vivid picture … an excellent reflection of the man behind the magic’

ISOBEL OSMONT, Jersey Evening News

‘This revealing and compulsive biography will inspire many generations to come.’

JOHN BURTON, World Land Trust Review

‘Botting’s biography is vast, vibrant, intense.’

MICK MIDDLES, Manchester Evening News

‘In this superb biography Douglas Botting keeps you turning the pages and even succeeds in conjuring tears at the end. Meticulous research has enabled him to bring us an in-depth picture of the man. It is a measure of its success that I seriously resented having to go to work, or to bed, whilst reading it.’

HILARY PAIPETI, The Corfiot Magazine, Greece

Right in the Hart of the Africn Jungel a small wite man lives. Now there is one rather xtrordenry fackt about him that is that he is the frind of all animals.

From ‘The Man of Animals’ by Gerald Durrell, aged ten

Whoever saves one life,

Saves the world.

The Talmud

When you get to the Pearly Gates and St Peter asks you, ‘Well, what did you do?’ if you can say, ‘I saved a species from extinction,’ I think he’ll say, ‘OK, well, come on in.’