Lee Durrell, wife of the late Gerald Durrell, speaks to author and screenwriter Tiffany Murray about a new book on her husband, telling the unvarnished story of his life. Myself & Other Animals, edited and introduced by Lee, brings together unpublished autobiographies, uncollected pieces and previously published extracts from Durrell’s work and archives.
The book draws on a memoir that Durrell started writing before he became too ill to continue it, and an unfinished book from a trip to Australia in 1969 to the Great Barrier Reef, Northern Territory and Queensland.
Gerald Durrell’s first television programme, Two in the Bush, which documented his travels to New Zealand, Australia and Malaya was made in 1962. He went on to make 70 programmes about his trips around the world, and wrote several books about his work and life.