This move fulfilled a lifelong dream: Durrell claims that his first spoken word was "zoo".
After the war, Durrell joined Whipsnade Zoo as a junior or student keeper in 1945. His call-up for the war came in 1943, but he was exempted from military duty on medical grounds, and asked to serve the war effort by working in a farm. Some reminiscences of this period can be found in Fillets of Plaice. Difficult as it was in the war and post-war years to find a job, especially for a home-schooled youth, the enterprising Durrell worked as a help at an aquarium and pet store. The family moved back to England in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II. The other big influence on Durrell during these formative years, according to Durrell, was the writing of French naturalist Jean Henri Fabre. Together, they would examine and Durrell would house Corfu fauna in everything from test tubes to bathtubs. One of them, the Greek doctor, scientist, poet and philosopher Theodore Stephanides would be Durrell's friend and mentor, and his ideas would leave a lasting impression on the young Durrell. Durrell was home-schooled during this time by various family friends and private tutors, mostly friends of his eldest brother Lawrence (later to be a famous novelist).
This interval was later the basis of the book My Family and Other Animals and its successors, Birds, Beasts, and Relatives, The Garden of the Gods and a few short stories. The family moved to the Greek island of Corfu in 1935, where Durrell began to collect and keep the local fauna as pets. Durrell was enrolled in Wickwood School, but usually stayed at home feigning illness. Back in England, the Durrells settled in the Upper Norwood - Cystal Palace area of South London. The family moved to England after the death of his father in 1928. Durrell reportedly recalls his first visit to a zoo in India, and attributes his life-long love of animals to that encounter. Durrell's father was a British engineer, and as befitting family status, the infant Durrell spent most of his time in the company of the ayah or nursemaid. He was the fourth surviving and final child of Louisa Florence Durrell (née Dixie) and Lawrence Samuel Durrell.
His parents had themselves been born in India but were of English and Irish descent. He was the brother of the novelist Lawrence Durrell.ĭurrell was born in Jamshedpur, then Bihar Province, India on January 7, 1925. He founded what is now called the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoo (now renamed Durrell Wildlife) on the Channel Island of Jersey in 1958, but is perhaps best known for writing a number of books based on his life as an animal collector and enthusiast. Gerald ('Gerry') Malcolm Durrell OBE ( Janu– January 30, 1995) was a naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author, and television presenter.
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