April 12, 2006

"My Family and Other Animals." Last night, Masterpiece Theater on PBS (US) showed this memoir based on a story by Gerald Durrell about his family's stay in Corfu in the late 1930s. It made me love Masterpiece Theater all over again.

Gerald was a "do it yourself" kind of guy, who was finally esteemed for his concern the conservation of endangered animals. His brother, Laurence wrote the Black Book and The Alexandrian Quartet, books which I waited for breathlessly in the early 1960s when they were being taken off the list of censored writing. This biography of Gerald has a lot of information on his mother but, like the other references I found, has little to say about his brother Leslie. And his sister Margaret gets short shrift in linkable sources. But, I wish I had been a family member on Corfu while they were there. Watch the program if you get a chance.

posted by path 18 years ago
  • Gerald Durrell is vastly more entertaining than Lawrence ever was. *unleashes a pack of Bafut beagles*
  • Read the book as a child. Brilliant. Recommend all of G Durrells books to fellow simians. Check him out the usual amazon/borders etc. My Family is an isight of how the English were revered once. Ah the innonence of youth, an island setting, Greek laid-backness and a great story...
  • "It made me love Masterpiece Theater all over again. You mean you didn't watch Bleak House? Duuuuuude... Seriously. Dude. Scully. Wedge. In Dickens. You missed out, man. Dude. Seriously.
  • Durrell's works were popular in my family, as a kid I remember the books on the shelf. In the UK in the 80s he had a show on channel 4, which ran for a few seasons before his death. He was getting on a bit & obviously enjoyed the finer things in life. He had a rather young wife, too, as I recall. He was a big drinker. I never got to meet him, which is a source of regret, because I greatly admired him. He was a genius who majorly influenced the way zoos keep animals, from being just objects of display, to creating a viable mini natural environment for them. His life was full of work with animals, hard to believe he could achieve so much in such a short time. IIRC he wrote Tarka the Otter, too.
  • Chy - agree big time. In the 80s on Brit TV we had the fantastic Brian Blessed playing Spiro. Great casting. BTW Tarka was written by Henry Williamson not Durrell.
  • Brian Blessed as Spiro? GOLLYS, MRS DURRELLS - WHY DON'TS YOU LETS MASTER LARRY SHOOTS THE BASTARDS? MWAHA HA HA HA! I expect that's unfair, and it was actually a nuanced little cameo.
  • I, too, read the books. Fun stuff. Couldn't sit still for the program, but what I saw of it was v.good.
  • "Brian Blessed playing Spiro" I was in Pommie Land in the 80s but I don't remember this. Mind you, there's quite a few things I don't remember of that period, due to my interest in researching the effects of various pharmaceuticals on the human brain, at the time.
  • > BTW Tarka was written by Henry Williamson not Durrell. you're both right. williamson wrote the book; durrell cowrote the screenplay.
  • I hated that movie anyway, because of the end.
  • It see that PBS locally (well, in Seattle) will be showing it tomorrow evening. Looking forward to it. Thanks, path.
  • islander - thanks for pointing out that different stations have different schedules. My local (Valley PBS) will show it on the 16th and 17th, and KCET will repeat it on the 23rd. Capt.Renault - no, I didn't see it. PBS seemed to be down playing Masterpiece Theater for several years, and even though I had watched it religiously for decades, the schedule kept changing and the stories were dull, so I compensated by watching DVDs of old programs until I chanced across the Durrell program. They're repeating Bleak House here in April, and I'll follow your recommendation. Thanks.
  • I prefer Monsterpiece Theater. COOKIE!
  • Brian Blessed is a GOD! Spiro/Brian is here
  • Well, I used to like him as Fancy Smith in Z cars...
  • I liked him as Augustus Caesar in I, Claudius.
  • That Blessed voice isn't just good for stage bluster, you know. The Brianator can SING in a way that puts most operatic baritones to shame.