Talk:Gerald Durrell

Untitled
I'd be much obliged is someone acquainted with Duerrell's works were to answer my question over at Talk:Tambalacoque. -Itai 22:09, 17 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Vandalism
It's weird the articles that get-a-life vandals choose to attack ... I wouldn't have thought Gerald Durrell would be high on the radar of people who like boring anti-gay jokes. I've blocked 195.188.250.67 for 48 hours, but whoever the vandal is, he/she/it is bouncing around and will probably come back. yawn - DavidWBrooks 13:26, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

:)
wow, I just created the Miskolc Zoo article, and I'm surprised to see that this article already refers to it :) sometimes I gotta just love Wikipedia :) Alensha 22:29, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

To do
Subsidiary articles to be polished:
 * Durrell Wildlife Park
 * Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
 * Edward Whitley

Article content:
 * Arabian Oryx mention in the captive breeding section
 * Trivia: Gerald Durrell side (?) of Corfu
 * Mention of Spiro in Corfu ?
 * ISBN for the books - be warned, laborious task

Why the book "Halibut Filet" (in Russian "File iz paltusa" or "File iz kambaly") isn't mentioned in the list of Mr.Durrell books? I couldn't find them anywhere in the web, although I do have Russian translation of it! Needs to add.

Maybe it is part of some other book by Durrell??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.147.104.33 (talk) 14:45, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

The book in question is "Fillets of Plaice" (Collins, 1971, ISBN-13: 978-0006344643), it is listed in the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.150.62.81 (talk) 01:53, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

Info box says he died in Tokyo, Japan but article says Jersey General Hospital. Which is correct? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:602:9701:5D40:79EF:1E69:E501:6D6C (talk) 01:03, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

Length
This article is getting awfully, awfully long. It's time to think about breaking off pieces - the zoo and the trust, for example - so we can remove some of that material from this article, allowing it to concentrate on Gerald Durrell - DavidWBrooks 22:34, 4 November 2005 (UTC)


 * I think the major length of the article is due to the extensive bibliography and radiography. We could initially break those off and see. I will be updating the trust and the zoo articles, but the material on the biography about the zoo and the trust, i think, would need to be in the durrell article somehow - the vision for the trust was virtually exclusively durrell's, after all. Pradiptaray 23:14, 4 November 2005 (UTC)


 * The way to do that is to have just a sentence or two saying that he founded the zoo, and then a link saying "Main article: Jersey Zoo'' right there, so people can follow it if they want more. If they just want a quick sense of his life, or if they are looking for other material, such as his novels, they won't have to scroll through lots of material. - DavidWBrooks 14:20, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

But it's not as though it takes that long to scroll through the material. Plus isn't that why there are quick links at the top? To allow quick easy access to a list of his books, or to a particular part of his life? The Trust and the Zoo are what Gerry lived for, and I don't think that such an important part of his life should be reduced or removed from this article.


 * Yes, I think so too. And anyway most of the article has references, lists and tables, so the size isnt as awfully big as it seems. I did put in a few pics so that the lists dont seem bare, so it takes slightly long to load :) Pradiptaray 03:11, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

On a seperate note, I recently learnt that when the family moved to Corfu in 1935, Larry's first wife (Nancy Meyers) went with them. Does anyone know why she wasn't mentioned in any of Gerry's books about his childhood on the island? I'd have thought there would at least be some mention of her. Suggestions? SM


 * I think I know the answer to that, I think I read it in Botting's biography, but I was reminded of it recently by a friend of mine, another Durrell fan. It was a ploy by Gerry to show his family as a single entity, which would never have been possible had nancy been there, in which case he would have had to have larry and nancy living separately. btw, if u r a durrell fan, u r more than welcome to contribute ! there is a lot of work left. get yourself a wikipedia id, and sign ur name in discussions like this by 4 ~ s ( like ~ ~ ~ ~ ), so that it is easier to communicate :) Pradiptaray 03:11, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

Salters institute
Does anyone have details about the annual Gerald Durrell lecture ? I can only see the 2002 talk on the web. Pradiptaray 06:57, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

This article is clumsily large
I lost the discussion above, but a year later - and even though I'm a lifelong Gerry Durrell fan (I met him once) - I still think this article is way too long and should be broken into sub-articles, with some of the photos and most of the book covers removed. (Have pity on readers with dial-up connections!) As a point of reference, this article is 47 kb, while William Shakespeare is 45 kb! - DavidWBrooks 22:03, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Probably because we do not have quite as many images of the bard, for some reason. We should probably prune a few from this article. Question is, which ones? Jonathunder 22:17, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I just removed one - we had several of him with primates; now we have fewer. Another idea - remove all the book covers except one. They belong with the article about the book. - DavidWBrooks 22:44, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Agreed, Ill try and do so, meanwhile David has made a start :) ray 06:33, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Racist language
I am currently reading "My family and Other Animals" by Mr. Durrell, and very much enjoying it, when I stumbled on a line that made me read it again and it again. It says as follows:

"In the holes were the pouting blennies, which stared at you with their thick lips, giving their faces an expression of negroid insolence as they fluttered their fins at you." (pg. 214)

This book came out in 1956, so I'm assuming racism was pretty rampant at this point in time in the UK...But I just found it a little shocking and disapoiting nonetheless. Has anyone else seen similar language in his other books?

Staywarm 23:58, 5 July 2007 (UTC)staywarm


 * Durrel's interaction with Africans in his animal-collection books from that continent is generally respectful, but not always couched in the terminology we would use today. As a white American it strikes me as fine, but if I was a black African, a few bits might be harder to overlook. - DavidWBrooks 13:11, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Gerald Iles
I knew an old man years ago in Montreal named Gerald Iles. He had been the director of the BelleVue Zoo in Manchester. I thought he told me that Gerald Durrell was in charge of the aquarium at Manchester Zoo, and I see that is confirmed in the article. Gerald Iles told me that when Gerald Durrell worked at the zoo the two of them shared a house on the grounds of the zoo. As regards racism I don't think it would be fair to judge Durrell by today's standards.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 07:13, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Article about Leslie
Readers of this article might be interested in commenting on the article about Leslie Durrell. Check the talk page - you'll see that I think Leslie barely deserves an article at all, since he chose to be non-notable (so to speak), and that he certainly doesn't deserve the long, gossip-filled commentary on his personality which has been placed there as an article.

But at least two folks disagree. That article has very few editors, however, so more opinions would be helpful. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 12:00, 27 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I've listed the article for deletion here. Let the debate begin. --Michael Johnson (talk) 03:15, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Radiography
'Radiography' does not relate to radio programmes in the way that 'filmography' relates to cinema films. If it's not changed soon, I'll replave it with 'List of radio programmes' or similar. 86.166.161.22 (talk) 18:42, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Photograph
The photograph of Gerald Durrell in a red shirt with a snake in his lap that appears on your main page was taken by my late husband the photographer Tony Evans. It is a copyrighted image, managed by Getty Images. I am perfectly happy for Wikipedia to use it but with a credit to Tony Evans/Timelapse Library/Getty Images.Timelaspe Library Limited (talk) 10:13, 30 April 2016 (UTC)


 * I've notified the editor who placed the photo. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 16:49, 30 April 2016 (UTC)


 * I've added the author credit to File:Gerald Durrell.jpg.  INeverCry   18:32, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

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Photos of the park
I have removed this gallery of eight uninteresting and unlabeled photos of the Jersey Zoo / park - they add nothing to an article about Durrell the person. Here they are, in case others disagree (I shrank them):

- DavidWBrooks (talk) 17:03, 2 August 2021 (UTC)

Redundancy
Why is his marriage to Jacqui mentioned twice ? It’s as though someone has not read the article right through before adding that material. And seriously, does Jacqui really deserve a separate entry? After her two books, her connection with Durrell is nil. 203.59.215.236 (talk) 10:33, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

Missing in-line citations
This article is missing a lot of in-line citations. Maybe everything is covered by the reference list sources, but it would be very helpful to know where details have come from. RapturousRatling (talk) 22:53, 25 April 2022 (UTC)

Incorrect Photographs
Since the ITV series 'The Durrells' one can expect a slew of misinformation relating to it. Most common is from people entering the grounds of the villa used for filming, taking photographs, then claiming they are of the real villa the Durrell family lived in in the Kontokali area of Corfu. They invariably are not. Furthermore the grounds themselves are private, although the approach from the beach below is public land. The real villa is on a hill overlooking the Kontokali region and is again privately owned, but also well-hidden by trees. Also the 'White House' restaurant in Kalami, one-time residence of Lawrence and Nancy Durrell, is often (misleadingly) referred to as having been home to the Durrell family. The 'Snow-White Villa' of Gerald's writing is somewhere else entirely; again, a private property. 185.201.0.197 (talk) 18:58, 8 December 2022 (UTC)

Merge Corfu trilogy article into his biography page
Suggestion to merge Corfu trilogy into this page. The article itself is extremely short, and if anything, provides links to the three books individually. I suggest a merge/re-direct of the article to this page. Thanks  conman33  (. . .talk)  06:18, 4 June 2023 (UTC)


 * I disagree - works and their author are two district topics. The trilogy article is very short, almost functioning as a disambiguation post, but I think it still serves a purpose for somebody interested in the trilogy rather than the author. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 19:44, 4 June 2023 (UTC)


 * I support a merge/re-direct of the article. —  Sadko  (words are wind)  20:45, 12 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Support merge: The diambiguation role could be served by section in Gerald Durrell; the books have a page, the author has a page, so having a third page is unnecessary duplication. Klbrain (talk) 11:10, 23 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Support merge. I would not generally suggest the merging of articles on works into articles on authors if there is much material on the works, but this is not the case here, as we have well-developed articles on the individual books. This one only serves as a superfluous extra level that we (and the reader) could do without. -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 09:20, 11 December 2023 (UTC)