THE REAL DURRELLS. WHO WERE THE REAL DURRELL FAMILY, AND WHEN DID AUTHOR GERALD DURRELL DIE?

 All you need to know about the adorable family that is the inspiration behind the hit ITV show The Durrells

Joanne Kavanagh

THE Durrells is on TV tonight bringing with it hilarious stories about the adorable family.

But who were the real-life Durrells that inspired this wonderful show? We have the lowdown...

Who were the real Durrell family?

Gerald Durrell

Gerald, OBE, was born January 7, 1925, and was a British naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author and television presenter.

He passed away aged 70 on January 30, 1995, after contracting septicaemia.

He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Durrell Wildlife Park on the Channel Island of Jersey in 1959.

As well as My Family and Other Animals, he wrote a number of books based on his life as an animal collector and enthusiast.

Louisa Durrell

Louisa was the mother of the Durrell family.

She was born on January 16, 1886, in India during the British Raj.

She passed away on January 24, 1964.

Louisa was interested in spiritualism and cookery.

Her husband died of a brain tumour in 1928 when she was 42 and Louisa decided to move her family to England.

They settled in Bournemouth, before moving to Corfu.

Lawrence Durrell

Lawrence was born February 27, 1912, and died November 7, 1990.

He was a novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer.

He did not like school, but started writing poetry at age 15.

Lawrence's first book was published in 1935, when he was just 23.

His most famous work, The Alexandria Quartet, was published between 1957 and 1960.

The best-known novel in the series is the first, Justine.

Margo/Margaret Durrell

Margaret "Margo" Isabel Mabel Durrell was born May 4, 1920, and died January 16, 2007, and was the only daughter in the Durrell family.

She is known in the ITV series as man-hungry and after the family left Greece she decided that her real home was on Corfu and remained on the island.

She met Royal Air Force pilot Jack Breeze later the same year, who was stationed on the island.

They later moved to South Africa and then to Bournemouth.

Margo divorced her husband and bought a house across the street from her mother's home and turned it into a boarding house.

Her book Whatever Happened to Margo? is a humorous account of her experiences as a landlady in the late 1940s and includes details about the lives of her family following their time on Corfu.

Leslie Durrell

Leslie, known in the show for his love of guns and women, was the only Durrell not to write about his life in the family.

He was born in 1918, and died aged 65 of heart failure in 1985.

His sister Margo described him as generous while his brother Gerald described him as boisterous, interested in hunting and fishing.

Leslie and his wife Doris left England soon after their marriage in 1952, to farm in Kenya.

When that failed they went back to England in 1968, where Leslie worked as a concierge at a Marble Arch hotel.

What is the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust?

The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust is an international charity dedicated to saving species from extinction.

Gerald Durrell founded it under the name Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust in 1963.

It was renamed in his honour in 1999.

The organisation manages breeding programmes at Jersey Zoo as well as having  50 projects in 18 countries around the world.

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https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/5819177/the-durrells-family-real-story-gerald-durrell-wildlife-trust/