Synopsis
This wonderful recollection begins with a shy young boy who, while everyone else was dancing on the streets, celebrated the World War II Allied victory by observing a colony of rooks. After studying the behavioral habits of the 10-spined stickleback at Oxford, Desmond Morris became curator of mammals at London Zoo and quickly became a familiar figure in homes all over Britain as presenter of Zootime, delighting millions of tea-time viewers with a daring attempt to pick up a deadly scorpion by its tail or a tumble off the back of an elephant. As curator of mammals at the zoo, life was as bizarre behind the cameras as in front of them, not least when a whale turned up in the Thames River or when a pair of ferocious bears escaped and caused havoc in a restroom. In 1967, Morris turned his attention to humans. Since then he has continued his work on human and animal species, written many other successful books, and has presented a number of television series. His travels have taken him to some 60 countries, from the cities of North America to the islands off the Mediterranean, Europe, the Pacific, and Africa. This account tells the story of many of these adventures, in fascinating and often hilarious detail.
Publishers Weekly
American readers will most likely remember zoologist Morris as author of 1967's The Naked Ape,a pop science bestseller highlighting the similarities between human behavior and that of other members of the animal kingdom. But his voluminous autobiography devotes very little space to that success, which played only a small part in his fame in England, where he hosted the television show Zootime.Chapter upon chapter is replete with anecdotes about what can go wrong when taping a show with live animals, as well as the offstage antics of his chimpanzee sidekick, Congo. After The Naked Apebecame an international sensation, Morris and his wife decamped to Malta, setting up another long string of charming stories about the life as an ex-pat Brit, with guest appearances by fellow naturalist David Attenborough. (There's also a memorable cameo, much later, by Marlon Brando, wanting to discuss the banality of evil over dinner.) The final chapter is devoted to a lengthy diary of a three-month cruise around the world, in which Morris no longer bothers trying to shape his digressive storytelling, but simply lets his impressions flow. The tone is enjoyably amiable, but it's questionable whether Morris, now almost 80, still registers on the U.S. cultural radar. Photos. (Oct.)
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