On this day in 1934

Prior to the opening of Jersey Airport, all aircraft serving the island took off from and landed on the beach. Initially they had called only at Portsmouth on the mainland, but by the time the States moved to buy the airport site, they were also operating out of Southampton, with Portsmouth still used to pick up local passengers and as a customs hub.

The airport site in St Peter’s had been approved by the Air Ministry and it cost the States £20,000 to acquire. This was in addition to the projected construction costs but would make Jersey the hub of a network that would see aircraft setting off from London, calling at the west of England, heading south to Jersey, and from there continuing to France, with stops on the way.

Part of the land, which lay beside St Peter’s Barracks, was owned by the War Department. The rest comprised 70 fields totalling 71 acres.

 

...and on this day in 2016

Jersey Zoo founder Gerald Durrell spent four years of his childhood in Corfu. His account of those years was published in three volumes, which were given the small screen treatment by ITV in 2016. In total, the network produced 26 episodes in four series, with the last airing on 12 May 2019.

Milo Parker played the young Gerald Durrell, Josh O’Connor was his author brother Larry, and Keeley Hawes played Louisa Durrell, their mother. Filming took place in Corfu and at studios in London.

The Durrell family moves

In the first episode, which aired on 3 April 2016, widowed Louisa Durrell makes the decision to move her family from dreary Bournemouth to sunny Corfu (in reality, Gerald’s brother, Lawrence, was already living there with his wife, but this was altered for TV). Once on the island, Gerry (Gerald) makes friends with a local naturalist and thus blossoms the love of animals that would one day result in the founding of Jersey Zoo.

The first series was a success, attracting high viewing figures and positive reviews. The decision to commission a second series was therefore no surprise. By the start of the fourth series, Gerry’s plans for a zoo were taking shape. Set in the years running up to the Second World War, it is inevitably the global conflict that draws it to a close. Gerry frees the animals he has captured on the island and most of the family – aside from gun-mad Larry – return to England.