26th February 1951
Gerald Durrell marries the woman who will help him found his zoo
Jacquie Wolfenden was a trained opera singer, and the daughter of a Manchester hotel owner, in whose establishment Durrell stayed at the end of an expedition. It was there that they met and started a relationship that culminated in marriage on 26 February 1951
They founded Jersey Zoo together and, with Durrell’s author brother, Lawrence, she encouraged him to write the series of world-famous books that detailed his adventures collecting animals. However, the stress of both his alcoholism and his increasing workload eventually drove them apart. They divorced in 1979, and Gerald married Lee Wilson later the same year.
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Other events that occured in February
States treasurer is charged with embezzlement
- Jersey States treasurer was charged with embezzlement following the collapse of the Jersey Banking Company in 1886.
- Read more…
Jersey author John Lemprière dies
- Lempriere's Bibliotheca Classica, published in 1788, was considered a standard text and definitive reference on classical mythology.
- Read more…
Man convicted of killing Charles I dies in Elizabeth Castle
- James Temple had been one of the judges in the trial of Charles I, and his was one of the 59 signatures on the king’s death warrant.
- Read more…
Gerald Durrell marries the woman who will help him found his zoo
- Gerald Durrell married opera singer Jacquie Wolfenden in 1951 and the two went on to found the zoo in Jersey.
- Read more…