The Swan Theatre Yeovil is renowned for its innovative approach to the arts, and this summer’s Music Festival is no exception. Breaking new ground, the Swan Theatre will be opening its unique and intimate space to host a series of classical music concerts for the very first time in its history. The Swan Music Festival is under the guidance of Mike Stanley, who enjoyed a successful career as a pianist and musical director in London’s West End for over four decades. Following his move to Somerset, he has continued to pursue his passion for music, and is a dedicated member of the Swan Theatre. He is the founder and creator of the festival, and the event will feature The Cirrus Quartet and guests who will perform four concerts of chamber music. Mike will be joined by other leading solo and chamber music performers, all of whom have worked with most of the top chamber and symphony orchestras in Great Britain. The festival’s program will feature a selection of popular chamber music, by the likes of Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, and Schubert. Spanning four days in July, the Swan Music Festival will bring the beauty and richness of chamber music to Yeovil.
Remembering Morris This year’s festival holds a special significance due to the poignant circumstances surrounding its inception. During the early stages of planning the event, Mike Stanley tragically lost his grandson, Morris, to Strep A at just 14 months old. The Swan Music Festival provides an opportunity to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), where Morris was treated, and to honour his memory. The Stanley family’s charitable efforts, including Mike’s son Ben running the Paris Marathon just seven weeks after the loss of his son, have already raised over £27,000 for GOSH. The Swan Music Festival will further contribute to this worthy cause, supporting the extraordinary efforts made thus far, and serving as a celebration of Mike’s two greatest joys in life: family and music. The festival takes place from 19th to 22nd July, with each day featuring performances by renowned musicians. Some of the highlights include:
19th July: W.H.Reed – Legende for String Quartet Percy Hilder Miles – Clarinet Quintet Brahms – Clarinet Quintet 20th July: Mozart – Piano Quartet K 493 W.H.Reed – String Quartet No 5 Elgar – Piano Quintet 21st July: Beethoven – Piano Trio ‘The Ghost’ Debussy – Cello Sonata Clara Schumann – Piece for violin and piano Brahms – C minor piano quartet 22nd July: Vaughan Williams – Piano Quintet Brahms – String Quartet opus 51 no 2 Schubert – “The Trout” Quintet
To attend the Swan Music Festival, tickets are £15 from swan-theatre.co.uk (or £50 for all four concerts if bought via the box office at [email protected])
Starting life as a simple holiday purchase in Blackpool, the little yellow hand puppet became a national treasure. By Rachael Rowe
In 1965 Harry and Sooty appeared on Desert Island Discs. Their luxury item was a trumpet, while songs included My Favourite Things by Julie Andrews
Sooty and Sweep entertained thousands of children (and more than a few adults) during the 1950s and 60s, and probably millions more through the 70s, 80s, 90s and the new century. The delightful puppets are still recognisable today. Unbelievably, it’s 75 years since Sooty first took a bow. But did you know he had a Blackmore Vale connection?
The beginning of Sooty When the 30-year-old Harry Corbett was on holiday in Blackpool with his family in 1948, he bought a yellow glove puppet for 7/6 (37.5p in ‘new money’) to entertain his children. As a part-time conjurer, he practised magic tricks with the bear, but little did anyone know how famous that puppet would become. Originally called Teddy, the bear appeared with Harry on the BBC’s Talent Night programme in 1952. To make the puppet more distinctive on black and white television, Harry blackened his ears with soot. The ear makeover also gave Teddy a new name – and forever after he was known as Sooty. When Sooty won the Talent Night programme, he was given a regular slot on the Saturday Special in the 1950s. In July 1955, Sooty got his own TV show, based on a series of sketches. Harry Corbett did the voiceover and created Sooty’s famous catchphrase: ‘Bye-bye, everybody. Bye-bye.’ Sooty rarely said anything, preferring to whisper mischievously in Harry’s ear.
The Corbetts’ house in Child Okeford today, with Sooty, Sweep and Soo in the top right window – image Laura Hitchcock
A family of voices But Sooty was lonely on his own, and soon he had a best friend, a grey-haired dog called Sweep, whose distinctive squeak was created by Harry Corbett’s brother, Leslie, blowing through a saxophone reed! Another chum, Soo the panda, joined the family in 1964. Her motherly tone was voiced by Harry’s wife, Marjorie. The Sooty Show – later becoming just ‘Sooty’ – ran from 1952 until 2004 and was then relaunched in 2011. It remains the longest-running non-consecutive children’s show, according to the Guinness Book of Records.
Sooty, Sweep and Soo still keep an eye on the village
The Child Okeford Connection Born in Bradford, Harry Corbett – and, of course, Sooty, Sweep and Soo – lived with his family in Child Okeford, for most of his life. Behind the house on Station Road was an outhouse where Harry created the sketches and filmed the puppets in action. In 1962, an article in The Stage described their home as ‘a lovely old farmhouse in Dorset with a large paddock that housed the cavalcade of three Sooty cars, all emblazoned with an emblem of the puppet’. There was a caravan as well. According to the Kent and Sussex Courier in 1972, Harry disliked hotels and preferred a caravan when touring. At the time, Marjorie remarked: ‘The only thing I miss is the garden. We popped in recently, and the bulbs were just coming through.’ Although the Corbett family no longer lives in the village, they are remembered with fondness by local people. Gary Ridout remembers the Corbett household: ‘He (Harry) had brick stables at the back, which he turned into a small studio where he made props and did some filming. My claim to fame is I own one of the aluminium lighting poles that ran across the ceiling! I bought it when they were moving house to use as a mount for a CB radio aerial. I once delivered a bed to them and was very surprised when the woman’s voice who opened the door was the voice of Soo.’ The Corbetts were very much part of the village. Sara Crane recalls: ‘He used to come into the pub opposite [the Union Arms, now a private home] with his missus. She was lovely.’ The pub was the Union Arms, now a private home. On New Year’s Day 1976, Harry was awarded the OBE – but the award was actually intended for the Steptoe and Son star Harry H Corbett, who was an avid Labour supporter. Someone had left the middle H out of the recommendation by Harold Wilson! In the end, both Corbetts were awarded OBEs – on the same day – and there was a miniature medal for Sooty at the investiture. In 1976, Harry retired following a hearth attack, and Sooty and Sweep were taken over by his younger son, Matthew. However, Harry found it difficult to let go, and even after Matthew Corbett bought his father out for £35,000, Harry continued touring with his one-man stage show. In 1989, Harry Corbett and Sooty played to a packed-out audience in Weymouth before returning home to Child Okeford. He died in his sleep that night.
Sooty remembered There is still one small reminder of the Corbetts’ time in Child Okeford today. The house where they lived and created Sooty sketches is a private home. But, as you walk by, take a look at the upstairs window. You will see three distinctive figures – Sooty, Sweep and Soo are gazing out at the street below as the owners’ lovely nod to their connections with both the house and this Dorset village.
Climate change is causing even the most experienced gardeners to consider things like drought resistance, says gardener Pete Harcom
Start collecting seed from any plants you want to grow next year – like these nigella (love-in-a-mist)
Climate change is fast presenting gardeners with the challenge of making the right choice of plants in a changing environment – and trying to garden with less water. Choosing plants with a degree of drought resistance is becoming increasingly important. When looking at water conservation, the garden soil is as important as the plant choice, as this will help to avoid the excessive use of hosepipes. After rainfall or after having watered your plants, putting down a thick mulch layer of garden compost or bark clippings will help a great deal to retain moisture and will also handily suppress weeds. There is a wide range of plants that can tolerate dry soils and low levels of rainfall, especially once they have become established. Look for some of the following at the garden centre: Abelia grandiflora, achillea, agapanthus, box plants, bergenia, ceanothus, eryngium, euphorbia, sedums, verbena bonariensis, perennial geraniums, red valerian (centranthus) and heuchera.
And your jobs for July’s garden:
Deadhead flower borders regularly to prolong flowering – it can have a significant effect on how long you can enjoy your flowers. Leave the last of any rose flowers that produce attractive hips.
Divide clumps of bearded iris and take cuttings of patio and container plants ready for next year.
Autumn flowering bulbs can be planted now – try autumn flowering crocus, sternbergia, crocosmia, nerines, alstromerias, cyclamen hederifolium, and hesperantha (these South African bulbs can flower up to Christmas in sheltered spots)
Start collecting seed from plants you want to grow next year, especially aquilegia, calendula, foxgloves, poppies and nigella (love-in-a-mist).
Pest and diseases
(greenfly and black fly) and capsid bug damage on stems and leaves of young shoots. To avoid chemical spray, try staying on top by simply squishing them when you see them.
Vine weevils can be a problem at this time of year too, and can be especially damaging to plants in containers.
Look out for – and treat – blackspot on roses. It is very difficult to reverse the disease, but you can stop the spread by treating early in the season with a fungicide. There are a number of environmentally friendly organic products for suppressing blackspot including sulfur and neem oil. Do be sure to remove all infected leaves, especially those on the ground.
If you need to prune your hedges, check first for any birds that may be nesting. The main breeding time for garden birds is between March and August so maybe ignore the messy hedge and give them time to rear their young. Garden birds need all the help they can get!
The BV’s astrophotographer Rob Nolan is back – and counting the days to those long winter nights
M101
Apologies if you missed me last month, hopefully you still found yourself admiring the night sky and our local planets as they grace the skies! We’ve lacked celestial darkness for the last month or so in the UK, but the nights are starting to get longer again – it’s a countdown for astronomers to a darker nights sky and back to extended nights of observing and imaging! Everyone else may groan, but we’re only getting more excited! This month, I thought I’d take a look at a favourite galaxy among amateurs to image. The Pinwheel Galaxy, also known as M101, is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Ursa Major, the great bear. At a magnitude of 7.86, it’s one of the easier and larger galaxies in the night sky to image, despite it being actually difficult to observe visually. At 170,000 light years across and 20.9 million light years from Earth, its one of the many beautiful galaxies we can observe. The galaxy has an unusually high number of Hydrogen II regions – shown in the image as bright purple areas – which is where new stars form. Many of these regions are bright and large, ionized by many extremely luminous and hot young stars. The Galaxy appears symmetric in most images that only reveal its central region, but it is really quite asymmetrical as a result of interactions with smaller companion galaxies. The galaxy’s core is displaced from the centre, likely as a result of a collision with another galaxy in the recent past. What’s also interesting about this galaxy is that it doesn’t appear to have a Black Hole at its centre (we know because we haven’t been able to detect the usual trace emissions in the galactic core). M101 also gained a brand new supernova last month – difficult to identify in my image, but for more information and get a better look at this, head over to BBC’s Sky at Night Magazine
This image was captured with my 1000mm Maksutov Newtonian Telescope and the ZWO ASI2600MM Pro Astro camera with Broadband filters and is about 6 hours of data.
The night sky, July 2023 – Rob’s guide for your stargazing this month:
I might complain about the lack of darkness, but the good thing about summer nights is that its warm to go out and explore the night sky! If you’re a fan of observing Venus you’ll notice this month that it will suddenly be gone from view! But before it does, watch its celestial dance with the Moon, Mercury and Mars. If you’re into your constellations, two ancients of the heavens are at their best this month. Sagittarius and Scorpius highlight the southern region of our night sky, set against the Milk Way. On the 3rd of July, we had our first of four supermoons that we’ll encounter this year. Don’t worry if you missed it, the next one’s in August, so there’s not long to wait! On 6th July at precisely 9.07pm, the Earth was the furthest from the Sun that we will be this year, known as the aphelion. Earth was a staggering 94.4 million miles from the Sun. Observe Venus, the evening star, on the evening of the 9th as it reaches brightest luminance in the night sky at a magnitude of just 4.5. If you’re an early bird on the 12th July, you can observe the bright gas giant Jupiter just before dawn as it hangs next to the crescent Moon. On the 19th, the crescent Moon sits close to brilliant Venus, which can be seen low towards the west after sunset. If you grab a pair of binoculars you will be able to see Mercury below the Moon, with the star Regulus, and planet Mars above Venus. The following night, on the 20th, these same celestial bodies do a switcharoo – Venus will be hanging below the Moon, with Regulus in between and Mars and Mercury seemingly engaged in a pincer movement to surround the Moon from the left and right. Next month; get yourselves ready for a spectacular Meteor shower! Until then, Clear Skies. 🙂
The 2023 Shaftesbury Fringe Festival is set to be the biggest ever, with a record 212 performances over three days. Notable acts this year include Fiona Allen, a double Emmy Award winner known for her work on Smack the Pony and various TV series. She will debut her stand-up show, On the Run. The Great Baldini, an illusionist, returns for the third consecutive year with his new show, Illusionati. Glam punk and funk band SOCK, led by Vince Venus, will bring high-energy performances to the festival. David Mamet’s play, Duck Variations, presented by Benchmark Theatre, promises to be witty and poignant. The festival covers various genres such as spoken word, theatre, dance, and live music, with performances at 36 locations throughout the town. A new addition is the Salcombe Brewery Stage, hosting acoustic performances. The organisers believe that the open-access nature of Shaftesbury Fringe is one of its greatest strengths. ‘There’s no element of curation or selection whatsoever,’ says Rob Neely, ‘Anybody who wants to perform can. It gives an element of discovery and a sense of the unexpected. You never know what you’re going to get.’ To find out more, go to shaftesburyfringe.co.uk
Excitement is building for the automotive show of the year – and there are plenty of new attractions, food and events during the day to entertain the whole family. Clayesmore and Aperta Events are delighted to welcome headline sponsor, Harwoods, who are set to wow the crowds with a magnificent collection of Astons, Bentleys, McLarens and many other rare vehicles. You won’t want to miss it!
We also welcome other sponsors and friends – Van Haven, Gritchie Brewery Co and HKC Prestige who are all coming together to create more than a stunning exhibition; it will be a relaxed and fun afternoon for all the family. It’s time for the kids to take the driving seat! We are also delighted to announce that we will have a brilliant new installation for children – they can come and have a go on our exciting off-road adventure obstacle course in mini electric LAND ROVERS! Thanks to Harwoods, every child can have a go for free, and earn their driving licence!
Don’t miss the REV OFF! Join us for the REV OFF competition! Twice during the day our supercars will be battling it out for decibel bragging rights. We’d say it’s not to be missed, but if you’re anywhere nearby you simply will not be able to miss it … VROOM!
And much, much more… We have more amazing caterers … stalls and stands for retail therapy … and the music, did we mention the music? See you there! BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW! bit.ly/classicsupercar2023
With capabilities not even imagined in 1948, the NHS is leaping forward with technology not just to heal, but to prevent and manage. Rachael Rowe reports
It’s 75 years since the NHS was established in 1948, providing free healthcare for British people. The service has completely changed over its lifetime as healthcare has continued to evolve, and it has seen incredible developments – from the first pacemakers to the introduction of robotic surgery. One of the most exciting is how digital technology is transforming care and preventing people from getting sick or having an accident. We should all start seeing more technology in the NHS in the next few years.
Where technology is working Many people are already benefitting. The innovations taking place go far beyond automated phone lines and appointments on Zoom. For example, 10,000 people with diabetes in Somerset use a digital platform to monitor their condition and learn more about how to help themselves – that’s a quarter of the county’s adult diabetes sufferers. The My Way Diabetes site is linked to GP data, so users can also see their medical records. Hospital at Home is another major development in the NHS, enabling people who are medically stable to be cared for and monitored in their own homes, using a range of devices such as blood pressure monitors, oximeters (to measure the level of oxygen in the blood) and more. The clinical teams looking after the hospital patients also care for those being monitored through the Hospital at Home programme, so there is continuity of care and even home visits where appropriate. In Dorset, the scheme has been extended to supporting oncology patients. Oncology consultant Dr Amelie Harle said: ’This innovative system, designed by patients and oncology teams together, provides patients with early advice at the onset of symptoms to empower a patient to safely manage milder symptoms at home or, when symptoms are more significant, to seek urgent advice from the Acute Oncology Hotline Service.’
Meet the Dorset DIIS Heather Case is head of the Dorset Intelligence and Insight Service (DIIS) at NHS Dorset and works alongside Janine Ord, head of population health management. The DIIS sounds mysterious, but is simply a database that has been developed to use anonymised NHS and social care data to pick up trends. There are no large management consultancy fees here, or outside companies offering to build technical systems with a hefty price tag. Instead, staff in Dorset have created ways of using data to identify trends in the population. The population health management team then works collaboratively with GPs and hospital colleagues to detect where attention is needed. Janine gives an example of how the use of their data and technology is making a difference in North Dorset specifically. ‘We looked at ways of preventing falls, by predicting the types of patient who were at risk of falling in the next 12 months. First, we looked at data from those people aged over 65 who had experienced an injurious fall, and we reviewed hospital data on fractured wrists and hips. Then we checked out any commonalities between them to identify those at highest risk of falling.’
Surprising causes But it’s what happened next that shows how the Dorset database is working its preventative magic. Heather says: ‘We gave our anonymised data to the North Dorset GPs, who were able to identify the people most at risk of falling using our model and invite them to an event where they could get help and advice to prevent falls. ‘For example, one of the common reasons people fall is that they are taking so many different types of medicines, so a pharmacist was there to provide support and answer questions. We also had physiotherapists and occupational therapists with advice on exercises to improve balance and strength.’ The data analysis helped the team to identify the common factors in those at risk of falling. Heather found increasing age, combined with having multiple chronic conditions, was a significant major factor. They also found some surprising information. ‘Depression and social isolation were a feature in some of those who had experienced falls. Probably because depressed or lonely people move less, they become medically de-conditioned. And another factor was those with urine infections – they were getting up to use the loo frequently in the dark, risking a fall.’
Asking the right questions The team can tailor the Dorset database to look at any condition from asthma to high blood pressure, and then identify the gaps where work could be done to prevent ill health. ‘However, we’re also working with clinical teams – who need the time and head-space to be able do the work,’ added Heather. They work collaboratively with local clinicians to refine their data models, making use of the clinical expertise to ask the right questions. When they initially reviewed the falls model, the data team could only find five per cent of the patients. But when the GP asked additional questions of the data, that rose to 33 per cent. So what’s next for this exciting database in Dorset? Heather has some priorities: ‘We’d like to look more at social care pathways (how people access both residential and community care in their home) and acute care, where a patient receives active, short-term treatment for a condition. Most of the work to date has been in primary care – general practice, community pharmacy, dental and optometry services.’ Janine has additional thoughts on the recent findings of the programme: ‘We’re working with social prescribers to try and identify the early signs of depression. It’s linked to social isolation, and it’s now understood that being socially isolated is the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. ‘It would be wonderful to be able to prevent problems instead of constantly being on the back foot with chronic disease.’ As the NHS celebrates its 75th birthday, the once-futuristic opportunities for keeping people healthy and preventing chronic disease are already here – and need to be used!
As the mother of four adult (OK, one’s 16, so she just thinks she’s adult) children, I find myself constantly amazed and inspired by the attitudes and resilience of the next generation. They navigate a world filled with challenges, uncertainties, and pressures; yet they continue to shine brightly, trying hard to make a positive impact. At every turn they are dismissed as ‘woke snowflakes’. Lazy sensitive souls who need to get a backbone. To face ‘real life’. To suck it up, buttercup, life’s not fair. Yet from where I’m sitting, I see a generation more tolerant and more inclusive than those who have come before. Lewis Capaldi was a headliner at Glastonbury this year, and I’m sure anyone who saw his set will always remember it. He has made no secret of his battle with Tourette’s, and through the performance, his tics became more pronounced. Eventually his voice failed. He simply stopped singing, his distress obvious. What struck me was the response from the crowd. The mass of ‘the youth of today’. No one mocked or jeered – instead, the vast sea of people raised their voices and sang for him. They carried him through, filling the spaces where he faltered. The acceptance, tolerance, understanding, empathy, and compassion exhibited by the Glastonbury crowd was beautiful. An example of the strength of unity in a world that seems so divided. It filled me with hope. (if you missed it, click play on the short video below) Our young people may be shouting down the intolerant voices of their elders. They may be angry at the world we are leaving them to fix. But their resilience, search for authenticity, and their unwavering hope for a better future are a daily inspiration – and a guilty poke at my grumpy cynical self. They’re also ridiculously funny. When I grow up, I plan to be more like them.
Rage against the mow (some more) Referring to the letter published in June titled ‘Rage against the mow’, I can’t help but express my deep disappointment as well. I wholeheartedly agree with Sarah G’s sentiments. The council’s actions of mowing during “No Mow May,” have shown blatant disregard for the welfare of local wildlife and the ecosystem. It’s high time they revisit their policies and take our local environment seriously. Name and address supplied
I am writing in response to the letter by Sarah G from Sturminster Newton about the premature trimming of our grass verges during “No Mow May”. Sarah’s concern resonated with me, but a public hounding – trendy though that may be now – is not the adult and mature way forward. Perhaps Sarah G should direct her enquiries to the council first? I think we need to discuss the reasons for such decisions instead of purely blaming the council. Perhaps we should invite the council to share their maintenance schedule and the rationale behind it, and open up a dialogue to avoid such issues in the future. Only then can we work together to preserve our local ecosystem. Tom Stanton, Sherborne
On Kickboxing I read your June 2023 editorial and couldn’t help but question your approach towards physical activity. It seems you are engaged in kickboxing to ‘spite’ your teenagers? Isn’t it crucial to undertake physical activities because they benefit us health-wise and not merely to prove a point to others? Moreover, the dismissive remark on your body not being a typical kickboxer’s may discourage other potential learners. Shouldn’t we promote body positivity and inclusivity in all aspects of life, including sports? Brian Thorne Wimborne (Though humorous, I’m fairly sure my letter was very clear in expressing my love for kickboxing, and in the fact that I take great joy in the sport. I am also very comfortable with being ‘an overweight middle-aged mum who kickboxes.’ and I strongly encourage everyone, no matter their body type, to get up and be more active. I passed my grading, by the way. Three more to black belt. Thanks for asking! – Ed)
On the Swanage hike I refer to your experience shared in June’s edition regarding your visit to the AONB near Swanage. While I appreciate your enthusiasm about the region’s stunning heathland and the peace one may find there (before the summer rush), I want to challenge your invitation to readers to explore the area. We must remember that such beautiful landscapes are delicate ecosystems that could potentially be harmed by increased foot traffic. Even with the best intentions, visitors can disrupt the local fauna and flora, inadvertently damaging these habitats. In the future, I request that you consider the potential impact on the environment before encouraging such visits. Marian S, Blandford
In your June 2023 issue, you detailed a beautiful walk from Swanage (I did a particularly lovely seven mile version using your suggested route and short cuts, thank you!) and also very much enjoyed your editorial expressing your delight in the beauty of Dorset in early summer. I would like to express my appreciation – the abundance of natural beauty in Dorset, from the lush hedgerows to the wildflower meadows and empty heathlands is often overlooked by those who either scoot past Dorset on their way elsewhere, or, sadly, by those so caught up in the treadmill of modern stressful life that they have no time to stop and enjoy it. I find your magazine motivates me every month – we locals must venture outdoors and explore our surroundings more often. Tina Gordon, Blandford
On the podcast I am a long-time subscriber and follower of the BV and, more recently, its associated podcast. I have recently been immensely impressed by the quality of the podcast, particularly over the last few months, and I felt compelled to voice my appreciation for the hard work and dedication demonstrated by the team. Firstly, I would like to commend the dynamic duo of Jenny Devitt and Terry Bennett. The relaxed yet insightful style of their interviews has become something I look forward to each month. Their engaging conversations provide a fresh perspective and understanding – I find even when I have already read the relevant magazine article I never fail to learn something new from the podcast. Recent highlights for me were Jenny’s talk with Natalie Wheen on her Dorset Island Discs, Lillie Smith and her rare breed pigs, I always enjoy Jane Adams when she appears and Terry’s interview with the chap from Sherborne Antiques prompted me to visit (and I’m so glad I did!). I’ll admit I always skip Karen Geary’s nutrition articles – not my thing – but her interview this week was interesting and entertaining, and is what prompted me to write. The podcast not only complements the magazine but adds another dimension to the stories, making them come alive in a unique way. I would encourage any BV reader who hasn’t yet dipped into the podcast to give it a try and enjoy the excellent interviews and stories that Jenny and Terry bring to us each month. Keep up the good work! Roger B, Shaftesbury
(If you’d like to dip in and listen, you can find all episodes of the BV podcast here)
The plan was for Pet of the Month to make editor Laura feel less guilty for the pets who don’t make the Reader’s Photography pages. Instead the Facebook parade of good pets that she had to choose from made life harder! Such brilliant pets. Would you like your pet to be featured? Share them on Facebook or send an email to [email protected]. Please be sure to include your pet’s name, age, and a couple of fun details about them.
Dr Jane Goodall made her name by quite literally redefining what it means to be human. Through her work with wild chimpanzees in Tanzania, she set the standard for how behavioural studies are conducted. She was born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall in London in 1934. When her father was posted to France early in WWII, Jane, her mother and younger sister Judith moved to her grandmother’s home in Bournemouth, which she has counted as home ever since. ‘When I was ten, I dreamed of going to Africa, living with animals and writing books about them,’ she told CNN in 2017. ‘We didn’t have any money, I was a girl, and the war was raging – so everyone except my mother laughed at it.’ Increasingly unhappy with the restrictions of school life, 16 year-old Jane wrote in an early 1951 diary: ‘Woke up to be faced by yet another dreary day of torture at that gloomy place of discipline and learning, where one is stuffed with “education” from day’s dawn to day’s eve.’
A dream of Africa
Nevertheless, she won two school prizes for essay writing and her exam grades were good enough to go to university. But her family couldn’t afford it, so instead she enrolled at secretarial college, and moved from one clerical job to another. Her opportunity came via an old school friend, who invited Jane to spend a few months at her family’s farm in Kenya. Jane credits her mother, Margaret Myfanwe Joseph – affectionately known as Vanne – with recognising her talent and passion at a time when girls were often discouraged from pursuing serious professions. Keen to nurture Jane’s ambitions, Vanne promptly said yes, despite society’s attitudes to allowing a young woman to board a ship to ‘deepest, darkest Africa’. Jane immediately fell in love with the country, and took an office job in Nairobi, where she met the paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey, curator of Nairobi’s natural history museum. Leakey was impressed by her and offered her a job. What Jane didn’t know was that Leakey was actually looking for someone to research chimpanzee behaviour, but didn’t want someone carrying the baggage of preconceptions of a university education. Leakey, according to National Geographic, believed Goodall’s lack of formal scientific training – along with her passion for animals – would make her the right choice to study the social lives of chimpanzees at Gombe, because she would not be biased by traditional thought and could study chimpanzees with an open mind. In 1958, at the age of 25, Jane Goodall travelled back to London and spent some time with experts in the fields of primate anatomy and behaviour. By the summer of 1960, Leakey had raised enough money to fund her work, and she returned to Africa. Girls were rarely seen embarking on trips for scientific research, and Jane’s mother accompanied her when she began her research on the Gombe chimpanzees on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in East Africa. British authorities complained that a young woman should not be living alone in the jungle, so Vanne accompanied her daughter as a chaperone for four months.
Jane acknowledges that the early weeks at Gombe were challenging. She developed a fever − probably malaria − that delayed the start of her work. Once she had recovered, the rugged terrain and thick vegetation made exploring the reserve difficult and she hiked miles without ever seeing a chimpanzee. Jane’s first venture into the dense forests of Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania began what would become six decades of intimate study of chimpanzees. She took an unorthodox approach, immersing herself in the chimpanzees’ habitat. After months of trying to gain their trust, she was able to experience their complex society as a neighbour, rather than as a distant observer. She then defied scientific convention by naming the chimpanzees rather than using the accepted numbering system, and also by suggesting that the chimps had emotions and personalities. She came to understand them not only as a species, but as individuals with complex minds, emotions and long-term bonds. Her ground-breaking discovery that chimps use tools challenged long-standing contemporary thinking, forever shifting the boundaries that separated humans from animals. Recognising her contributions to the field, Louis Leakey advised Jane to earn an academic qualification, which would allow her to gain independent research funding. He paved the way for her to embark on a PhD course in ethology at Cambridge University (only the eighth person ever to be admitted without an undergraduate degree). There, she found herself at odds with senior scientists over her methodology. Jane graduated in 1965, after presenting a thesis entitled Behaviour of the Free Ranging Chimpanzee’.
Jane Goodall with her friend Rusty, Bournemouth 1954. The Jane Goodall Institute / Courtesy of the Goodall Family
She then established the Gombe Stream Research Center, which became a training ground for students interested in studying primates, ecology and more. Today, it hosts a skilled team of researchers from around the world and dedicated Tanzanian field assistants. The research center at Gombe also attracted many women who had been nearly absent from the field when she began. ‘Jane Goodall’s trailblazing path for other women primatologists is arguably her greatest legacy,’ said Gilbert Grosvenor, chairman of The National Geographic Society. ‘Indeed, women now dominate long-term primate behavioural studies worldwide.’ Jane has spent more than half a century at Gombe National Park. Her research revolutionised the field of primatology, and is one of the longest-running field studies of any species. National Geographic, recognising her work, started sponsoring her research and published her first article, My Life Among Wild Chimpanzees, in 1963. This collaboration grew. Jane further upset the university authorities when she wrote her first book, My Friends, the Wild Chimpanzees, published by National Geographic, as it was aimed at the general public rather than an academic audience. The book was wildly popular – and her academic peers were outraged. A popular television documentary series, Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees, followed – and Jane became a household name.
In 1977, Jane established the Jane Goodall Institute, initially to support the research at Gombe and protect chimpanzees in their habitats. A decade later, flying to the first ever Chimpanzees in Context symposium, Dr Goodall saw from her aeroplane window the accelerated pace and scale of deforestation. At the symposium, she heard first-hand from fellow researchers about declining chimpanzee populations beyond her beloved Gombe. She realised she had to act to save chimpanzees from extinction. The Jane Goodall Institute soon grew to be a major part of Jane’s work, and the institute is now a global non-profit organisation, committed to community-centred conservation, a testament to Goodall’s philanthropic spirit and her belief in the power of individual action. ‘When we put local communities at the heart of conservation, we improve the lives of people, animals and the environment.’ A core part of the institute’s work is the Roots & Shoots programme, launched in 1991, which inspires and empowers young people, from pre-school to university, to become involved in hands-on projects to benefit their local community, animals and the environment. Jane Goodall’s activism work stems from her belief: ‘You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.’ Today, at 89 years old, Jane’s love for the wild, her passion for conservation and her commitment to fostering a better world for all, remain undeterred. Her work remains as essential as ever. While many of similar age might choose to bask in the comforts of retirement, Jane continues to work relentlessly, her determination and zeal undiminished as she continues to inspire and to drive change.
What’s your relationship with Dorset? Well, where I live now – Durley Chine Road on the West Cliff, it is where I grew up. The only difference is that back then it was part of Hampshire! I forget when our area became Dorset.
The last film you watched? My Octopus Teacher. Everyone should watch it to understand the uncanny intelligence of the octopus.
It’s Friday night – you have the house to yourself, and no work is allowed. What are you going to do? Well, I cannot imagine a time with no work allowed. But if it was so I would play a Beethoven, Mendelsohn or Dvorak symphony – or another piece of classical music. Loudly!
What book did you read last year that stayed with you? What made you love it? I have almost no time for reading – by bedtime my eyes are tired from gazing at a screen, or it is late after a lecture. I do, however, read my Kindle on planes. I love books – my house is full of them – but my Kindle can come with me with all sorts of books. The book that always stays with me, and the one which I read sections of on long flights, is Lord of the Rings. I love it because it is a completely imaginary world – yet it’s so very real. Also, it mirrors what is going on in the real world today. The Dark Lord is a combination of Putin, Bolsonaro, Trump etc. The black riders and the orcs are the CEOs of the extractive industries, animal traffickers and so on. We need to hugely increase the Fellowship of the Ring. And we all have to be prepared to join the fight to save planet earth. Of course there is hope – the ring does get thrown into the volcano and the hobbits are rescued. And I love that the dust given Sam by Galadriel restores damaged environments.
The best biscuit for dunking? None – I HATE the very thought of dunking ANY kind of biscuit!
What would you like to tell 15 year-old you? Exactly what my mother told me – if you want to do this (for me, this was to go to Africa, live with wild animals and write books about them) you must work hard, take advantage of all opportunities and if you never give up, hopefully you will find a way (of course, I did!).
Tell us about a sound or a smell that makes you happy? Gombe with the waves of Lake Tanganyika gently breaking on the beach. Or if I am in the forest, it’s the sound of rain pattering on the canopy of the forest above me. But what did make me happy, and I still think of it, is when on summer evenings, after I’d gone to bed, I’d hear my grandmother playing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata on the piano downstairs, window wide open, and the smell of roses coming through my open bedroom window.
What would you like to be remembered for? Two things, if that’s not greedy. The first is for helping to change attitudes about the true nature of animals – that they are sentient. They can feel emotions. They can feel pain. They are not just things. The second is for starting the Jane Goodall Institute’s youth programme, Roots & Shoots. It’s now in 69 countries (and growing), and involves hundreds of thousands of young people from kindergarten to university. Even adults are joining in now – there are some 1,600 groups in the UK alone. All the groups choose for themselves three projects; one to help people, one to help animals and one the environment – they are all interconnected.
What’s your secret superpower? Opening my mind to the great spiritual power that gives me strength when I am exhausted. Also, I am obstinate and won’t give up! And I get strength from audience reactions – you have to be energised when 10,000 people stand up cheering when you enter an auditorium. And then do it again after I’ve spoken!
Your favourite quote? From the Bible “As thy days, so shall thy strength be”. I think of it when I am facing something I dread – for example when I went into medical research labs where chimpanzees were being used as guinea pigs, giving them human diseases which other animals, less like us, could not be infected with. Seeing our closest living relatives – who I knew wild and free in their social groups in the rainforest of Gombe – confined, alone, in 5’ x 5’ cages surrounded by bars for testing vaccines or cures. Bored, imprisoned, frustrated and some fallen into deep depression. But I couldn’t talk about the conditions unless I had seen them with my own eyes.
Your top three most-visited websites (excluding news and social media)? I use Ecosia rather than Google because every time you use it they plant a tree. And it is basically the same platform as Google. I don’t often visit websites – only to check out stories sent to my email about events in the outside world. But I do use the BBC and Al Jazeera to check on news.
What was the last gift you either gave someone, or received? I gave a beautifully carved wooden woodpecker, made from soft wood by a local artist in Halifax, Canada. It was a gift for someone who lent me his cabin for a free weekend during a tour in Canada – a little cabin on a lake shore surrounded by tall trees. The only problem – if you put a toe outside it was instantly attacked by ten large hungry female mosquitoes (males live on nectar, not blood)!
Tell us about one of the best evenings you’ve had? After 89 years on the planet I cannot possibly pick out a single best evening! But there are some that do live in my memory: Sitting around a camp fire on the Serengeti, with the sound of lions roaring. Sitting out by the Platte river at sunset, listening to the sound of thousands of sandhill cranes as they fly in, formation after formation, to roost in the river. A few evenings with my mother, long ago when I was first study-ing the chimps. We would sit round a little camp fire, lit by a hurricane lamp, and were almost always accompanied by Terry the Toad and sometimes a genet, who became tame. We called her Crescent because of a distinctively-shaped spot on her coat. I would tell Mum about what I had seen during my day in the forest. Oh, and New Year’s Eve with my family in Bournemouth, when all the lower rooms were lit by only candles, waiting for midnight.
What is your comfort meal? I’m vegan, and for me it’s a plate of spinach, asparagus and sautéed mushrooms, with mashed potato.
What in life is frankly a mystery to you? What happens after I die. On a more mundane level – I don’t know, sometimes, how I keep going through an exhausting tour.
Cats or dogs (or, in this case, chimpanzees)? Chimpanzees are too like humans. I don’t think of them as animals, and there are some nice and some less so. Dogs win every time. The dog I had as a child, Rusty, taught me that animals have personality, reasoning power and emotions – because of him I was able to insist that we humans were not alone in having these qualities when I was told by ethology professors in Cambridge University in 1961 that humans were completely separate from the rest of the animal kingdom. Now, of course, we know about the amazing intelligence of pigs, rats, crows, parrots – even octopuses. And they all have personalities and emotions.
What shop can you not pass by? I seldom have time to go in anywhere, but if I am walking down a street in the old parts of London, Paris, Vienna, New York etc – in the NON touristy parts! – and I have a few minutes before my next event, then it would be a shop selling secondhand curiosities. You never know what treasures you may find. Or the little shops in Venice selling Venetian glass – the little animals and so on.
What’s your most annoying trait? I’ve asked five people who know me well and they could not think of even one! But I irritate myself by not remembering things – like what name I filed a document under, or where I put something.
You have the power to pass one law, uncontested. What will you do with it? Give all animals the equivalent of legal personhood.
