The chimps’ champion
As a new film celebrates her life’s work in chimpanzee conservation, Jane Goodall tells why she wasn’t surprised when her close friend gave up his role
Dr Jane Goodall still has her childhood copy of The Story Of Doctor Dolittle, a book that set her on an extraordinary path.
‘Valerie Jane, Christmas 1942’ reads the inscription on the inside cover. The book was given to her by her grandmother and at one point in a wonderful new National Geographic documentary about Dr Goodall’s life and work called Jane Goodall:
The Hope, she turns to her favourite illustration – monkeys making a bridge by linking tails so Doctor Dolittle can walk across a ravine – and she smiles. ‘But for you, I might never have gone to Africa,’ she tells the monkeys.
Now we know Dr Goodall as a conservationist and the world’s leading authority on chimpanzees. In 1900 there were a million chimpanzees in Africa, but because of hunting and the destruction of their habitats this number has now fallen to less than 300,000. But the Jane Goodall Institute is a powerhouse, and 5,000 chimpanzees and gorillas live in habitats it protects. In recent years she has focused on passing the baton to a new generation. Her Roots & Shoots charity has thousands of young members across 100 countries. ‘Young people are learning they have a voice to work for change,’ she says. ‘When I’m gone, they will take over.’
Her obsession with apes was in its infancy when she took off to Africa aged 23 – unheard of back then – and embarked on a life studying primates. Today she’s 86 and back in the Bournemouth bedroom she grew up in. But in a typical year she’s ‘on the road’ for around 300 days, travelling between her home and Tanzania, where her heart lies.
In between are visits to lecture halls and centres all over Europe and the USA. She meets presidents, leaders of industry, royals and politicians. In terms of influence, she’s up there with David Attenborough as a trusted custodian and educator.
In the film, Prince Harry meets her at a conservation event, and greets her like the old friend she is. They not only embrace, but she dances a little jig with him. They go back a long way and are close, she says, ‘because we have many things in common’. This is illustrated by the fact that when Meghan guest-edited Vogue last September, she commissioned Harry to interview Jane.
It was less of a grilling and more of a conversation, revealing as much about interviewer as interviewee. Harry revealed he and his wife plan to have two children at most, and the pair discussed how human selfishness is affecting the planet. ‘What I love about your work is that you focus on the younger generation,’ Harry said. ‘When you start to peel away all the layers, all the taught behaviour... at the end of the day, we are all humans.’ Today, Jane reveals that not only did they chat about saving the world, she got to meet baby Archie. ‘At the end Meghan came in to listen with Archie. He was very tiny and sleepy – not too pleased to be passed from his mummy. I think I was one of the first to cuddle him outside the family,’ she says, clearly chuffed.
Was she surprised to learn Harry was, even then, planning to leave his royal life? She wasn’t – and it sounds like she had a remarkable foretaste of what was to come. ‘I made Archie do the Queen’s wave, saying, “I suppose he’ll have to learn this”. Harry said, “No, he’s not growing up like that.”’
Jane’s travels have been interrupted by the coronavirus crisis. ‘I was on my way to the airport to go to Belgium when they said, “Don’t come!” We had to cancel Austria, then a tour of America and Canada.
‘Maybe it’s giving me a foretaste of when my body shows me up, because you can’t travel for 300 days of the year forever. It’s practice,’ she says, cheerfully. ‘But I never want to stop. Some people get frustrated being holed up, but I take the dog out every day at 2pm. I wake early and work then come down for some coffee and toast.’
She has this one sorted, then. ‘We’ve had these things before,’ she points out. ‘I grew up in the Second World War so I’m less scared. We had difficult things in Africa, being caught up in civil wars. And we’ve had epidemics.’
The overwhelming impression you get watching the cameras follow her in the film is how difficult it is for the cameraman to keep up. She takes off at a sprint backstage at one event. This is a woman who feels time is running out, in all senses.
The new film is a joy because it focuses as much on Jane the person as it does on Dr Goodall the legend. She’s filmed in her hotel room, practising what she preaches. Coffee grounds are used twice, and there’s a segment where she’s toasting her bread on the hotel iron.
It’s little wonder her story captivated the world. She was beautiful, and the camera loved her as much as the apes did. She praises the man behind a lot of the early footage – her first husband, the Dutch film-maker Hugo van Lawick. The marriage lasted a decade until 1974 and produced her only child Hugo, known as Grub. He and his children appear, showing Jane in ‘grandma’ mode. But woe betide anyone who calls her Granny – she goes by Gaj, short for Great Aunt Jane, coined by her nieces and nephews.
There’s a startling moment in the film where she’s asked what her next adventure will be. ‘Dying,’ she says, without pause. ‘What greater adventure is there?’ And where would she like to die? ‘I don’t care,’ she says. ‘Of course, we mind how we die, and I don’t want to die of Covid-19, thank you. But I’ll die easier if I’ve done my bit. If it’s no use, I’ll die trying.’
Jane Goodall: The Hope, Wednesday 22 April, 8pm, National Geographic and Nat Geo WILD.