BORN ON THIS DAY

GERALD DURRELL (1925-1995). The Indian-born British conservationist and TV presenter wrote 37 books, including My Family And Other Animals, which inspired the hit ITV series The Durrells. As a child, he had a collection of dozens of creatures, including owls and scorpions. Durrell, who called himself a ‘champion of small uglies’, founded Jersey Zoo, where islander Graeme le Saux — once the most expensive defender in English football — helped out in the gorilla enclosure. BUTTERFLY McQUEEN (1911-1995) The actress who played Prissy, Scarlett O’Hara’s maid, in Gone With The Wind could not attend the film’s premiere because it was held at a whites-only cinema. The star once said: ‘I didn’t mind playing a maid the first time, because I thought that was how you got into the business. But after I did the same thing over and over, I resented it.’