Classic Desert Island Discs - Dr Jane Goodall

Lauren Laverne· Host0:00

Lauren Laverne here. We're taking our Easter break, so until we're back on air, we're showcasing a few programs from our archive. As usual, the music's been shortened for rights reasons. This week's guest is the primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall, who died last year at the age of 91. Sue Lawley cast her away in 2000.

Sue Lawley· Host0:18

[instrumental music] My castaway this week is a naturalist. When she was 26, she traveled to Africa to fulfill a lifelong dream and study animals. At a place called Gombe on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, her dreams became reality. From her observation of the chimpanzees who lived there, came the realization of how close we humans are to our animal ancestors, and a life devoted to man's relationship to the planet he inhabits. Her critics have called her anthropomorphic, unscientific, but she is unrepentant. "I've tried to assuage some of the guilt we all must feel for our inhumanity to man and beast alike," she says, "and I shall go on trying to the end." She is Jane Goodall. Jane, yours really is a story of a dream coming true. Can you remember when you first arrived in the Gombe, did you know instantly that this was the place