Zoo Quest for a Dragon

David Attenborough (author, reader)

BBC Worldwide Ltd, 1999: 2 audio cassettes

ISBN: 0563552816

Genres: audiobook, autobiography, science

Issues: animal management, sustainability

2 audio cassettes: 3hrs 15mins

Note: now available on CD

David Attenborough's commitment to nature documentaries began in the 1950s with a black and white series called ‘Zoo Quest'. Together with the London Zoo's Curator of Reptiles, Jack Lester, Attenborough persuaded the BBC to mount and film a joint animal-collecting expedition.

The result was a remarkable breakthrough in nature documentaries. Using 16mm film and the rather primitive sound recording equipment of the time, they captured remarkable footage of previously unseen birds, unusual lizards, and the famous Orang Utan.

In the 3 hours and 15 minutes of these two audio cassettes, the listener is regaled with the many hilarious adventures that Attenborough, Lester, and their film crew ‘enjoyed' as they filmed the documentaries. Particularly amusing, especially when told with Attenborough's dry, understated humour, are the stories of finding, filming and finally catching a Komodo Dragon - a task not made any easier when they realise that the incompetent captain of the boat on which they are travelling does not even know where Komodo Island is.

Readers who have enjoyed Gerald Durrell's hilarious stories, or enjoyed Attenborough's documentaries, will be delighted at this opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes understanding of the many difficulties of making such programs.