Margaret Durrell

Who was Margaret Durrell?

Margaret "Margo" Isabel Mabel Durrell was the younger sister of novelist Lawrence Durrell, and elder sister of naturalist, author and TV presenter Gerald Durrell, whose Corfu Trilogy of novels — My Family and Other Animals, Birds, Beasts and Relatives and Garden of the Gods — lampoons her character variously.

Born in British India, she was brought up in India, England and Corfu. In 1935, Margo accompanied her mother, Gerald and Leslie to Corfu, following her eldest brother, Lawrence, who had moved there with his first wife, Nancy Myers. By 1939, when her mother returned to England with Gerald and Leslie following the outbreak of World War II, Margo decided her real home was on Corfu and returned, sharing a peasant cottage with some local friends. Later the same year she met a British Royal Air Force pilot, Jack Breeze, who was stationed on the island. He convinced her of the dangers of staying on Corfu, and left with her to South Africa; the pair married in 1940. Margo lived with Breeze in South Africa for the remainder of the war. When the war ended, Margo and her husband moved to Bournemouth. Margo and Jack Breeze had two children: Gerry and Nicholas.