The Life in My Years

by McKenna, Virginia

• ISBN13: 9781849430357
• ISBN10: 1849430357
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-12-28
• Publisher: Oberon Books Ltd

Summary

Now in a paperback edition, this book will inspire anyone who cares about the future of the planet and all the creatures dependent on it, including human beings. This is the inspirational story of Virginia McKenna, who starred in some of the most popular and enduring movies of our time, such as Born Free.

Author Biography

Virginia McKenna OBE is perhaps best known for her role as Joy Adamson in Born Free, one of many films she made with her late husband Bill Travers. Her other films include Carve Her Name with Pride, A Town Like Alice, The Smallest Show on Earth and Ring of Bright Water. Her stage career has ranged from Perdita in Peter Brook's 1951 production of A Winter's Tale to Gertrude in the RSC's Hamlet in 1984. Bill and Virginia founded Zoo Check (later the Born Free Foundation) in 1984. Virginia's books include Into the Blue (1992), Some of My Friends Have Tails (1971) and On Playing with Lions (1966), which she co-wrote with Bill. She was also a contributor to Beyond the Bars: the Zoo Dilemma (1987). Virginia was awarded the OBE for services to the arts and animal conservation. She has four children, ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. vi
Prologue	p. ix
You Can See Forever	p. 1
Childhood	p. 4
The King and I	p. 13
I Return to Africa	p. 19
Pole Pole and the Birth of Zoo Check	p. 27
Bill	p. 33
Growing Up	p. 41
Burma	p. 43
Thoughts at Home	p. 50
Normandy	p. 54
Zoo Campaigns	p. 60
Murder at Kora	p. 64
Zanskar, Land of Buddhism	p. 71
Sardinia	p. 82
Ring of Bright Water	p. 85
Lark Ascending	p. 92
Friends and Acquaintances	p. 96
Saving the Bears	p. 102
The Odd Couple	p. 105
Shocked into the Present	p. 111
Christian the Lion	p. 113
Dark Times	p. 120
One Lucky Break after Another!	p. 124
Carve Her Name with Pride	p. 131
Sea Change	p. 136
The 'Laws' of Nature	p. 145
The Family Trees	p. 150
The Spirit of Elsa	p. 167
The Queen's Garden	p. 178
To the Rescue!	p. 181
Planet Earth	p. 196
Saving the Children	p. 198
'At Peace', She Said	p. 203
The Far East	p. 206
A Taste of Hollywood	p. 211
Reflections, Lake Geneva	p. 214
Doomed Elephants	p. 218
Fighting for Lives	p. 222
Moscow Interlude	p. 225
More Zoo Checks	p. 228
Epilogue	p. 241
Index	p. 242
Photograph Credits	p. 244
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.