Jane. Of Bournemouth.

Bournemouth is, by British standards, a relatively new town. It celebrated its bicentenary in 2010 just as my other home, Mexico, was celebrating its own Bicentenario, So the list of great and good that have called Bournemouth home isn’t as lengthy as many other towns and cities. But what Bournemouth lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality. I can’t think of many folk I’d rather have represent my town than Jane Goodall. Alas, Jane died yesterday. You probably already heard the news.

Almost everyday I’ll walk into town through Bournemouth Gardens past a pair or steel portraits commemorating two Bournemouth legends. One is Jane Goodall. The other is a bloke called Nonny who used to shout very loudly at local football matches. I have previously mentioned that the list of global Bournemouth legends isn’t a long one, and Nonny demonstrates my point superbly. The photo at the top of the post is Jane’s portrait. You’d probably guessed as much already.

I must confess, having loved her chimpanzee stuff in my childhood, I’d largely forgotten about Jane until about 2017 or 2018, when new film came out, appropriately called Jane, and currently streaming on Disney+ in the UK. Mrs P had spotted it playing at Poole’s Lighthouse theatre. So we went along. It’s really quite wonderful.

In early March 2020, as Covid was slowly strangling the planet, Jane was interviewed in London by John Simpson at a Times event. I’m a subscriber and managed to snag a couple of tickets. It was one of the last things we got to see, on a dark, wet and tense London night, before lockdown. You can see it today, in less tense times (Covid wise) on You Tube. Jane spent lockdown in Bournemouth. We did look out for her on our walks, in much the same way as she might have been looking out for chimps on one of hers. But with much less success. We didn’t spot her. The <insert Attenborough voice> Janus Goodallius can be an elusive creature <end Attenborough voice>.

The world needs more Janes.