Journeys in the Wild: The Secret Life of a Cameraman

Gavin Thurston
Orion Spring, £8.99

I am sorry to be one of the few people who has seen very little of Gavin Thurston’s camerawork – there is no TV where I live in Mozambique – although I know it is world famous. An award-winning cameraman who has been working for more than 30 years,
Thurston is the man behind some of the most beautiful sequences featured in Sir David Attenborough’s wildlife documentaries.

He has written his autobiography as diary entries, often jumping between years and places. We are all lucky that he got a Box Brownie camera when he was young, and for the lift home from college that led to him joining Oxford Films.

And what a life he has had. That he can describe all that he has done and seen without making this reviewer jealous testifies to what a warm-hearted, unassuming person he must be.

Thurston has filmed at the North and South Poles, from the harshest deserts to the darkest depths of the oceans.
Behind the scenes, of course, it’s not always plain sailing and Thurston describes car wrecks, plane crashes, mosquito bites and many other trials and tribulations, all faced with an indomitable sense of humour.

Journeys in the Wild is a thoroughly enjoyable read and features a foreword by Sir David Attenborough.

Derek Charlwood