Jane Goodall

I sort of was choosing music and things like that for these documentary films.

And it was a fascinating job and I met lots of people but didn't pay very well.

Lots of jobs didn't just after the war.

So when I had a letter from a school friend inviting me to Kenya where her parents had just bought a farm...

I instantly handed in my resignation and went home and worked as a waitress and saved up my wages and my tips until I had enough for a return fare by boat.

So once I got out to Kenya in Nairobi, I heard about Louis Leakey and somebody said, Jane, if you really are interested in animals, you should meet Louis.

So I made an appointment immediately.

went to see him in his office at the Natural History Museum.

And I think he was impressed because although I didn't have a degree, I'd gone on reading about Africa and animals and I could answer so many of his questions.

So he gave me a job working for him that same day, the day I met him.

I was just writing his letters and speaking to people on the phone and, you know, that kind of thing.

But I had the amazing opportunity of going with him, his wife, and one other young English girl onto the Serengeti, to the now famous Olduvai Gorge, where so many early human fossils have been found.

But at that time, only the remains of prehistoric non-humans had been found.

So instead of being a road leading there as there is today, this was wild, untouched Africa.

No tracks, no trails, just occasionally the odd Maasai walking by.

And all the animals were there.

So that after the hard work of searching for bones, fossilized bones during the day...

In the hot sun, Gillian and I were allowed to go onto the plains and, you know, there were giraffe and zebra and antelopes and one evening a rhino and one evening a young male lion who followed us quite a long way.

And I think that's when Lewis realized I was the person he'd been looking for.

You know, I didn't care about clothes and hairdressers and parties and boyfriends.