When your father is a millionaire eccentric, with a vision of creating some sort of equatorial rainforest in your back garden in Kent, your childhood is never exactly going to be 'normal'. Still, Damian Aspinall's earliest memories take some beating. One involves him climbing a tree, as six-year-olds do, and getting stuck. His father, 'being my father', reacted in a rather peculiar way.
'He just walked off, saying something like, "Oh, Damian, you'll figure it out". 'That's what he was like. Strict. Harsh. He thought things like that would toughen me up. Anyway, I remember crying my eyes out, for what seemed like ages. Eventually, one of our female gorillas climbed up and carried me down in her arms. She spent the rest of the day comforting me. I've never forgotten that feeling.'
