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Desmond Morris

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For the rugby player, see Des Morris. For the athlete, see Desmond Morris (athlete).

Desmond Morris
FLS hon. caus.
Morris in 1969
Born
Desmond John Morris

(1928-01-24) 24 January 1928 (age 96)
Purton, Wiltshire, England
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Zoologist and ethologist
Known forThe Naked Ape (1967)
Spouse
Ramona Baulch
​
​
(m. 1952; died 2018)​
Children1
Scientific career
FieldsZoology
ThesisThe reproductive behaviour of the ten-spined stickleback (1954)
Doctoral advisorNiko Tinbergen

Desmond John Morris FLS hon. caus. (born 24 January 1928) is an English zoologist, ethologist and surrealist painter, as well as a popular author in human sociobiology. He is known for his 1967 book The Naked Ape, and for his television programmes such as Zoo Time.

Early life and education

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Morris was born in Purton, Wiltshire, to Marjorie (née Hunt) and children's fiction author Harry Morris. In 1933, the Morrises moved to Swindon where Desmond developed an interest in natural history and writing. He was educated at Dauntsey's School, a boarding school in Wiltshire.[1]

In 1946, Morris joined the British Army for two years of national service, becoming a lecturer in fine arts at the Chiseldon Army College in Wiltshire. After being demobilised in 1948, he held his first one-man show of his own paintings at the Swindon Arts Centre, and studied zoology at the University of Birmingham. In 1950 he held a surrealist art exhibition with Joan Miró at the London Gallery. He held many other exhibitions in later years.[1] Also in 1950, Desmond Morris wrote and directed two surrealist films, Time Flower and The Butterfly and the Pin. In 1951 he began a doctorate at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, in animal behaviour.[1] In 1954, he earned a Doctor of Philosophy for his work on the reproductive behaviour of the ten-spined stickleback.[2]

Career

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Morris stayed at Oxford, researching the reproductive behaviour of birds. In 1956 he moved to London as Head of the Granada TV and Film Unit for the Zoological Society of London, and studied the picture-making abilities of apes.[1] The work included creating programmes for film and television on animal behaviour and other zoology topics. He hosted Granada TV's weekly Zoo Time programme until 1959, scripting and hosting 500 programmes, and 100 episodes of the show Life in the Animal World for BBC2.[1] In 1957 he organised an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, showing paintings and drawings composed by common chimpanzees. In 1958 he co-organised an exhibition, The Lost Image, which compared pictures by infants, human adults, and apes, at the Royal Festival Hall in London. In 1959 he left Zoo Time to become the Zoological Society's Curator of Mammals.[1] In 1964, he delivered the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on Animal Behaviour. In 1967 he spent a year as executive director of the London Institute of Contemporary Arts.[1]

Morris's books include The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal,[3] published in 1967. The book sold well enough for Morris to move to Malta in 1968 to write a sequel and other books. In 1973 he returned to Oxford to work for the ethologist Niko Tinbergen.[4] From 1973 to 1981, Morris was a Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford.[5] In 1979 he undertook a television series for Thames TV, The Human Race, followed in 1982 by Man Watching in Japan, The Animals Road Show in 1986 and then several other series.[1] Morris wrote and presented the BBC documentary The Human Animal and its accompanying book in 1994. National Life Stories conducted an oral history interview (C1672/16) with Morris, in 2015, for its Science and Religion collection held by the British Library.[6]

Morris is a Fellow honoris causa of the Linnean Society of London.[7]

Personal life

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Morris's father suffered lung damage in World War I, and died when Morris was 14. He was not allowed to go to the funeral and said later; "It was the beginning of a lifelong hatred of the establishment. The church, the government and the military were all on my hate list and have remained there ever since."[8] His grandfather William Morris, an enthusiastic Victorian naturalist and founder of the Swindon local newspaper,[1] greatly influenced him during his time living in Swindon.

In July 1952, Morris married Ramona Baulch; they had one son, Jason.[1] In 1978 Morris was elected vice-chairman of Oxford United.[2] While a director of the club, he designed its ox-head badge based on a Minoan-style bull’s head, which remains in use to this day.[9]

Morris lived in the same house in North Oxford as the 19th-century lexicographer James Murray who worked on the Oxford English Dictionary.[10] He has exhibited at the Taurus Gallery in North Parade, Oxford, close to where he lived.[11] He is the patron of the Friends of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery and gave a talk to launch the charity in 1993.[12] Since the death of his wife in 2018 he has lived with his son and family in Ireland.[13]

Bibliography

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Books

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  • The Biology of Art: a Study of the Picture-making Behaviour of the Great Apes and Its Relationship to Human Art. Knopf. 1963.
  • The Big Cats (1965) – part of The Bodley Head Natural Science Picture Books, looking at the habits of the five Big Cats.[14]
  • The Mammals: A Guide to the Living Species (1965) – a listing of mammal genera, non-rodent non-bat species, and additional information on select species.
  • Men and Pandas (1966) with Ramona Morris – third volume in the Ramona and Desmond Morris animal series.
  • The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal. New York: McGraw-Hill. 1967. – a look at the humanity's animalistic qualities and its similarity with other apes. In 2011, Time magazine placed it on its list of the 100 best or most influential non-fiction books written in English since 1923.[15]
  • Men and Snakes (1968) with Ramona Morris – an exploration of the various complex relationships between humans and snakes
  • The Human Zoo (1969) – a continuation of The Naked Ape, analysing human behaviour in big modern societies and their resemblance to animal behaviour in captivity.
  • Patterns of Reproductive Behavior (1970)
  • Intimate Behaviour (1971) – A study of the human side of intimate behaviour, examining how natural selection shaped human physical contact.
  • Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behaviour (1978) – includes discussion of topic "Tie Signs"
  • Gestures: Their Origin and Distribution (1979)
  • Animal Days (1979)
  • The Soccer Tribe (1981)
  • Pocket Guide to Manwatching (1982)
  • Inrock (1983)
  • Bodywatching – A Field Guide to the Human Species (1985)
  • The Book of Ages: Who Did What When (1985)
  • The Art of Ancient Cyprus (1985)
  • Catwatching and Cat Lore (1986)
  • Dogwatching (1986)
  • Horsewatching (1989)
  • Animalwatching (1990)
  • Babywatching (1991)
  • Christmas Watching (1992)
  • Bodytalk (1994)
  • The Human Animal (1994) – book and BBC documentary TV series
  • The Human Sexes (1997) – Discovery/BBC documentary TV series
  • Cat World: A Feline Encyclopedia (1997)
  • The Secret Surrealist: The Paintings of Desmond Morris (1999)
  • Body Guards: Protective Amulets and Charms (1999)
  • The Naked Eye (2001)
  • Dogs: The Ultimate Dictionary of over 1,000 Dog Breeds (2001)
  • Peoplewatching: The Desmond Morris Guide to Body Language (2002)
  • The Naked Woman: A Study of the Female Body (2004)
  • Linguaggio muto (Dumb Language) (2004)
  • The Nature of Happiness (2004)
  • Watching (2006) – autobiography
  • Fantastic Cats (2007)
  • The Naked Man: A Study of the Male Body (2008)
  • Baby: A Portrait of the First Two Years of Life (2008)
  • Planet Ape (2009) (co-authored with [Steve Parker])
  • Owl (2009) – Part of the Reaktion Books Animal series
  • The Artistic Ape (2013)
  • Monkey (2013) – Part of the Reaktion Books Animal series
  • Leopard (2014) – Part of the Reaktion Books Animal series
  • Bison (2015) – Part of the Reaktion Books Animal series
  • Cats in Art (2017) – Part of the Reaktion Books Animal series
  • The Lives of the Surrealists (2018)
  • Postures: Body Language in Art (2019)
  • The British Surrealists (2022)

Book reviews

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Year Review article Work(s) reviewed
1994 "CATS". The New York Review of Books. 41 (18): 16–17. 3 November 1994. Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall (1994). The Tribe of Tiger: Cats and Their Culture. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0671799656.

Filmography

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  • Zootime (Weekly, 1956–67)
  • Life (1965–67)
  • The Human Race (1982)
  • The Animals Roadshow (1987–89)
  • The Animal Contract (1989)
  • Animal Country (1991–96)
  • The Human Animal (1994)
  • The Human Sexes (1997)

Criticism

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Some of Morris's theories have been criticised as untestable. For instance, geneticist Adam Rutherford writes that Morris commits "the scientific sin of the 'just-so' story – speculation that sounds appealing but cannot be tested or is devoid of evidence".[16] However, this is also a criticism of adaptationism in evolutionary biology, not just of Morris.

Morris is also criticised for suggesting that gender roles have an evolutionary rather than a purely cultural background.[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Williams, D. "Desmond Morris Biography". Desmond-morris.com. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  2. ^ a b Dunbar, Robin (24 September 2017). "The Naked Ape at 50". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 November 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  3. ^ Morris 1967.
  4. ^ Harré, R. (2006). "Chapter 5: The Biopsychologists". Key Thinkers in Psychology, pp. 125–132. London: Sage.
  5. ^ "Desmond Morris". Social Issues Research Centre. Archived from the original on 8 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  6. ^ National Life Stories, 'Morris, Desmond (1 of 2) National Life Stories Collection: Science and Religion', The British Library Board, 2015 Archived 18 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 October 2017
  7. ^ "Royal Patrons and Honorary Fellows". The Linnean Society.
  8. ^ Douglas, Alice (1 November 2008). "My family values: Desmond Morris interview". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  9. ^ "The history of the United Badge". Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  10. ^ Moss, Stephen (18 December 2007). "We'd be better off if women ran everything". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  11. ^ "Taurus Gallery". Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  12. ^ Administrator. "Get Involved". www.swindonmuseumandartgallery.org.uk. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  13. ^ Mulcahy, Miriam (4 April 2020). "Desmond Morris on the Irish". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 4 April 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  14. ^ The Big Cats ... Illustrated by Barry Driscoll. Bodley Head Natural Science Picture Books. The British Library Board. 1965. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2015. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  15. ^ Schrobsdorff, Susanna. "All-Time 100 Nonfiction Books". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original on 2 April 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  16. ^ Rutherford 2019, p. 71.
  17. ^ Moss, Stephen (18 December 2007). "'We'd be better off if women ran everything'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
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