Footprint Press and Two Oceans Aquarium invite you and your partner to the launch of Curator and Crusader by Mike Bruton on Sunday 11 August 2019 at 18h30 for 19h00 at Dock Road at the V&A Waterfront. Simply email david@footprintpress.co.za to RSVP.
A mystery egg (is it a dodo’s?), a wandering hippo, an enigmatic human skull, a secret visit by a famous aviator, a fafi stone, the fossil of an extinct animal, the most famous fish in the world (coelacanth), ancient human footprints, a Blinkwater Monster, the German settler centenary, amaXhosa customs, innovative dioramas, a museum ghost and rugged expeditions into remote parts of southern Africa to collect specimens for her beloved museum. These were just some of the ingredients in the colourful life of pioneering museum curator, Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer. Marjorie was also the first bird ringer in South Africa and an early researcher on birds, indigenous plants and shells. She started a range of civic and scientific societies and launched a series of temporary exhibitions that delighted visitors to the East London Museum. From humble beginnings, and with no formal post-school education, she developed from a child prodigy into a world famous figure whose life is a classic example of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. Her name lives on in the names of the coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae, a flowering plant, Lachenalia latimerae and a hunter snail, Gulella latimerae.
About the author
Mike Bruton was born in East London where he first met Marjorie Courtenay Latimer, and the coelacanth, as a budding young naturalist. He studied ichthyology at Rhodes University and served as director of the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology. He was then appointed as the Education Director at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town and started the Cape Town Science Centre, remaining in contact with Marjorie throughout his career. He recently published his autobiography, When I was a Fish. Tales of an Ichthyologist.
