Michaela Denis(1914-2003)

Michaela Denis was a pioneer of wildlife television. With her glamorous image and immaculate make-up, she roamed Africa with her husband, Armand. She was charged by a hippopotamus and nearly strangled by a python but never lost her fifties poise. She was born Michaela Wandsworth in London to a White Russian mother and an archaelogist who was killed in the First World War when Michaela was three months old. She trained as a dress designer, got engaged to an American admiral, then met the Belgian film-maker Armand Denis. They were married in the Andes but Africa was their passion. Their first British television series, "Filming Wild Animals", was in 1954 with Michaela as presenter and Armand doing the voice-over. This was followed by "On Safari", "Safari to Asia" and "Armand and Michaela Denis". They settled in Nairobi, where Armand died in 1971. Michaela married Sir William O'Brian Lindsay, the former chief justice of Sudan, but he died three months later. Michaela died on the 4th of May, 2003, aged 88.