"With an ear for irony and human folly, Lloyd acts as a trail guide for readers who may have no experience in our national parks while able at the same time to provoke wonder and intrigue in even the most seasoned wilderness explorer.”
–Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, author of Even As We Breathe
In his twenties, broke, brokenhearted, and fearful about the future, Jeremy Lloyd stumbled into a job that would change his life. More than two decades later, still an educator at Tremont in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Lloyd recounts his journey as a teacher and student of the great outdoors in Forest Footnotes to an Education Outdoors. Blending natural history, daring—and sometimes foolish—adventure, and spiritual balm for a world suffering from widespread disconnection from nature, Forest Time is equal parts personal, educational, and existential. Lloyd’s stories about his work as an educator at an overnight nature center are filled with humility and conviction, examining his relationships to the forests, mountains, and rivers he calls home.
Wrestling with the intersections between the wild natural landscape, high-volume tourism, and the national park system, Lloyd’s explorations are born from his extensive experience and personal relationship with the park. His voice and candor are as refreshing and distinctive as the natural environment he writes about, reminding readers that the mountains are not only national treasures but also a remedy for modernity’s errors and a cultural malaise fixated on material gain and ultimate safety and comfort. Vulnerable, hilarious, and widely accessible, Forest Time fits appropriately on shelves beside the works of Edward Abbey, Annie Dillard, and Kevin Fedarko.
Jeremy Lloyd is an English writer, screenwriter, author and actor, best known as co-author and writer of several successful British sitcoms.
The gangly Lloyd began his career as a writer in 1958 before making his film debut 2 years later in 1960 in School for Scoundrels, and appeared in numerous film and television comedies during the 1960s and 1970s, notably Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In as a regular performer in 1969-70. He was lauded in America where they loved his patrician upper class depiction of an Englishman. Back in England after one particular series had been completed he met Joanna Lumley. A decision had to be taken as to whether he return to America for the start of the new series or remain in the United Kingdom and marry Miss Lumley (he never returned to America). His first major success as a comedy writer was with Are You Being Served? in 1972, on which he worked with David Croft. He had worked for a short time for Simpsons of Piccadilly and many of the characters depicted are drawn from his recollections of his time there. They subsequently produced 'Allo 'Allo!, which was equally popular in the UK, a spinoff of Are You Being Served? , Grace & Favour was aired in 1992. Jeremy also wrote the poems/lyrics for the popular Captain Beaky album and books in 1980.