Goodall's fascination with animal behaviour began in early childhood. In her leisure time, she observed native birds and animals, making extensive notes and sketches, and read widely in the literature of zoology and ethology.

From an early age, she dreamed of traveling to Africa to observe exotic animals in their natural habitats.

Goodall attended the Uplands private school, receiving her school certificate in 1950 and a higher certificate in 1952. She went on to find employment as a secretary at Oxford University, and in her spare time also worked at a London-based documentary film company to finance a long-anticipated trip to Africa.

In the late 1950’s she got the chance to travel to Kenya. There she met anthropologist Louis Leakey.

Leakey was interested in the link between humans and apes and the hypothesis first put forth by Charles Darwin – that humans and apes shared evolutionary ancestry.

Jane initially worked as Leakey’s secretary, but Leakey soon came to realise Jane’s deep interest in animals.

Leakey was looking for researchers to study primates and wanted someone who could observe them without preconceived notions. Jane was the perfect person for the job despite her lack of university training.

Leakey employed Goodall to observe chimps. In the Summer of 1960, at age of 26, Jane set up camp at Gombe Stream Reserve near the shores of lake Tanzania to conduct fieldwork.

Goodall spent 6 months in 1960 on her own observing chimps from a distance with binoculars. Over time she gradually drew closer.

She got closer to wild chimps than anyone before her. And was able to make important new discoveries about them. Including that chimps make and use tools, they hunt and eat meat, and they have personalities and feelings.

Jane saw things that the strict scientific doctrines of that time may have overlooked. The idea that animals unique personalities was unconventional for example.

Her findings suggested similarities between chimps and humans existed in more than genes and could be seen in emotion and intelligence and in social and family relationships.

“It isn’t only human beings who have personality, who are capable of rational thought and emotions like joy and sorrow.” ~ Jane Goodall

Jane’s work was not initially taken seriously by the sceptical male-dominated science establishment at the time. She had no science training and no degree other than a certificate in touch typing. She was criticised for suggesting chimps had personalities and giving them names.

But Goodall had a strong mentor and backer in Louis Leakey who encouraged and helped her enrol in a PhD at Cambridge. Jane completed her PhD on the study of the chimpanzees in 1966. All the more remarkable given Goodall didn’t even have an undergraduate degree to begin with.

A major turning point for Jane Goodall was 1986 when Goodall attended a conference of primatologists in Chicago.

She was shocked to hear that in every place where primates were being studied they were under threat from a range of environmental challenges – most notably deforestation due to population growth, logging and mining. But also from the live animal trade, hunting for meat, and the use of chimps in medical research.

Then in the early ’90s, Jane flew in a small plane over the Gombe Reserve and realised the scale of the destruction around her own beloved forest. Bare hills surrounded the Reserve. Seeing it convinced her the chimps at Gombe would be in trouble if she did not act.

She also realised if she was going to take pressure off the local environment and protect the chimps, it would require helping improve the lives of the people living in the neighbouring villages.

This marked a major shift for Goodall. Her work expanded and took a wider view of the environment, environmental justice and social change. She set about working with local people on the ground to find out how she could best help the situation of the villagers. This led to her to help set up programs of finance (microcredit), health (family planning), and education (keeping girls in school.)

“Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don’t believe is right.” ~ Jane Goodall

Now aged in her mid-80s Jane Goodall continues the work of her Institute and in spreading the message of environmental conservation.

She travels about 300 days a year to lobby governments, visit schools and give speeches. She speaks about the threats facing chimpanzees and environmental crises facing the planet as a whole.

Her pitch is the interconnectedness of all living things, the collective power of individual action, and her reasons for hope.

“The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.”

• She was named a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in an Investiture held in Buckingham Palace in 2004.

• In April 2002, Secretary-General Kofi Annan named Goodall a United Nations Messenger of Peace.

• Her other honours include the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, the French Legion of Honor, Medal of Tanzania, Japan's prestigious Kyoto Prize, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science, the Gandhi-King Award for Nonviolence and the Spanish Prince of Asturias Awards.