I mean, we even had, you know, several hundred wallabies just roaming free within the, the fenced 600 acres. But it was very much a matter of managing 3000 animals between the size of a wallaby and an and an elephant. Read More
So what kind of, when you start in 1969, what kind of zoo do you find at Whip State? Can you describe it?… Read More
And, and a very good director of science, Len Goodwin and Len, certainly Len and Colin were very influential in, in my career. They were the two who really sort of, you know, were very good at pushing me forward. Read More
Sort of a large farm. It was nearly, nearly all the keepers had come from farming backgrounds. Very, very different to today when, you know, many keepers start with, with already a first if not a, a, a a, you know, may another degree. So they came from a farming… Read More
And who was the director who was in charge of Webster?… Read More
Colin Rollins was the director at the time. There was a, a triumvirate of directors. It was a, it was a rather odd setup. Prince Philip was chairman of the ZL board at the time. Lord Zuckerman was Secretary Soly Zuckerman. And there was a close relationship there. And Zuckerman… Read More
Victor Manam. Read More
And who was the, what was the name of that person?… Read More
Pretty early. I would say in my mid-teens. I thought that I would probably go to do zoology and I don’t know who it was, but I think somebody said to me, and this is, you know, you’re looking at what the early sixties, somebody even then said, you are… Read More
And so he held the job for me until, I think that was a sort of October, November. And he said, well, as long as you come and work with me over the Christmas holidays and then join me after you qualify in March. And I did. And that, that… Read More
It was the first full-time veterinary job that, that Whipsnade was, was putting together. There were only six full-Time Zoo vets in the whole of Western Europe at that time. We’re talking about late 68 now, six, yeah, late 1968. And what I did, which I always advise these youngsters… Read More
So when did you decide that you wanted to work at a zoo?… Read More
But, but the, it’s interesting that most people would say their secondary school was more influential. But actually my prep school, ’cause it was so unusual, was, was much more influential. Read More
How? Well, interestingly, the, probably the first one was my main teacher in the little village primary school I went to from age about five to eight, where I remember to this day remember one very sort of tyrant style teacher who was very highly disciplined and needed that discipline… Read More
Matins at 10, lunch at 12, another practice at one o’clock, even song at four o’clock to bed at six. It, it was quite a and a Sunday we had anything up to, you know, five or six services in one day. So, so that sort of, you know, that,… Read More
Formal schooling? Formal, Well, from eight, from eight to 13 until my voice broke as a treble at St. Paul’s then went to a boarding school in Surrey St. John School, Leatherhead, which was, which was a school largely for sons of the clergy. The reason for that was financial… Read More
Did any teachers have an effect on your life?… Read More
Well, very, very familiar with, with Whipsnade, particularly because the little village Cheney’s that I mentioned, where I grew up just north of London, was only 20 miles maybe from Whipsnade. So visits to Whipsnade on a more or less a couple of times a year were common. So I… Read More
What kind of formal schooling do you have?… Read More
And then when I moved to boarding secondary school, high school had a a a major had a, both a young farmer society and a, a natural history society, which I got very involved with and led them both at one time or another. So keeping everything from jays and… Read More