Did you hear about the old man whose birthday one year lasted only one minute?
It was his sixty-second birthday.
London Zoo CharterIn 1829, the Zoological Society of London received a Royal Charter from George IV. The society was founded in Apr 1826 by Stamford Raffles and other scientists to research into animals kept in comparative freedom. Though Raffles became the society's first president, he died very shortly thereafter. His work was continued by the Marquess of Lansdowne, who obtained the Regent's Park land at a nominal rent from the Crown and supervised the construction of the original animal houses. London Zoological Gardens - Britain's first scientific zoo - was opened on 27 Apr 1828 for members of the society. By 1831, the royal managerie had been presented by King William IV to the society. In 1847, the general public were first admitted as paying visitors to help provide funding for the zoo.«[Image: Visitors viewing Obaysch, photographed in 1852 at the London Zoo, the first hippopotamus seen in England since prehistoric times, and the first in Europe since Ancient Rome.] |
