The Lemon Fool

I remember a visit when I must have been perhaps 7 or 8 and at London Zoo they had a round raised pool with what I remember as hundred of snakes swimming around in it. I recall leaning over for a closer look and my father pulling me away as one of the little blighters jumped up out of the water at my face. It all seems a bit strange but was there ever such a thing at London Zoo?

John

I've no recollection of such a thing.

The obvious suggestion is your memory is playing tricks with you and you might be mixing up what you saw in the Reptile House and the Penguin Pool (Grade I listed but no longer used by the penguins it appears).

PinkDalek wrote:I've no recollection of such a thing.

The obvious suggestion is your memory is playing tricks with you and you might be mixing up what you saw in the Reptile House and the Penguin Pool (Grade I listed but no longer used by the penguins it appears).

No, definitely long thin things without beaks!

John

I remember my visit to London zoo, back in 1964. I'm pretty sure about the date because there, among the gorillas and the giraffes and the orang utans, was a five piece rock band doing a photo shoot, which turned out, upon closer inspection, to be the Rolling Stones. Huddled together and trying to avoid getting mobbed by crowds of teenage girls. Not the kind of occasion one tends to forget!

I do remember the penguins swirling around a circular pool, as mentioned, but I'm struggling to think why they would have put hundreds of snakes into a pool? (Or eels, for that matter.) Possibly a hallucinatory surfeit of ice cream?

BJ

Used to go for elephant rides at Whipsnade in the early 60s.

You’d be on the front page of the Daily Wail now with “animal abuse” caption

redsturgeon wrote:I remember a visit when I must have been perhaps 7 or 8 and at London Zoo they had a round raised pool with what I remember as hundred of snakes swimming around in it. I recall leaning over for a closer look and my father pulling me away as one of the little blighters jumped up out of the water at my face. It all seems a bit strange but was there ever such a thing at London Zoo?

John

You could ask them - fairly sure they will have archived information; generalenquiries@zsl.org

cavebat

https://waicblog.wordpress.com/2019/04/ ... ther-zoos/

I did find this which is not quite as I remember it but sounds close.

John

redsturgeon wrote:https://waicblog.wordpress.com/2019/04/04/the-outdoor-reptiliary-in-britain-1-london-and-other-zoos/

I did find this which is not quite as I remember it but sounds close.

John

May I completely and unashamedly interject please. On the subject of memory, and this has jack to do with London Zoo, I have been having some nostalgic recollections me sen, which through the magic of the big "G Maps" I've proven to be correct. Ain't memories great

AiY