Virtual tour of the Lions of London and other exotic animals

Virtual tour of the Lions of London and other exotic animals

A virtual tour about London’s 800 year old fascinating relationship with exotic wild animals.

By Let’s Discover London

Select date and time

Tuesday, March 4, 2025 · 11am - 12:30pm PST

Location

Online

Refund Policy

Refunds up to 1 day before event
Eventbrite's fee is nonrefundable.

About this event

Imagine escaped tigers causing panic on the streets of the east end. A polar bear on his daily swim for fish in the Thames. Cheetahs racing greyhounds at the dog tracks. A pet lion exercising in Chelsea just by the Kings Road. These are just a few of the incidents in London’s 800 year old fascinating relationship with exotic wild animals.

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Then there's the 60 year old woman lion tamer who danced burlesque in a cage of big cats, Jumbo the elephant, the (female) bear that inspired Winnie the Pooh and not forgetting, the famous Trafalgar Square lions ... find out why the original designs for them were rejected and why today’s ones aren’t quite right.

And just why are there three lions on the England football shirt?

Hear about the Royal menagerie at the Tower of London and how it grew. And the world’s first scientific zoo, London Zoo.

But there's serious lesson here, because often our relationship with wild animals has been an uncomfortable one of mistreating, misfeeding, money-making and baiting. A theme of history that still resonates till today.

REVIEWS:

“I was very pleasantly surprised at the professionalism, knowledge, delivery and attention to detail displayed. It was exceptionally well presented and most informative and was one of the most professionally delivered on line lectures that I have attended …and I look forward to attending future tours by Loona.” Martin Nicholls

“A first class tour guide, an excellent group facilitator and a charming person. He is inspiring, enthusiastic and with endless historical knowledge – which makes me hungry for more. We covered past history (oh so colourful…talking about the inspiration and resilience of people) and right up to the present day….Loona had a story for everything.I won’t spoil it for you by sharing too much ..just to say it really gave me an insight and food for thought.” Sue Goldstein

“From my experience Loona’s tours are head and shoulders above other tours. I will definitely be going on more tours with him and am going to enquire about a tailor made tour with him too.” Julie Bennett, tour guide

For our other tours and reviews please see www.letsdiscoverlondon.com

Virtual Tour details:

Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Via Zoom

NB: Tour may be cancelled if low volume of sign ups. You will be given a full refund.

How to join the virtual tour:

Book your tickets here.

We’ll email you full details of the Zoom meeting link, password and Meeting ID on the morning of the tour.

Please check your spam folder for the email or get in touch with me if you haven't received it by lunch time.

Log in via the Zoom app and then sit back and enjoy the tour.

For more of our tours please visit our website Let's Discover London.

Thank you for your Google reviews ....

Organized by

Let's Discover London has been guiding thousands of people since 2006.

Our tours, both online and in person, are fun, interactive, so you can see images, old paintings and ofcourse lots of stories told by a Londoner who's lived here for over 50 years. You don't need any prior knowledge of London's history to enjoy our tours. Just enjoy the walk or sit back enjoy the ride.

All our tours are given by London historian Loona Hazarika who's advised and appeared on TV history series such as Sky TV's Urban Secrets, BBC TV’s The Repair Shop and BBC2's The Hairy Builder. A former official tour guide at the British Museum, he holds a masters degree from the University of Cambridge.

For other tours and reviews please visit www.letsdiscoverlondon.com

To see a list of our OUTDOOR WALKS coming up soon click here

To see a list of our VIRTUAL tours coming up soon, click here

£20 – £30