- John Aspinall (zoo owner)
John Victor Aspinall (
11 June 1926 –29 June 2000 ) was born inDelhi ,India but was aUnited Kingdom citizen. He was azoo owner and agambler . He was also a self-declaredmisanthrope and reputed co-plotter of an extreme right-wing conspiracy against Britain’s Labour government.Jonathan Benthall " [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-8322.2007.00494.x Animal liberation and rights] "Anthropology Today Volume 23 Issue 2 Page 1 - April 2007]He was thrown out of
Rugby School for inattention, and later went up toJesus College, Oxford but left without taking his degree.In 1956, with money he said was proceeds from his gambling, Aspinall purchased a country house and estate called Howletts near
Canterbury ,Kent . He lived in the house and set up a private zoo,Howletts Zoo , in the grounds. He opened the animal collection to the public in 1975.In 1973, because of need for further space for his animal collection, Aspinall bought another estate at Port Lympne near Hythe,
Kent . He opened the estate to the public in 1976 asPort Lympne Zoo .Both zoos have been run by the
John Aspinall Foundation since 1984.The zoos are known for being unorthodox, on account of the encouragement of close personal relationships between staff and animals, and for their breeding of rare and endangered species.
In 1962 he founded the Clermont Club in
London 'sMayfair .Aspinall was a close friend of
James Goldsmith and Lord Lucan, and held both eccentric and extremelyright-wing views. He once stated that Britain was in need of "a Franco-ite counter-revolution." The three were known to discuss the possibility of violently overthrowing the elected governments ofHarold Wilson and, later,James Callaghan with acoup . [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1386406,00.html] He also expressed the wish that "3.5 billion people should be wiped out" of the world's population "within the next 150-200 years" [http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_aspinall.html] mirroring the views of some extreme Greens. Unlike them, however, he added he would be happy to join them.He claimed that Lord Lucan, whose disappearance had remained a mystery, had committed
suicide by scuttling his motorboat and jumping into the English Channel with a stone tied around his body. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/641300.stm] . According to the journalistLynn Barber , in an interview in 1980 Aspinall gave a slip of the tongue that indicated Lord Lucan had remained Aspinall's friend beyond the date of the alleged suicide [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/jul/02/lynnbarber.theobserver] .John Aspinall's pioneering work with wild mammals and his outspoken personal philosophy made him a unique and notable figure. He was the subject of two award-winning documentary films by
Roy Deverell , "Echo of the wild " and "A passion to protect ".References
External links
* [http://www.totallywild.net Zoo website]
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