Great Lives - Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore and London Zoo
Download Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore and London Zoo
It's a famous name - there's Raffles Hotel and Raffles Hospital, plus the rafflesia, the largest flowering plant in the world, an ant, a butterflyfish and a woodpecker, as well as the Raffles Cup, a horse race in Singapore. He was born in 1781 and as an agent of the East India Company, Thomas Stamford Raffles rose to become lieutenant governor of Java during the Napoleonic war. He's also often named as the founder of Singapore and also London Zoo. But how did he achieve so much so fast? Recorded on location at London zoo with Matthew Gould, CEO of the Zoological Society of London; plus Stephen Murphy of SOAS University of London and Natasha Wakely who talks about Matthew Gould's second choice, Joan Procter, first female curator of reptiles who famously used to take a Komodo dragon for walks on a leash.
The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde
Published on Tuesday, 8th August 2023.
Available Podcasts from Great Lives
We are not the BBC, we only list available podcasts. To find out more about the programme including episodes available on BBC iPlayer, go to the Great Lives webpage.