Clinton Keeling

Clinton Harry Keeling[2] was born to Arthur and Alice Louise Keeling (née Lent) in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, on 3 January 1932.[3][4] In 1954, Keeling and his wife Jill founded Ashover Zoological Garden[lower-alpha 1] (also known as Pan's Zoological and Botanical Gardens) at Hill Top House – Jill's family home in Ashover, Derbyshire.[6][5][7][8][9] The zoo opened at Easter 1955, and had approximately 250 animals including the bear used in the TV advertisements for Sugar Puffs.[9] One year the bear escaped from its captivity, and was recaptured after being seen by a nearby agricultural worker.[9]

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had a series of books published by Foyles, including Unusual Pets (1959),[10] Cavies (1961),[11] and Mice and Rats (1961).[4] He followed these with a series of Meet the... books published by Harrap throughout the 1960s.[4]

Pan's Garden closed in 1971.[9]

Between 1984 and 2003, Keeling self-published a series of books on long-closed zoos, with titles such as Where the Lion Trod (1984),[12] Where the Crane Danced (1985),[13] Where the Zebu Grazed (1989),[14] Where the Elephant Walked (1991),[15] Where the Macaw Preened (1993),[16] Where the Penguin Plunged (1995).[17] Where the Leopard Lazed (1999),[18] Where the Peacock Screamed (2002),[19] and Where the Camel Strode (2003).[19] A tenth volume, Where the Coati Climbed, was not published.[20] He also wrote multiple books on the Belle Vue Zoological Gardens in Manchester,[21][22][23] Dudley Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Knowsley Safari Park, London Zoo, and Whipsnade Zoo.[20]

On 27 October 1984, Keeling founded the Bartlett Society (named after the 19th-century zoologist Abraham Dee Bartlett) to study historical methods of keeping wild animals.[1]

Keeling was a travelling lecturer on zoology, and gave up to 400 talks per year to schools across the country.[24] He had an interest in cryptozoology and hybrid animals, and his book Ligers, Tigons and Other Hybrid Mammals[25] was published posthumously in 2016.[20] He guest-wrote for publications including BBC Wildlife.[26]

Keeling married Jill Annette Shaw, an English teacher at St George's School, Ascot,[4] on 24 August 1953.[3] They had four children – sons Anthony and Jeremy and daughters Diana and Phoebe.[3] Jeremy, who co-founded Monkey World,[6] described the family as "dysfunctional" and how his parents' naivety caused an "ambivalent approach to safety" at Pan's Garden.[27] He wrote how his father was "a working class man with delusions of grandeur", and that his fondness for books was matched only by his "absence of practical aptitude".[27] Clinton and Jill's marriage was not a loving one, and Clinton was reportedly amused by Jeremy's distress when Jill was caught having an affair.[28] Clinton later left Jill for a "rich divorcée".[28]

In the 1970s, Keeling was described politically as "ex-Conservative" and religiously agnostic.[3] He lived in Shalford, Surrey[29] and died in 2007.[16][30]

The Bartlett Society credits Keeling with 54 publications:[20]