Engaging history of Britain's first zoo, from 1235 when Henry III was given 3 leopards by the Emperor Frederick and could only think of putting them in the Tower of London. 600 years and many creatures later, the Menagerie was closed by the Duke of Wellington.
Daniel Hahn was educated at Westminster School and Cambridge University. He works as a writer, researcher and translator, and has contributed to a number of recent projects including the new edition of the Oxford Companion To English Literature and the Shakespeare's Globe exhibition. He has also completed a translation of an Angolan novel, Creole, published in 2002. The Tower Menagerie is his first book.
Daniel Hahn's engaging book is not just a history of that collection, but of people's attitudes to the animal kingdom in general...I loved the idea of John Wesley wooing lions with flute music to check whether they had souls' The Sunday Telegraph, 18/1 'Hahn's fascinating book covers a giddy spectrum of oddity' Big Issue in the North 'Funny, painful and fascinating' Independent on Sunday 'Entertaining' BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE 'Highly enjoyable' CONTEMPORARY REVIEW