Visit To The Zoo 1968

Explore London Zoo in the 60s and see the now closed Mappin Terraces, once home to Polar bears, and a Chimpanzees' tea party.

Trips to the zoo are a staple of the home movie genre, with each a unique study of a period's safety/ethical standards. In this amateur reel, it's Pipaluk the polar bear who, housed at the zoo for nearly 20 years before being moved to a Polish zoo in 1985, draws the eye. There's also a chimpanzees' tea party, a tradition that ended in the early 70s and allegedly inspired the PG tips adverts.

This film is from the collection of Bexley Local Studies and Archives, a member of the London's Screen Archives Network.