Clinton Keeling

Clinton Harry Keeling{{cite book |last1=Clinton |first1=C. H. |title=Keeling's ark |date=1970 |publisher=Harrap |location=London |isbn=9780245598319}} was born to Arthur and Alice Louise Keeling (née Lent) in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, on 3 January 1932.{{cite journal |title=KEELING, Clinton Harry 1932– |journal=Contemporary Authors |date=1974 |volume=9–12 |page=451 |publisher=Gale}}{{cite journal |editor1-last=Martell |editor1-first=Edward |title=KEELING, Clinton Harry |journal=The Author's & Writer's Who's Who |date=1971 |volume=6 |page=447 |publisher=Burke's Peerage}}

In 1954, Keeling and his wife Jill founded Ashover Zoological Garden{{efn|Keeling reportedly disliked the abbreviation "zoo"{{cite web |last1=Peaker |first1=Malcolm |title=Unusual Pets by Clinton Keeling |url=https://waicblog.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/unusual-pets-by-clinton-keeling/ |website=Reptiles, Amphibians and Birds: A Historical Perspective of their Care in Captivity |access-date=3 October 2022 |language=en |date=11 May 2015}}}} (also known as Pan's Zoological and Botanical Gardens) at Hill Top House – Jill's family home in Ashover, Derbyshire.{{cite book |last1=Bradley |first1=Richard |title=Secret Chesterfield |date=2018 |publisher=Amberley Publishing |location=Stroud |isbn=9781445662619}}{{cite journal |title=The Aquarist and Pondkeeper |journal=The Aquarist and Pondkeeper |date=1969 |volume=34–35 |page=19}}{{cite book |last1=Schomberg |first1=Geoffrey |title=The Penguin guide to British zoos. |date=1970 |publisher=Penguin |location=Harmondsworth |isbn=9780140461541 |page=24}}{{cite web |title=MDR14961 - Hill Top House, Ashover - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record |url=https://her.derbyshire.gov.uk/Monument/MDR14961 |website=her.derbyshire.gov.uk |publisher=Derbyshire Historic Environment Record |access-date=4 October 2022}} The zoo opened at Easter 1955, and had approximately 250 animals including the bear used in the TV advertisements for Sugar Puffs. One year the bear escaped from its captivity, and was recaptured after being seen by a nearby agricultural worker.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had a series of books published by Foyles, including Unusual Pets (1959),{{cite book |last1=Keeling |first1=C. H. |title=Unusual Pets |date=1958 |publisher=Foyles}} Cavies (1961),{{cite book |last1=Keeling |first1=C. H. |title=Cavies : (guinea pigs) |date=1975 |publisher=Foyles Handbooks |location=London |isbn=0707106133}} and Mice and Rats (1961). He followed these with a series of Meet the... books published by Harrap throughout the 1960s.

Pan's Garden closed in 1971.

Between 1984 and 2003, Keeling self-published a series of books on long-closed zoos, with titles such as Where the Lion Trod (1984),{{cite book |last1=Keeling |first1=C. H. |title=Where the Lion Trod: a study of forgotten zoological gardens|date=1984 |publisher=Clam Publications}} Where the Crane Danced (1985),{{cite book |last1=Keeling |first1=C. H. |title=Where the Crane Danced: more about zoological gardens of the past |date=1985 |publisher=Clam Publications}} Where the Zebu Grazed (1989),{{cite book |last1=Keeling |first1=C. H. |title=Where the zebu grazed: a further study and discussion on forgotten animal collections, how they were run, and the people who ran them |date=1989 |publisher=Clam Publications|isbn=9780953158881}} Where the Elephant Walked (1991),{{cite book |last1=Keeling |first1=C. H. |title=Where the Elephant Walked |date=1991 |publisher=Clam Publications}} Where the Macaw Preened (1993), Where the Penguin Plunged (1995).{{cite book |last1=Keeling |first1=C. H. |title=Where the Penguin Plunged |date=1995 |publisher=Clam Publications}} Where the Leopard Lazed (1999),{{cite book |last1=Keeling |first1=C. H. |title=Where the Leopard Lazed |date=1999 |publisher=Clam Publications}} Where the Peacock Screamed (2002),{{cite web |last1=Shuker |first1=Karl |author1-link=Karl Shuker |title=MY REVIEW OF: WHERE THE LION TROD, BY C.H. KEELING |url=https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/271954.Karl_Shuker/blog?page=10 |website=Good Reads |access-date=3 October 2022 |date=16 July 2020}} and Where the Camel Strode (2003). A tenth volume, Where the Coati Climbed, was not published.{{cite web |title=Publications by Society members |url=https://www.zoohistory.co.uk/publications/publications-by-society-members |website=www.zoohistory.co.uk |publisher=Bartlett Society |access-date=4 October 2022}} He also wrote books on the Belle Vue Zoological Gardens in Manchester,{{cite book |last1=Keeling |first1=C. H. |title=The Life and Death of Belle Vue |date=1983 |publisher=Clam Publications}}{{cite book |last1=Keeling |first1=C. H. |title=Belle Vue bygones: a farewell to the Manchester zoological garden |date=1990 |publisher=Clam Publications}}{{cite book |last1=Keeling |first1=C. H. |title=Remember Belle Vue |date=1997 |publisher=Clam Publications}} Dudley Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Knowsley Safari Park, London Zoo, and Whipsnade Zoo.

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.

Keeling was a travelling lecturer on zoology, and gave up to 400 talks per year to schools across the country.{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=David |title=NOSTALGIA: Zoological garden plan for busy Glossop park |url=https://www.questmedianetwork.co.uk/news/glossop-chronicle/nostalgia-zoological-garden-plan-for-busy-glossop-park/ |access-date=4 October 2022 |work=Quest Media Network |date=22 February 2020 |language=en}} He had an interest in cryptozoology and hybrid animals, and his book Ligers, Tigons and Other Hybrid Mammals{{cite book |last1=Keeling |first1=C. H. |title=Ligers, tigons and other hybrid mammals : a summation and critical appraisal of mammalian hybrids |date=2016 |publisher=The Bartlett Society |location=Southampton |isbn=9780953158850}} was published posthumously in 2016. He guest-wrote for publications including BBC Wildlife.{{cite journal |title=BBC Wildlife |journal=BBC Wildlife |date=1986 |volume=4–5 |page=483 |publisher=BBC Publications}}

Keeling married Jill Annette Shaw, an English teacher at St George's School, Ascot, on 24 August 1953. They had four children – sons Anthony and Jeremy and daughters Diana and Phoebe. Jeremy, who co-founded Monkey World, described the family as "dysfunctional" and how his parents' naivety caused an "ambivalent approach to safety" at Pan's Garden.{{cite book |last1=Keeling |first1=Jeremy |title=Jeremy and Amy |chapter=1: Pan's Garden |date=2010 |publisher=Short Books |location=London |isbn=9781907595318}} He wrote how his father was "a working class man with delusions of grandeur", whose fondness for books was matched only by an "absence of practical aptitude". 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.{{cite news |last1=Jardine |first1=Christine |title=Jeremy Keeling: the monkey man's dark secret |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/children/7890228/Jeremy-Keeling-the-monkey-mans-dark-secret.html |access-date=3 October 2022 |work=www.telegraph.co.uk |date=15 July 2010}} Clinton later left Jill for a "rich divorcée", divorced Jill in 1974 and later married Pamela Bailey on 7 February 1979.

In the 1970s, Keeling was described politically as "ex-Conservative" and religiously agnostic. At other times he described himself as a practising Christian. He lived in Shalford, Surrey,{{cite book |title=Zoo and aquarium history : ancient animal collections to zoological gardens |date=2001 |publisher=CRC Press |location=Boca Raton, Fla. |isbn=9781420039245}} and died in 2007.{{cite web |last1=Peaker |first1=Malcolm |title=Zoology Jottings: Where the Lion Trod. C.H. Keeling. Zoo history - a new re-publication of the 1984 book, edited by John Adams for the Bartlett Society |url=https://zoologyweblog.blogspot.com/2019/05/where-lion-trod-ch-keeling-zoo-history.html |website=Zoology Jottings |access-date=2 October 2022 |date=3 May 2019}}{{cite book |last1=Itoh |first1=Mayumi |title=Japanese Wartime Zoo Policy |date=2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-349-29183-0 |pages=121–143 |language=en |chapter=Zoos in Europe and World War II|chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230117440_7|doi=10.1057/9780230117440_7}}

The Bartlett Society credits Keeling with 54 publications:

{{div col}}

• Unusual Pets (1958)
• Cavies (1961)
• Mice and Rats as Pets (1961)
• Baby Animals (1962)
• Meet the Mammals (1962)
• Meet the Reptiles (1964)
• Meet the Birds (1968)
• Keeling's Ark (1970)
• Odd Animals (1976)
• Under the Sea (1978)
• The Life and Death of Belle Vue (1983)
• Where the Lion Trod (1984)
• Where the Crane Danced (1985)
• The Ashover Zoological Garden (1986)
• A Beginner's Guide to Keeping Frogs and Lizards (1986)
• Dwarf Hamsters (1987)
• They All Came Into the Ark (1988)
• New Look at Animals (1989)
• They Live at the Castle (1989)
• Where the Zebu Grazed (1989)
• Belle Vue Bygones (1990)
• Whipsnade's War (1990)
• In the Beginning (1991)
• Where the Elephant Walked (1991)
• A Short History of British Reptile Keeping (1992)
• Here, There and Regent's Park (1992)
• The Fragments That Remain (1992)
• What's in a Name? (1993)
• Where the Macaw Preened (1993)
• One Man and His Animals (1994)
• Where the Penguin Plunged (1995)
• Wonderful Year (1995)
• The Chessington Story (1996)
• Remember Belle Vue (1997)
• The Bristol Book (1998)
• Sir Peter's Way (1999)
• Where the Leopard Lazed (1999)
• The Marvel by the Mersey (2000)
• Year of Janus (2000)
• Bits about Birds (2001)
• E Tenebris (2001)
• Skyscrapers and Sealions (2002)
• Where the Peacock Screamed (2002)
• Little Acorns Grow (2003)
• Where the Camel Strode (2003)
• Chessington Notebook (2005)
• Lubetkin's Legacy (2006)
• Ligers, Tigons and Other Hybrid Mammals (2016)
• A New Look at Animals{{efn|name="nodate"|The Bartlett Society does not give a publication date}}
• Not Gorillas Again!{{efn|name="nodate"}}
• A Young Person's Guide to Animal Names{{efn|name="nodate"}}
• The Changing Land{{efn|name="nodate"}}
• 101 Questions Answered about Animals{{efn|name="nodate"}}
• Shopping Safari{{efn|name="nodate"}}

{{div col end}}

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Category:1932 births

Category:2007 deaths

Category:British zoologists

Category:Fellows of the Zoological Society of London

Category:Writers from Essex