Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Lord Paul set to become Zoo fellow

by Amit Roy

LORD SWRAJ PAUL is to be conferred London Zoo’s highest honour in recognition of his support for the institution.


London Zoo is a place with many memories for the 87-year-old chairman of the Caparo group. It is where his fouryear-old daughter Ambika found much happiness in the closing days of her life in the 1960s and where his late son Angad got married in 2004.

It is also where every July, Lord Paul holds a tea party to remember Ambika and Angad for several hundred of his relatives, friends and business associates.

Dominic Jermey, the zoo’s director general, was among the guests last year.

Now Lord Paul is to be made an honorary fellow of the zoo, joining a select band of distinguished personalities such as the Duke of Edinburgh and Sir David Attenborough who were similarly honoured in in 1977 and 1998 respectively.

“Pleasantly surprised – especially (considering) the company I am in,” he told Eastern Eye.

He had not expected such a letter from Sir John Beddington, president of the Zoological

Society of London, which runs the zoo, making the offer.

“I am delighted to inform you that the Council of the Zoological Society of London would like to award you its highest honour, ZSL honorary fellowship, in acknowledgement of your exceptional commitment to ZSL London over the past 30 years,” the letter said.

“As it looks forward towards its third century, ZSL would like to formally recognise your extraordinary commitment and the ongoing support of you and your family, which enables ZSL to inspire, empower and inform people through our zoos.”

The award ceremony is expected to take place on June 11.

Lord Paul rescued London Zoo when it was facing bankruptcy in 1989.

“It was going to close,” he recalled. “I wrote to them asking, ‘What is your plan in case I am able to help?’ They contacted me after a year.” His donation of £1 million was the lifeline the zoo needed.

Lord Paul remembers his last days with Ambika, who was being treated for leukaemia.

“When she was in remission, we had wonderful times there.”

He also hosted a lunch at the zoo for the American senator Ted Kennedy and his children.

“That was in 2000. His father (Joseph Kennedy) had been the American ambassador

to Britain (1937-40). He opened part of the zoo when he took along his sons Ted and Robert.”

Commending Swraj’s “generosity and commitment”, the zoo’s fundraising director James Wren said: “Through the Ambika Paul Foundation, ZSL has received a number of invaluable gifts that have enabled ZSL to make extraordinary change, and conduct our vital work for wildlife.”

Over the years, Lord Paul has picked up a lot of knowledge about animal welfare, both about their veterinary care and also how the visiting public needs to be kept safe from either picking up infections or passing them on.

When the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee visited Lord Paul in London in July 2015, she asked him to help modernise the zoo in Kolkata, where he had started his business career before coming to the UK to seek medical treatment for Ambika in 1965.

He took Banerjee’s entire delegation, including finance minister Amit Mitra and businessman Harshavardhan Neotia, on a guided tour of the zoo.

However, the state government in West Bengal is yet to follow up by submitting specific requests for his help, which Lord Paul said he was more than willing to give. One idea, for example, was to organise exchange of animal experts between the London and Kolkata zoos. There is also a suggestion Lord Paul may help with the modernisation of sections

of London Zoo, such as the aviary.

More For You

british-muslims-iStock

The study noted that this identification was not due to any doctrinal obligation but was influenced by the perception that many Muslims do not feel fully accepted as British. (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

Majority of British Muslims identify by faith first, study finds

A STUDY by the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life (IIFL) has found that most British Muslims identify primarily with their religion rather than their nationality.

The research, based on a survey of 815 British Muslim adults by Whitestone Insight, revealed that 71 per cent of respondents identified as Muslim first, while 27 per cent identified as British, English, or Scottish first.

Keep ReadingShow less
Car Tax Changes: EV Owners Now Required to Pay for the First Time

Owners of electric vehicles registered on or after 1 April 2025 will pay £10 for the first year, followed by the standard VED rate of £195 from the second year. (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

Car tax changes take effect: EV owners to pay for first time

FROM today, 1 April 2025, electric cars, vans, and motorcycles in the UK will be subject to Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for the first time.

The change, introduced in the 2022 Autumn Statement by former Conservative Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, aims to make motoring taxation fairer.

Keep ReadingShow less
scotland-minimum-wages-iStock

Full-time workers on the National Living Wage will receive an annual pay increase of £1,400 in real terms. (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

Wage increase takes effect for thousands of workers in Scotland

HUNDREDS of thousands of workers in Scotland will see a pay increase as new National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates take effect from Tuesday.

The changes will benefit approximately 220,000 people, according to STV News.

Keep ReadingShow less
uk-energy-bill-iStock

Water bills, energy prices, and council tax are rising, while the minimum wage has also increased (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

April bill increases put financial strain on single parents

A RANGE of essential household bills are increasing from April, with Citizens Advice warning that single parents will be among the hardest hit.

Water bills, energy prices, and council tax are rising, while the minimum wage has also increased, BBC reported.

Keep ReadingShow less
Netflix drama Adolescence to be screened in UK schools
Stephen Graham and Owen Cooper in 'Adolescence'
Netflix

Netflix drama Adolescence to be screened in UK schools

THE NETFLIX drama Adolescence will be shown in UK secondary schools as part of efforts to address harmful online influences on young boys, officials announced on Monday.

The show has sparked debate over the impact of toxic and misogynistic content on the internet. Prime minister Keir Starmer met the show's creators, charities, and young people at Downing Street, calling the initiative an important step in starting discussions about the content teenagers are exposed to online.

Keep ReadingShow less