Bristol zoologist’s widow remembers husband’s pioneering work
By Rachel Candlin & Ben HendersonBBC News
Peaches GoldingHe took a tiny menagerie and turned it into one of Nigeria’s most popular attractions, drawing 250,000 visitors a year at its peak in the 1970s. Now, Bob Golding – who died in 2022 – has been remembered fondly by his widow, Peaches Golding, Lord Lieutenant of Bristol.
“On a Sunday morning you would see the Nigerian people dressed in their Sunday fineries,” Mrs Golding recalled.
“They were going to Bob’s zoo and they were captivated by the snakes, the gorillas, the chimpanzees, the lions, the hyenas.
“It had the largest attendance numbers of any public amenity in all of Africa at that time. Isn’t that amazing?”
Mr Golding’s fascination with animals started as a toddler when his grandmother would coax snails out of the garden wall for him to look at.
One day she was shocked to find a snake, which Mr Golding had smuggled into the house, coiled around her oven hob.
Peaches GoldingBorn in Bristol, he spent school holidays working at Bristol Zoo.
His affinity with animals was soon noticed by famous naturalist, Gerald Durrell, who took him on an animal-collecting trip to Cameroon in 1957, when Mr Golding was just 19.
He was nicknamed ‘Keep ’em alive Bob’ due to his talent for keeping small animals and birds alive. Mr Golding also featured in Durrell’s book Zoo in my Luggage which charted their discoveries during the six-month expedition.
In 1963, Mr Golding was appointed curator of a small collection of animals used to support teaching and research in the Department of Zoology at the University of Ibadan in south west Nigeria.
Bob GoldingIt became a fully-fledged zoo in 1974, welcoming visitors from far and wide.
It was in fact so popular that Mr Golding presented a TV series in which he introduced Nigerian school children to his African kingdom.
Mrs Golding remembers first meeting the man who would become her husband in 1976.
Bob GoldingSpeaking to BBC World Service for its Witness History series, she said: “Bob threw great parties. He had the right music, the right atmosphere, food, drink. People loved his parties.
“One night he was having a party and up came the blue lights from the police. Of course everyone at the party was thinking, what on earth is going on here?
“And the police said ‘we hear you’ve got a snake here, we’ve come to see it being fed’.
“The zoo was just the place to go on a Sunday. And that zoo would be absolutely full of people.”
Mrs Golding was brought up in North Carolina on the east coast of the United States.
She said the couple were drawn together by a shared love of reptiles.
Peaches Golding“After university, I decided to go to West Africa. Lo and behold, I met Bob.
“I had just gone to see a new exhibit of the most amazing snakes, Burmese pythons.
“He came right over and we started talking about snakes because I used to have snakes as well,” she said.
But not everyone at the zoo gave her such a warm welcome.
Bob Golding“Two traders had killed the mothers of these tiny, tiny baby gorillas so the government asked Bob to look after and rear these animals.
“Bob took me into the enclosure very early on in our relationship and he called Aruna, the male gorilla, and said to him, ‘hold your hand out’ and Aruna very reluctantly held his hand out like Bob had taught him to do.
“After that occasion I noticed that every time I went to have a look at the gorillas, the minute I would turn away, Aruna would fling his hand out and a whole handful of gorilla poo would soil my shirt, my trousers, absolutely everything.
“You wouldn’t believe it; he was a good shot.”
Peaches Golding MBEThe couple left Nigeria for the UK in 1979 – accompanied by a royal python they shared their home with for more than 25 years.
The University of Ibadan Zoological Gardens remain open to this day, primarily for the conservation of endangered species, as well as research.
Mr Golding never stopped protecting animals.
Until his retirement, Mr Golding directed zoos across the UK including Chessington Zoo, Windsor Safari Park and the Cotswold Wildlife Park.
He also advised the RSPCA on the first purpose-built wildlife hospital in Europe at East Winch in Norfolk, which opened in 1991.
Peaches GoldingMrs Golding is now His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Bristol, the city where her husband was born and grew up.
Occasionally she still runs into people who have visited the West African zoo and remind her how much it means to Nigerians.
“I was getting into a taxi with with our son in London and he asked if he had ever been to the zoo at the University of Ibadan?
“He said yes and I said it was my husband who developed that zoo.
“Wow. He talked about the lions. He talked about the gorillas. He talked about the snakes. He talked about absolutely everything.
“So there is an age of people who remember very fondly those Sundays, looking at those animals and marvelling at the wonderful wildlife of West Africa,” she said.
Peaches GoldingMr Golding died in 2022 at the age of 84.
One of his two daughters, Samantha Golding, said after his death: “In later years he continued to get joyful letters from people who had visited the zoo – many called it the ‘Garden of Africa’.”
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