Podcast appearances and mentions of London Zoo

Winnie - the real-life bear who inspired A.A. Milne to create Winnie-the-Pooh - died at London Zoo on 12th May, 1934. Brought to the UK by Canadian soldier Harry Colbourn, who'd named her after Winnipeg, the approachable bear took up residence at the Zoo during the First World War, where she became a favourite with visiting children, who were permitted to ride on her back and feed her treats. One such visitor was none other than Christopher Robin. In this episode, The Retrospectors explain why Winnie's enclosure was an architectural triumph; consider A.A. Milne's attempt to distance his family from Pooh's legacy; and discover that the literary Pooh could have been a swan… Further Reading: • ‘The True Story of the Real-Life Winnie-the-Pooh' (HISTORY, 1934): https://www.history.com/news/the-true-story-of-the-real-life-winnie-the-pooh • ‘The skull of the 'real' Winnie goes on display' (BBC News, 2015): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-34844669 • ‘The bear who inspired Winnie-the-Pooh' (ZSL, 2014): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdOymRprTqM Love the show? Support us!  Join 

Johnny Mac shares five positive news stories. Joe discovers a well-preserved Iguanodon footprint on a UK beach. A free children's bookstore opens in Maryland aiming to improve literacy among underserved children. Stanford chemists develop a scalable method to remove atmospheric CO2, potentially mitigating climate change. Conservationists save Darwin's frogs from extinction, celebrating new births at the London Zoo. Baby name experts predict the fastest rising names for the next decade. Tune in for these uplifting stories and more!00:00 Dinosaur Discovery00:59 Free Children's Bookstore in Maryland01:30 Stanford's Carbon Capture Breakthrough02:19 Saving Darwin's Frogs from Extinction02:45 Trending Baby Names for the Next Decade 

After nine months aboard the International Space Station, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have finally landed back on Earth. Also, a German physicist and homebrewer discovered brief, intense physical reactions that happen when you uncork a bubbly swing-top bottle.NASA Astronauts Return To Earth After Extended Stay On The ISSAfter 286 days aboard the International Space Station—278 days longer than their initial planned mission—NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams landed safely back on Earth on Tuesday, off the coast of Florida. Their mission turned into a nine-month stay on the station after their Boeing Starliner capsule had issues with its thrusters and NASA deemed it unsafe to carry the astronauts back. SpaceX's Dragon capsule instead ferried them to Earth earlier this week. And they had a splashdown surprise: A pod of curious dolphins greeted them after they landed.Host Flora Lichtman is joined by Casey Crownhart, senior climate reporter at MIT Technology Review, to catch us up on that and other big science stories from this week, including why a company is trying to “refreeze” a massive glacier, why the 10 hottest years on record are the last 10, and how the London Zoo is trying to conserve a unique frog that incubates its young in its vocal sacs.The Physics That Makes Swing-Top Bottles ‘Pop'For a lot of us, uncorking a bottle is the sound of celebration. It's also a sound that we may not think too much about—until we open our next bottle.But Dr. Max Koch, a physicist at the University of Göttingen who does home brewing on the side, got to wondering what actually makes that popping sound. What's happening inside that bottle, physics-wise? To find out more, he recorded the uncorking of an unsuccessful batch of his ginger beer using microphones and a high-speed camera, and analyzed the bubbly results with a physicist's rigor. His team's findings were published in the journal Physics of Fluids.Dr. Koch sits down with Host Flora Lichtman to talk about the brief but intense changes to temperature, sound, and speed that happen when you uncork a swing-top glass bottle.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Vogue witnessed a robbery at London Zoo—and a man petting the goats alone. Also, Joanne is going to start dogging. That's the tweet.If you'd like to get in touch, you can send an email to hello@MTGMpod.comPlease review Global's Privacy Policy: https://global.com/legal/privacy-policy/For merch, tour dates and more visit: www.mytherapistghostedme.comJoanne's comedy gigs: www.joannemcnally.comVogues Book Tour: www.fane.co.uk/vogue-williamsThis episode contains explicit language and adult themes that may not be suitable for all listeners.

CrowdScience listener Alina is in a relationship with a polyamorous partner and is very happy with this arrangement, which got her thinking – why is monogamy so often the norm in human societies?Presenter Caroline Steel goes on an anthropological odyssey to figure out where this drive to find a single partner - and stick with them - comes from. What can science tell us about how human relationships developed, and whether having one or many partners is more 'natural'? Evolutionary biologist Kit Opie of the University of Bristol joins us at London Zoo to help us understand the mating systems of our closest primate relatives. To find out how polygamy developed in some parts of the world we speak to anthropologist Katie Starkweather of the University of Illinois Chicago. And we learn about the chemistry of bonding from Sarah Blumenthal at Emory University, who explains how the brains of prairie voles may give us clue about the neurochemicals which shape human relationships. Presenter: Caroline Steel Producers: Priya Sippy, Ben Motley and Imaan Moin Editor: Cathy Edwards Production Co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano Studio Manager: Steve Greenwood (Image: Dancing wedding cake figurines Credit: Peter Dazeley via Getty Images)

Dateline: March 7, 2025. Rossifari Zoo News is back with a round up of the latest news in the world of zoos, aquariums, conservation, and animal weirdness!   We start off with where I am now, and wondering why is it so cold?Our headline story is a look at Chappy, the seal pup rescued by Mystic Aquarium that came to national prominence before sadly passing away. What can we learn from all the things Mystic did so, so right? We then move on to our births for the week, featuring animals from Blank Park Zoo, the San Diego Zoo, Jacksonville Zoo, the Indianapolis Zoo, the London Zoo, and Wild Discovery! We say goodbye to beloved animals at Potawatomi Zoo, the Calgary Zoo, and the Toronto Zoo.The rest of our Zoo News stories feature items from the AZA, Zoos Victoria, Zoo Atlanta, Buttonwood Park Zoo, Roger Williams Park Zoo, and more! Then in Conservation News we discuss the latest Trump Administration decisions that affect conservation, some new rediscoveries of species, and the latest update on the quest to recreate the woolly mammoth. In Other News, we talk about a death that wasn't and also a look at how your house cat can be affected by HPAI in new and exciting ways! ROSSIFARI LINKS: patreon.com/rossifari to support the pod rossifari.com @rossifari on socials @rossifaripod on TikTok 

Apple and Google have been assured there won't be penalties for allowing TikTok downloads from their app stores - although the ban is still set to be enforced in April.Plus, scientists have discovered how cancer cells break away from tumours and spread through the body. We hear from Victoria Sanz Moreno, professor of cancer cell and metastasis at the Institute of Cancer Research about what the research means for future cancer diagnosis and treatment.Also in this episode:A cooling system inspired by elephants' ears could be used to keep systems running on the moonMan from uncontacted Amazon tribe emerges from forestIs Gen AI affecting our critical thinking?Two furry friends from London Zoo take a trip to the dentist Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rachelle Abbott joins London GP Dr Sonia Adesara, who explains the ‘wild west' culture of online weight-loss jab prescriptions. Plus Louise Edwards, chief strategy officer & deputy registrar at the General Pharmaceutical Council, on tougher new rules to combat unregistered online pharmacies.Endangered Darwin's froglets, the size of a grain of rice, born at London Zoo - with Dr Ben Tapley, ZSL's curator of amphibians and reptiles.How AI helped The Beatles secure their eighth Grammy Award.Also in this episode:Major AI breast cancer screening trial ‘to cut waiting times'Source Code by Bill Gates: Microsoft co-founder believes he would have been diagnosed with childhood autismCould You Be Loved named Bob Marley's most played track in UK this century Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's headlines include: NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen has announced she’s stepping down from the portfolio over claims she used her ministerial driver for private trips. Matildas star Sam Kerr has faced court in London after being charged with racially aggravated abuse of a police officer. U.S. tariffs (taxes) on imports from Mexico and Canada will be paused after separate deals were reached. And today’s good news: A successful breeding program led by the London Zoo has led to the births of 33 endangered frogs.Hosts: Emma Gillespie and Billi FitzSimonsProducer: Elliot Lawry Want to support The Daily Aus? That's so kind! The best way to do that is to click ‘follow’ on Spotify or Apple and to leave us a five-star review. We would be so grateful. The Daily Aus is a media company focused on delivering accessible and digestible news to young people. We are completely independent. Want more from TDA?Subscribe to The Daily Aus newsletterSubscribe to The Daily Aus’ YouTube Channel Have feedback for us?We’re always looking for new ways to improve what we do. If you’ve got feedback, we’re all ears. Tell us here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Paul Marden.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website SkiptheQueue.fm.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 5th February 2025. The winner will be contacted via Bluesky.  Show references: Website: https://www.agility-marketing.co.uk/https://www.agility-marketing.co.uk/service/digital-advertising-survey/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-dimes-agility/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitaagility/ Liz Dimes is a Digital Marketing Director for visitor attraction specialist, Agility Marketing and the lead behind their digital advertising and conversion optimisation strategies. She boasts over a decade of experience in delivering tangible results. With a relentless drive for results she has steered impressive returns for clients across the attraction industry. Anita Waddell is MD and founder of Agility Marketing, visitor attraction marketing specialists.  Anita has been a Visit England judge, currently sits on the BALPPA Management  Committee and looked after the National Farm Attraction Network during Covid.Anita fell in love with the sector during her first ever marketing role at London Zoo.   Having always worked in the attraction sector, she founded Agility at the start of the millennium.  In total, across her career she has worked with over 70 attractions.With a passion for digital and data driven marketing, she adores seeing clients get results and enjoys mentoring her team to deliver winning campaigns. Transcription:  Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in and working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Paul Marden. For many regional attractions, the Head of Marketing is a one person marketing machine expected to be all over digital, email, social and out of home advertising. In today's episode we're joined by Anita Waddell and Liz Dimes from Agility Marketing who'll be sharing insights from their attraction marketing academy to help power up your marketing in 2025. After starting her career in attractions marketing at London Zoo, Anita has run Agility Marketing for over years, working with clients like Camel Creek and Blackgang Chine. Liz is the expert behind Agility Marketing's digital advertising and conversion optimization strategies, having found her love for visitor attractions when joining Agility in 2017. Paul Marden: Liz, Anita, welcome. Skip the Queue. Anita Waddell: Thank you. Liz Dimes: Great to be here. Paul Marden: So this is not our first episode of the new year, but it's the first episode we're recording in the new year. And as I was saying before we started, my rule is that I can still say Happy New Year up until the end of January as long as it's the first time I've said Happy New Year to somebody. So Happy New Year to both of you. Liz Dimes: Happy New Year to you. Anita Waddell: Happy New Year. Paul Marden: As you know, we always get started with an icebreaker question. So I've got a couple of little icebreakers for you and they are topical, relevant to where we are right now. So I'm going to go with Liz. Which is better, Christmas Day or New Year's Day? Liz Dimes: Christmas Day. Although I must admit I prefer the run up to Christmas than the actual day. Paul Marden: Oh, okay. So it's the excitement of going out and doing all the prep and the present wrapping and yeah.Liz Dimes: Christmas trees, pretty lights, shiny things. Excitement. But yes, I think I'd definitely choose Christmas Day over New Year's Day. Paul Marden: It's funny, isn't it? Because we'll split. I'm definitely Christmas. Much more Christmas than New Year's. I'm quite happy on New Year's to be sat watching hootenanny on telly while I'm going out and doing a big go out and party with lots of people. Liz Dimes: But absolutely, I agree.Paul Marden: my age, but there we go. Anita, do you chuckle the Christmas decorations and the lights into a box and throw it into the loft or are you Ms. Neat and everything is neatly folded and packaged away ready for future Anita to thank you and be able to do everything easily next week? Anita Waddell: I would love to say I was the latter, but having done that on Sunday, I think it's more about getting them away in a box and deal with the problem next year. So, yes, so, yeah, I aspire to be the neat queen, but unfortunately it is just, yeah, time takes its toll and it's a matter of getting the job done. Paul Marden: There's a real spread in our house. Mrs. Marden is tidy it away as fast as you can. I will sit there literally for hours straightening all of the out and making sure that it's right. And then next year you can figure out who was responsible for the packing away because you could just see it straight in front of you. Liz Dimes: I saw a recommendation the other day, actually, that you should put sort of £20 or something in with your Christmas decorations so when you get them out next year, you can buy yourself a takeaway while you're sorting them out from last year's. You. I didn't do it, but I thought that was a brilliant idea. Paul Marden: So I came back to work on Monday and I went. All the stuff from the office was all packed away and I went to put it in the storage locker and we share our storage with the building owners and I just found the Christmas tree stuck in the cupboard fully decorated and I think, is that really putting the decorations? Is that really taking it down? Have you broken the rules or is ihat really a cunning plan?Anita Waddell: That's one way of doing with it, isn't it? Definitely. Paul Marden: Exactly. Look, we have got lots to talk about, but first tell me about yourselves and tell me about your background. Anita, tell me a little bit about you. Anita Waddell: I suppose visitor attractions has always been my thing, ever since my first marketing job, which was at London Zoo many years ago, I caught the bug really. But I suppose I was at London Zoo. I was very. They weren't in the strong financial situation, so there was actually a recruitment ban. So I was a young aspiring marketeer who joined the company. And as everybody who was experienced and worried about their own career path left, I just absorbed their role. So over the spate of three years I had a huge amount of experience and from there then left to become a marketing manager of a much smaller attraction. Anita Waddell: And having doubled their numbers from, you know, up to over 200, 000 over a year, I suddenly thought, hold on a minute, I actually, this is really fun industry and something that's actually, I can do okay. So from there I went on and ended up working for an agency myself who were specialists in visitor attractions. And then 20 years ago I thought, “Well, hold on a minute, maybe I should try this for myself. Maybe I can have my own agency.” I thought, “What's the worst that can happen?” I just have to go back and do the day job again. So over those years more people have joined me. I've got three cracking directors, really good senior leadership team and Agility now is a visitor attraction marketing agency. Paul Marden: Amazing. How about you, Liz, how did you get into this industry? Liz Dimes: Well, I started in a very different interest. I did an automotive and I started doing more PR than marketing definitely, but it just wasn't. I enjoyed it a lot and I learned a lot about cars but it wasn't really my passion so I sort of left and thought I'm going to try something else. I was more interested in learning about the digital marketing as that was really starting to kick off in the world at that point. So I got a digital marketing role at a business school which was near to where I live, which is very different. And I really started to get the bug for the digital marketing aspect and just in general enjoyed learning more and more and more about that. Liz Dimes: But the whole sort of B2B business school side, little bit dull for me if I'm totally honest. So. And actually that business all got sold to another one so I was made redundant at that point. So it gave me a little bit of a chance to sort of sit back and go, right, what do I actually want to do? And digital marketing was definitely the thing, particularly sort of paid advertising for me. And that's when I found Anita and Agility Marketing and they happened to have the perfect role for me and that was in 2017 and then just loved the industry very quickly from joining and sort of have no intention of ever leaving it, to be honest. Paul Marden: It's super fun, isn't it? It's fun doing the marketing thing that we do in this particular space because it's all about helping people to enjoy themselves. Liz Dimes: So what could be more fun and families and I have a, I've got a five year old so I really in that moment at the moment, I'm my own target audience at the moment, which is always nice. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. So one of the things that Agility has recently done is set up the Attraction Marketing academy and I think today we're going to talk, not talk about that, but we're going to talk about some of the stuff that you cover in that academy. So why don't we just start by telling listeners a little bit potted understanding of what the Academy actually is so. Anita Waddell: I mean the Academy is what it says on the ting. It's a marketing academy for visitor attractions and it actually, the re. Where it came from was out of COVID Some obviously don't want to go back to Covid ever again. But during that time everyone was in survival mode and they really shared, they collaborated, they did everything they could to work with each other and once life got back to normal a bit more, that collaboration stopped. There wasn't the need for it but we really enjoyed sharing all of our knowledge and expertise during that time. So the Academy was really has really been born to allow us to continue to do that. So it is a visitor attraction masterclass I suppose. So we have pre recorded content, we have fresh content through live sessions monthly. Anita Waddell: We have ask me anything clinics so people can, our members can jump on board and say, look, you know, actually we had a brilliant ask me anything clinic in December where they were, were talking about events for one particular member for the forthcoming year and there were loads of fresh ideas that came out of that for her. So it is really providing that mentoring but also that detailed knowledge and expertise which all attractions, if you're a one man band, you don't necessarily have, you're having, you know, you have to be jack of all trades. So. So we're a helping hand really. Paul Marden: Yeah. I think it's really interesting, isn't it, that many of the attractions that we deal with are massively well known brands but actually when you look at the team behind it, they are more like a small business or small to medium sized business. They often don't have massive teams even though they're brands has massive recognition and you can often be quite surprised, can't you, that it is this kind of one person marketing machine at the centre of what is a really well known brand. It's quite surprising sometimes and I think the more we can do to support those people the better really. So why don't we delve a little bit into some of the stuff that the Academy covers and then we can talk a little bit about some of the ways that marketers can help improve their outcomes for this year ahead. Paul Marden: So one place to start is always about benchmarking. This is something that at Rubber Cheese we find really interesting and we care a lot about with our Rubber Cheese survey. But I think benchmarking and understanding where you are against the competition is not competition against the rest of the sector. I should say is really important because you can understand what good and bad is can't you? And this is something that you guys care quite a lot about as well, isn't it? Liz Dimes: Absolutely. It's really at the heart of everything we do for our clients. We benchmark with the industry. That's the brilliance really for us of working solely in the visitor attraction industry. We can really see what's the good, bad and ugly of all things marketing within that industry. So we recommend that you'd benchmark everything really. But obviously it depends on what you're doing. So you'd benchmark your socials, your emails, your website performance, your reviews, your paid advertising results, just anything you, anything that you collect data on for you. If you don't know whether that's good or bad, how do you know what you're looking at really with your data? Liz Dimes: So  you might see that this year you were 2% up on your last year's results and think, great, but if everyone else is 10% up, then actually maybe there's something key in there that you're missing that would really be a quick fix for you to do. And without knowing that it's impossible to do that, it really, I mean, the majority of the benchmarking we do is digital advertising because that's, it's 70% of our work for our clients. But as say we do benchmark across everything and by benchmarking we know that we can ensure that we're optimising well to make sure that we're achieving the best results possible for all our clients. And at the end of the day that's what we're here for and that's what we all do. Liz Dimes: I'm going to push this over to Anita a little bit, but it's because benchmarking is such a key thing for us. We've actually got a new initiative we're announcing now in January. So I'm going to let Anita do that. Paul Marden: Oh, come on then. Drum roll, Anita. Anita Waddell: Okay, so this spoilers. The inspiration of this came from Rubber Cheese and your website benchmarking for the visitor attraction sector. And we benchmark all the time. But actually we know that we work with 15 to 20 attractions across the year. But you know, the attraction sector is so much bigger. And what we wanted to do was launch an industry wide survey on digital advertising so people can identify how big their budget should actually be for digital advertising. What performance, what click through rate, what cost per acquisition, what cost per click is actually good and average across all of the platforms. For example, we know in our business a lot of our clients will use the Google search, Google performance match, Meta, TikTok. Anita Waddell: But we also know that when we start working with some attractions, they're only using Meta or they're only using Facebook. And so it's really just taking a broad brush of the sector to actually understand what is happening out there across whether it be theme parks, whether it be a heritage attraction, whether they're a zoo. Just a broad brush to really give something back to the sector. Like you've done with Rubber Cheese. Really. Paul Marden: I think it's so important, isn't it? Because paid advertising can be a bit scary for some people because it feels a little bit like you're gambling or it feels like a fruit machine. But I always think that it's a fruit machine where you can figure out the odds. And once you figure out the odds, you just have to decide how much money you can pump into the top of it and magically at the bottom money comes out in relation to the odds that you've calculated. But if you can across the sector. Anita Waddell: Yeah, exactly. I mean, the beauty of digital advertising is that it is, you know, there is a system and a process to it. So you know that you've got to get people to your website. You know you've got from the website, you need to get into your landing page at every stage of the journey. Coming back to benchmark working, you can identify what is working well and what actually can be tweaked to optimise it even further. And we've got clients now after Covid, there was with that when we focused purely on. Well, actually to be honest, during COVID there wasn't a lot of marketing going on at all because people were so desperate to get out the organic, social and email marketing could just cope with it. Anita Waddell: But then people came back and they started to do a lot more out of home. But now we're finding clients are actually saying this year in particular with the increased costs in the budget. Sure. We know we get a lot of, we know we get a lot from digital advertising. Shall we actually reduce our home budget and put more into digital advertising because it's more measurable and that confidence can be given. Paul Marden: We've all only got limited budgets and it's all about deciding where the best place to spend your money is. So, yeah, we'll come back to this benchmarking point a little bit later, I think, because I think is really important. But let's dive into some of the channels that marketers can use and talk about some tips and tricks across each of the channels. Maybe should we start with social? Is it important top attractions? I think you've already answered that. But how important? Liz Dimes: I guess I think it's very important. I think we all know that's where people spend their time at the moment. Depending on who you're. Because in general as a sort of blanket, a lot of the target audience for all attractions is very similar. But depending on where you are you a tourist destination, are you more of a regional destination, are you a heritage site, are you a zoo? It will depend. So. But most of those audiences are spending a lot of their time on socials. But because of that and because everyone knows that their concentration is much less, your competition is much higher. But you see, but you got to be there. If you're not there, you're not in with a chance. So it is, it's incredibly important and I think it's about what should your focus be. Liz Dimes: So actually if you are a one man band and you have a certain amount of hours in the day to do it, what are you going to focus on? Maybe pick two or three. So if you are going to pick two or three, I think at the moment you would pick Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, still. I know we all think Facebook is disappearing, but the grandparents take their grandchildren on these days out. Paul Marden: Exactly. And that landscape of the different social platforms was stable for a very long time, wasn't it? But it's changing quite a lot. So should you be on Twitter? Is it a scary place to be now? Should you be on Bluesky? But, but in you're saying TikTok still, Facebook, Instagram, those are the key places that you should be focusing attention. Probably. Liz Dimes: Absolutely. I think if you've got extra time, if you have extra resource, then absolutely test those extra platforms out and see where you've got. But actually if you're, if your time is limited, then focus on doing the best for the top platforms of where your audience are. And at the moment we believe, and all the data believes for that for our audiences it's Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Paul Marden: Yeah. And, and what are the basics that you've got to be covering there? What should they be posting about? To be able to kind of meet the bar. Anita Waddell: I feel the key with social media is that you know you can, it's got to convey a message that is going to provide overall reason to visit. So you need to get your planning right. And so yes, you want to have different formats and you want to make the posts are not wallpaper posts and you want to make sure that the post you're saying are said. You know, the same message is said in three or four different ways but ultimately you know, you're trying to stimulate an action and whether that's just engagement at this stage, you know, people aren't necessarily going to visit immediately after seeing a post but if they engage then see more posts and over time when they do want, they do want that day out, you'll be in their, in their top of mind. Anita Waddell: So I think the key we always say is like no, make sure you get your planning right. Your, your commercial messages in January are going to be totally different to your commercial messages in Summer or Easter when you know, in January you might be thinking about we've got, we need a value, a volume driver promotion because people haven't got any money. We want you Season passes are always sold in the first few months of the year. So you want to make sure you've got some promotion, you've got your season pass messaging out there. So it is, you know, make sure you've got your planning and messages right and from there you can then be creative as you like. But you've got to make sure that you're saying the right thing. Paul Marden: Let's follow that thought. What are the special little sprinkles that people could do this year to really energise their social media? What is it that they can do to inject that creativity? Anita Waddell: I think different formats, I think, you know, you can say the same thing, overlook different formats to really make them zing. Liz Dimes: One of the things we're really seeing good trends on and again this does depend on who you have in your team. But if you've got a member in your team who is willing to be on camera and is entertaining, is witty, can be a bit different. There's, there's a few attractions that are doing this really well already. But if there's something about. So we all talk about user generated content and absolutely you should be sharing user generated content. You should be making your most of your micro influences and your. All that kind of thing. But actually there's sort of EGC which is Employee Generated Content as well. And I think a bit of behind the scenes is still works well. Liz Dimes: A bit of witty content from someone and if you' the right person who's willing to do it and has the great personality and is happy to be on screen, then please take advantage of that person. Really, please use it. Because also they'll probably really enjoy it. I mean, there's a number of attractions where I know because we've spoken to them, where they're sort of bit famous. So yeah, people go round, go and they spot them and they want to go and say hi to that person and that. And if it's the right person who's comfortable with that, they really enjoy that. Yeah, so if you've got that person, go for it. That's a real, it's a real trend at the moment that's working well. Paul Marden: Okay, let's move channels then. Let's talk about email marketing because interestingly, in the Rubber Cheese survey this year, the data that we had showed that this was the weakest source of leads for attractions. Now, as I always say when I talk about our data, you know, there's statistics involved and you know, what we know is about the data set that is in front of us. It's not always completely reflective of the entire sector. So is that illustrative of what you guys see as well or is it more effective than that for you? Anita Waddell: I think I would say that we measure our email marketing. We put UTM codes on all of our links so we can actually track effectively. I would probably say they're not seeing it either because they're not tracking it effectively and UTM codes are so easy to set up these days or they're not. You know, the end of the day, the emails is a channel of communication. So if your email says exactly the same thing every single month, you just need to, with your, with your programming. And I think programming is going to be such a big thing, continue to be such a big thing this year. You need to really stimulate that repeat business. Really stimulate, give people a reason to revisit it. Your email marketing needs to be saying something different every single time. Anita Waddell: Otherwise people will just get bored with it. So I would say it's those two things. Paul Marden: Yeah. So it's all about keeping the faith. It is a valuable channel. You should focus on it. But you need to be able to have all of the tracking in place so that you can attribute the leads to that source and then a decent story to tell that's going to engage people. Anita Waddell: The only other thing I would say is that, and I don't. I think most people have got their heads around this now. But GDPR, when it came out, everyone was terrified of not getting, you know, you can only email people if you get an opt in. Well that's correct. That's one method of consent. But with legitimate interest, if they visited you already then you've got a reason to remarket to them as long as your Privacy Policy is correct and you've your, your everything else. So I think that's why some people go out. Some people are, we're amazed when we start conversations that they still are asking people to opt in and not using legitimate interest. So that could be another reason why in your survey results they were a bit skewed. Liz Dimes: I think there's quite a bit of scaremongering out there a little bit with email marketing at the moment because Apple are, they have updated their privacy settings a while ago which means that effectively when you're looking at your email results anything that's gone into an Apple mail will be marked as open even if it's not. So effectively your open rates are a little bit pointless since that update. So what's important to look at is your Click Through Rates because then you know those people have opened it and then how many have clicked through. Which is why the UTM codes are particularly useful because that helps with that. The other thing that Apple are doing at the moment is they're suggesting they're going to start the sort of promotions tab. I can't remember what their terminology is. Liz Dimes: Like you have in your Gmail when you log on your laptop, on your desktop as opposed to in your phone. So that will affect, that absolutely will affect email marketing. But what it will affect is email marketing that isn't tested, updated, optimised and tried and best. So if you do just keep doing what you're doing. Absolutely. Your email marketing is gonna, you're gonna lose on that. Paul Marden: So good email marketing is a worthwhile thing to do. Liz Dimes: Absolutely. And it is about testing because actually one of the things that we don't know yet because it's not happened yet but one of the things that might work is by making sure, rather make sure you're not sending from a no reply or admin at or an info at send it from a person's email that's less likely to be marked as spam or promotions. So all these things are as these updates come through test if suddenly you see a massive drop off in your click through rate, something's happened. Try something different on the next go. Paul Marden: Yeah. Liz Dimes: So I think, I imagine people are worried about whether Email marketing is going to continue to work and there probably will come a time when it doesn't. But at the moment I think it's still an important part of the mix. Absolutely. Anita Waddell: I think for Life Stage as well, it's worth taking it into account because there's some real hard data that's come back which suggests that the younger audiences are not using email marketing anymore. And I think that's really, that's quite true. But that is that Life Stage or is that young people? And I think that will play out because when people get into the office world, the world of work, they start using email a lot more and they become more familiar with it. So I don't know if it's Life Stage or if it's actually happening. We work with Tullis and Tully's obviously run a lot of brands which are aimed at sort of a 20 to 30 year old market and one of their biggest drivers is still email marketing. Anita Waddell: So I think, yeah, I think, but I think as Liz said, measure, optimise, test, do all of that and it should still deliver. Paul Marden: Good. Let's cut to the web. What are the problems with websites that you're seeing for regional attractions at the moment? Liz Dimes: One of the things we see quite a bit is that people who look at their own website as them, not as their customer. So they'll look at their website on their laptop. Their customers are not looking at their website on their laptop. They will look at it as someone who already knows the product, who. And even if you think you're not, your unconsciousness does know. So I mean, the average for visitor attraction websites is that nearly 90% of your sessions are happening on a mobile. So if you are ever looking at your own website, please look at it on your mobile. It's so easy to go, “Oh, I'm on my laptop because I'm doing my admin work right now and my admin work includes. I'm going to have a quick look at our website.”Liz Dimes: If you are going to do it on your laptop, press F12 please, because if you press F12 on your PC, you'll be able to look at it as a mobile. It won't be quite exactly what it is in as a mobile, but it's a good go. Not everyone knows about F12, so hopefully that helps a few people. But I think that is a real, it's a real key thing that we do find that some people tend to look at their own website not as a customer. So really think about it. Liz Dimes: If you are, say your key audience is a 35 year old mother of two, one has a toddler and one is a school child, put yourself in that place or ask do you know someone, one of your friends, that audience, ask them to go through your website blind and is your customer journey working? Do they immediately understand what you are? Can they quickly find out your opening times? Can they quickly find. If you have parking, can they quickly book? Is the booking, is the. Is the push through to booking which at the end of the day is the ultimate goal for pretty much everyone. Really, really think about it as your customer. And I think sometimes that's really difficult to do when you're so ingrained in your own attraction. Paul Marden: I can't stop myself grinning like a loon. You're talking about my life. This is the conversation I have over and over again. User testing. That's one of the questions in the survey that always blows my mind. How few people do user testing and how few people do user testing on a mobile and putting themselves into the shoes of their customers. I don't care if you like your website or not. I care whether your customers can do what they want to do. That's the only thing I care about. That's a bit untrue. I'm playing to the audience a little bit. Liz Dimes: But no but it is so true. And I think there are. If you can't, there's ways you can look at it from a more sort of data perspective. If you're a data person in your. I know people are still getting their heads around GA4 and to be honest, so am I. Even though I'm in it all the time because they change it every five minutes, hate it and you have to build a lot of it yourself. But there are a lot of positives of GA4 as well. You can see relatively simply how many people are going from your homepage or your landing page or your event page, whichever page you want to look at. Liz Dimes: If you want them to go to your ticketing site because most people use external platform ticketing sites, what percentage are landing on that page and going where you want them to go. Now it will be a low percentage always, even if you've got a really good system because they will want to find out more on different things and in lots of ways you want them to. But actually if you've got a return visit on your website, really that's when they should be booking. They've had a look, they found out where you are, they've talked to their friends on WhatsApp. Yes, that is one of the key options. Can they really quickly get to your booking site and book have a look at that data? If you can. Liz Dimes: And if it's really low, maybe you haven't got the right call to action buttons on your page or they're not as obvious as you think they are because maybe you're looking at it on a desktop rather than a mobile. Paul Marden: Amen. Liz Dimes: Good. Oh, I'm pleased because you're the number one expert in the website, so I'm glad you agree with me. But there's. Yeah, there's lots of things, there's lots of quick wins by just having a look. Paul Marden: Right, let's just very quickly touch on some of those then. So what are the quick wins that people can do with their websites right now that is going to turn it into a lead generating machine for them? Liz Dimes: What is your load speed? Are people bouncing off because you're not loading quickly? If it is low, do something about it. What are your call to actions? Are they obvious? Are they clear? Have you chosen one key call to action per page? Don't confuse your customer. Their attention span is really low. Does it show off what you want it to show off? Those are the top three things I would say look at. Anita Waddell: The other thing I would probably add to that is look at your home page. Make sure you're updating it regularly and giving those people the reasons to visit. I'm often quite surprised how they update the rest of the website but then they don't update the homepage on what is coming and what's next and what's on and also what's on now. So I think, yeah, I would say look at the homepage. Think of the homepage as really a signpost page. Once they live there, you want, they want to go, they've got to find something on there that's going to interest them and so that would be my recommendation to add to that. Paul Marden: Good. So those are all great things to do once they hit your website, but you've got to get into the website in the first place. So let's talk about paid advertising because that's something that you guys do a lot of, isn't it? Yeah. And that's the thing that can drive reliable traffic to your website. So it's hugely important. Liz Dimes: Absolutely. Paul Marden: I bet there's some real howlers that you see when you're first engaged by a client and you come and look at what they're doing in paid advertising. What are those real gotchas that you see? Anita Waddell: God, it's like opening your. Yeah, go on, Liz. You can reveal some secrets of what people are doing. Paul Marden: This is therapy session. This is a friendly, safe space. Just unburden yourselves. Liz Dimes: Yes, we won't name any names, don't worry. Well, while we're talking about website, I think one of the things with paid advertising that people really don't, they forget to think about or forget how important it is what web page are you sending that traffic to? Because absolutely, it might be your homepage, if your homepage is the right page, but equally it probably isn't your homepage. It needs to relate to the ad you are placing. So I think sometimes it's the last thought. It's, “Oh, we want to do an ad, we want to do an ad, do it.” And then, “Oh, don't even think about where we're going to send it. Send it to the homepage.” So I would say that's a really key thing that people sometimes forget. Liz Dimes: And actually, if you think about again, always come back to what will the customer think? Would it annoy you if you clicked on an advert for red shoes and the ad opened a page for trousers? It would annoy you. So why would your customers not be annoyed if you click on an ad about summer and it opens a homepage and there's not a really quick call to action to get to that summer information? So again, always think about the customer. One of the other things. Well, the other thing that is incredibly important in our industry is your location. Who are you targeting, location wise? And we have regularly taken on clients who have done it themselves or had previous agencies or whatever, doesn't matter where it happened. Liz Dimes: And they're targeting the whole of the uk, maybe they're in Cornwall and they're targeting Scotland as well for a term time visit. Paul Marden: Right. Liz Dimes: Someone in Scotland is not going to drive seven hours to come to you for a day out. Look at where your customers come from, map them. If you can really find that, you've got that data. If you're taking online booking, you have got the data of where the people live who come to you, find out where those people live and use that information for where you're going to generate the best results for your targeting for your adverts. I think that's incredibly important in this industry.Anita Waddell: And I think it goes, that goes beyond just radius targeting. Oh, absolutely. You really do need to map your audience to find out where they're coming from because, you know, like road systems will change the direct. No, change the layout of where people come from. Competitors will change, will give your some areas higher propensities to convert those visitors than others. So it really is worth investing in some mapping geo mapping tools and time to get it right. Paul Marden: I bet this is probably. How long is a piece of string quite type question, but broadly is the paid advertising for attractions? You know, there were terms, there are search terms that people are going to be searching on that you're going to want to sponsor or you're going to be sponsoring things in social platforms. There are some spaces that are, you know, fantastically competitive and hugely expensive. I'm thinking car insurance. You know, it will, you know, the cost per click of that is going to be phenomenal, but the return on investment for them is great. Yeah. Is this space a competitive and expensive space or is it remarkably reasonably priced? Liz Dimes: That really is. How long's a piece of string, I'm afraid, when it comes to search. So if we're just going from a search perspective. So if you're using Google Search Ads, absolutely. It depends what the keyword you are using is, how expensive that cost per click is going to be and really. Or you can help it by having an amazing ad, having an amazing landing page and being really relevant and your location targeting being right for that place. So you can be the low, you can get yourself to the lowest in the range that's possible for that keyword, but you're never going to get a keyword that cost £2 to cost 10p. What you can do, and what I would always suggest you do is use more longer tail keywords, which is the correct terminology, longer tail. Liz Dimes: But so if you're, if you're using, rather than maybe using day out, use day out in Yorkshire, family day out in Yorkshire. So you're extending the, the detail of it. Yeah. And the more detail you have, the less competition there will be within Google. You can do some really good keyword planning and get an idea of what your, what the type of cost will be for the type of keyword you're going for. If we stick on the Google search point. Actually, one of the other real howlers we regularly see is people actively targeting or not realising they're actively targeting their own brand name and therefore. And Google's algorithm, if you're doing a list of keywords you're going for, will always do what works best. Liz Dimes: So if you have either on purpose or accidentally put your brand name in there, all your budget is going to go on your brand name. Now, as long there are occasions when you might do that. If your SEO is terrible and you're coming up on page three for your brand name, go for your brand name. Absolutely do it in a separate campaign. So you're spending only a certain amount of money. But in general I'm yet to find attraction that isn't coming up on the map, on the Google map or on the top of the search results for their own brand name. So you are effectively paying Google for website visitors, clicks, conversions that you would have got for free. Don't do that. Please don't do that. And we see that relatively regularly.Paul Marden: You differentiated between paid advertising for search and paid advertising in social platforms. So we've got the tooling in Google to be able to estimate how much things cost. Go for those long tail search terms because they're probably going to better value for you, probably have better landing pages. And be really clear, if you've got a nice long tail search, you know that person is looking for something very specific. So serve them a really specific landing page to arrive at on the other side. That speaks to them and they'll love it, won't they? They'll be much more likely to engage. So you get that return on investment even further. What about in social, what. How are you planning out? You know what the cost is likely to be and where you should focus your energy. Liz Dimes: So because we are doing this all the time, we have a good idea of what that. So in social you'll look, you want to look at the cost per thousand impressions, what's called the CPM as opposed to the cost per cl. That's the, that's the bit in social that you can't affect. Meta, for example, are going to. If the cost per thousand for the target audience you are going for in the location you are going for is £4, it is £4, there's nothing you can do to change that. £3, it's £4. And unfortunately it is depending on where you are. For some people it's lovely. If their location's less, that's great. But if your location is more expensive. You've got to just deal with that. Liz Dimes: Unfortunately, in the last few years the cost per thousands have gone up around 12% and they're estimating this year it will be around 4%. So to get the same number of impressions in 2025 that you got in 2024, you're going to need to spend 4% more. Unfortunately, it is what it is. I hate saying that, but it's true. You can't. We can try and lobby meta all we like. The cost is what the cost is. It's a demand and supply thing. Paul Marden: Exactly. Liz Dimes: But what you can do is be realistic. You are going to have to get the same number of impressions. You need to spend 4% more. However, if your budget has to remain the same, how can you improve your click through rate one? Well, 0.2% to get. So although you'll get less impressions, you'll try and aim to get the same number of web visits and clicks from that. Can you then improve your conversion rate on your website? 0.2% and therefore you actually, for the same budget, you may get more conversions. So although you have to understand as we all do, that costs of everything are going up and impressions are one of those things. Liz Dimes: Actually, can you optimise and improve your ads because minimal improvements in your click through rate, minimal improvements in your conversion rate on your website are going to result in more revenue at the end of the day for potentially the same budget or a minimal increase. Paul Marden: And what are those? Again, this is such a sweeping, broad question, but what are those things that people could do to improve the engagement in the ads themselves? Liz Dimes: I'd say the number one thing to look at is your targeting correct? Paul Marden: Yeah. Liz Dimes: Is your location targeting correct? Is your audience type targeting correct? And then are you tailoring your ads to your audience? So if you're doing a target and you're targeting grandparents, for example, maybe your ad needs to be slightly different if you're targeting the parents or maybe your ad needs. And then your ad again will need to be. If you're, if you're remarketing and you're going to your sort of what we would call a hot audience that needs a very different ad to prospecting, a cold audience. So really focus on your targeting and focus on speaking. Again, think about the customer. Who are you speaking to with that ad? Anita Waddell: I think the other thing to mention and add to that is also the number of ads you're putting out because you never know exactly how your audience is going to react. So we actually do a lot of testing for a campaign. We would put a lot of ads out and it could be marginal differences in an ad because that's what, that's really what you want. So is it a bold heading? Is it not a Bold heading is it use the word say to save or best prices or you know and each of these will result in say that we're looking for that marginal gain because over time all those marginal gains will add up on the creative and the messaging and you'll get the best result. But it's time, energy and to get there completely. Paul Marden: Look, this has been really interesting but I want to just leave people with two or three things that they ought to prioritise to get 2025 off to a great start because last year was rubbish for so many people, wasn't it? So let's what can we all do to help get the show on the way for the attractions this year? Anita Waddell: I think the key thing is giving that people a reason to visit. It's getting the programming right. What people should be doing is looking at the last two years, breaking down the visitor numbers throughout the year, ascertain where there's opportunity for growth. We know people is much easier to build those peaks when, during the school holidays when people are actively looking. If you still, if you're not reaching capacity in those periods, that would be our, you know, build the peaks rather than the troughs. If however you've got to the stage where you think on your, you're creaking a bit at the seams and actually you want to build the term time campaigns, consider that as a secondary but again giving them that reason to visit now rather than waiting to a different time. Anita Waddell: And then once you've done that, you can plan your marketing budget around those opportunities. If you know that you've got more capacity in the summer, give more budget to the summer or if you know you've got more capacity in the October half term, give more budget to the October half term. So it's all going to start of where you want to get those extra people from and to and where. And then as some, as Liz mentioned later, postcode mapping, making sure that whatever advertising and marketing you're doing, you're hitting the people in the right areas who are going to have the biggest propensity to convert. And I've only got one other last thing to add is it's looking and learning from last year. Anita Waddell: Looking back at the data points, look at your benchmarks, your email, but email open rates, your landing pages, your digital advertising, try and get that margin of 1% improvement. If you can improve all of your marketing just by 1%, that's a lot of 1%. Paul Marden: That's a lot of people, isn't it? At the end of the day coming through the door. Liz Dimes: Absolutely. Anita Waddell: Yeah. So, so that would be sort of my kind of, you know what I would do. And Liz, has you got anything else you want to add to that? Liz Dimes: No, I think that's all of it. I think as say for, from the digital advertising side, postcode map if you can and absolutely look back and then test based off that and then test again. Paul Marden: Well, there's some homework for everybody. We always finish with a book recommendation and that book recommendation can be fiction or non fiction and I've got two guests so there's got to be two books. So Anita, what's your book recommendation for our listeners? Anita Waddell: This, this was a really tough question actually because one of my new year objectives is to read more. But I looked back and thought, “Okay, over the last five years, what books have I read and what's, what can, what's really resonated and what still I feel I can remember really”. So, so the one, I think it's Who Moved My Cheese by Dr Spencer Johnson. I don't know if how regularly it's mentioned on, on this podcast, but it's not a new book but it all talks about how you got, you know, you've got two stories about two little mice and two people and they, and the two little mice go off and they find cheese in this maze every single day. Anita Waddell: Whereas the two people found their cheese, they're happy with their cheese, they really like this certain cheese. Why would they look elsewhere? And then that cheese and then ultimately that cheese supply from the two people runs out and it's talking about having to innovate and change to survive. And I, and it's done in a really easy reading and fun way. And so yeah, I think that would be my recommendation to anybody. Paul Marden: Right Liz, what about you? What's your recommendation? Liz Dimes: Well, this was actually recommended to me because I thought about it. Okay, what have I been recommended that I've read? And actually it was recommended by a member of my team, Miles. So this comes from him. It's Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss, who I don't know whether you've read this book, but he was an FBI negotiator and he has since written this book and it's actually written in a really easy to take in way. I just found it really interesting and just started reading it and read it basically which I don't do nearly as much reading as I used to before I had a child. So if I've managed to do that, you know, it's a good one. Liz Dimes: But my key sort of takeaways from it was how if you first think about negotiation skills, you probably think, “Well, what would I say?” And actually, that's not what you should be thinking, it's what are they saying? Your key negotiation skills is actively linked listening. And if you're actively listening, then you can follow the other key skills which are mirroring what they're saying, repeating the last of their three words, things like that. I just found it really interesting and it has made me rethink how I engage with people. So I would recommend it as a good read. Paul Marden: You got me thinking about my. What I was going to say now. Thinking about what were the last three words that you said? Oh, patting your head and rubbing your tummy part to this. Isn't there as thinking about the conversation and having it? Liz Dimes: Exactly. I think that's what he says. He says, while you're having a conversation, there's two of you. You're half listening, but actually the majority of you is thinking about what you're going to say next. If you're thinking about what you're going to say next, you are not listening, so you are not taking in what that person is saying in the way that you should be. And actually, if you can switch that bit off and really listen, what you say next will be the right thing. It's really hard. It's really hard to do, but I have actively tried to do that. When I think about it sounds. Paul Marden: A little bit like interviewing on the podcast, because this is a skill I've had to learn. This does not come naturally to me and it. It felt like a hostage negotiation at the beginning and it did feel a little bit like I had to negotiate my way out of the podcast episode. But with time and with practise, these things become easier and you can focus on the conversation whilst you're doing figuring out where the conversation is going to go. But, yeah, I've heard reviews of that book. I've not read it myself, so you've got me thinking I need to go and get that. Liz Dimes: It's worth a read. Paul Marden: Dear listeners, as always, if you would like a copy of either Anita or Liz's book recommendation, then the trendy thing to do is to go over to Bluesky now, not Twitter. Who wants to go onto Twitter? It's full of megalomaniacs. So go over to Bluesky and retweet the show message and say I want Anita or Liz's book. And the first person to do that will get a copy sent to them and I will be generous. It can be the first person for each book will get a copy. I'm not getting bankrupted this time with loads of book recommendations. I just want to leave people with one last thought. We know that benchmarking is important to you guys and this is something you're going to be doing a lot over the next few months. Paul Marden: So if people want to get involved with working on the benchmarking project for digital advertising that you guys are doing, what do they need to do? Anita Waddell: They need to go to our website where there'll be more information about it, and that's agility-marketing.co.uk.Paul Marden: And hopefully it will be in the show notes as well. So you can jump over to the show notes and follow the link there. But agility-marketing.co.uk and people will find all they need to know about the benchmarking that you're currently doing and how they can get involved in it. Brilliant. Ladies, this has been a wonderful conversation. Thank you very much. Liz Dimes: Thank you for having us. Paul Marden: We will catch up again soon. Paul Marden: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, SkiptheQueue.fm. The 2024 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsDownload the 2024 Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey Report

fWotD Episode 2804: Gerald Durrell Welcome to Featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia’s finest articles.The featured article for Tuesday, 7 January 2025 is Gerald Durrell.Gerald Malcolm Durrell (7 January 1925 – 30 January 1995) was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservationist, and television presenter. He was born in Jamshedpur in British India, and moved to England when his father died in 1928. In 1935 the family moved to Corfu, and stayed there for four years, before the outbreak of World War II forced them to return to the UK. In 1946 he received an inheritance from his father's will that he used to fund animal-collecting trips to the British Cameroons and British Guiana. He married Jacquie Rasen in 1951; they had very little money, and she persuaded him to write an account of his first trip to the Cameroons. The result, titled The Overloaded Ark, sold well, and he began writing accounts of his other trips. An expedition to Argentina and Paraguay followed in 1953, and three years later he published My Family and Other Animals, an account of his years in Corfu. It became a bestseller.In the late 1950s he decided to found his own zoo. He visited the Cameroons for the third time, and on his return attempted to persuade Bournemouth and Poole town councils to start local zoos. These plans came to nothing but he finally found a suitable site on the island of Jersey, and leased the property in late 1959. He envisaged the Jersey Zoo as an institution for the study of animals and for captive breeding, rather than a showcase for the public. In 1963 control of the zoo was turned over to the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. The zoo repeatedly came close to bankruptcy over the next few years, and Durrell raised money for it by his writing and by fundraising appeals. The site for the zoo was leased, and to guarantee the zoo's future, Durrell launched a successful appeal in 1970 for funds to purchase the property. He wrote about his further expeditions, and the zoo, and his own experiences in Corfu and after the war.Durrell was an alcoholic and had repeated problems caused by his drinking. In 1976 he separated from his wife; they were divorced in 1979, and Durrell remarried, to Lee McGeorge, an American zoologist. He and Lee made several television documentaries in the 1980s, including Durrell in Russia and Ark on the Move. They co-authored The Amateur Naturalist, which was intended for amateurs who wanted to know more about the natural history of the world around them, though it also had sections about each of the world's major ecosystems. This book became his most successful, selling well over a million copies; a television series was made from it.Durrell became an OBE in 1982. In 1984 he founded the Durrell Conservation Academy, to train conservationists in captive breeding. The institution has been very influential: its thousands of graduates included a director of London Zoo, an organisation which was once opposed to Durrell's work. He was diagnosed with liver cancer and cirrhosis in 1994, and received a liver transplant, but died the following January. He was cremated, and his ashes were buried at Jersey Zoo.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:12 UTC on Tuesday, 7 January 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Gerald Durrell on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Olivia.

Welcome back to Print Market News, your weekly roundup of everything happening in the print world - fast and focused!   This week on The Week in Prints, we bring you the latest on Banksy's disappearing London Zoo mural and a surprise Andy Warhol discovery on Antiques Roadshow. We celebrate Tracey Emin's inclusion in the BBC's 100 Most Influential Women of 2024 and explore exhibitions featuring the celebrity collections of Swizz Beatz & Alicia Keys, as well as KAWS' personal art collection. Bonhams' final print sale of the year takes centre stage with Warhol and Banksy highlights, while MyArtBroker's new report guides sellers on how to navigate today's dynamic art market.

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, John Kinder discusses his new book: World War Zoos: Humans and Other Animals in the Deadliest Conflict of the Modern Age. This discussion focused on the historical use of animals in international diplomacy and wartime propaganda. Pandas, initially unknown outside China, became popular after being brought to the US in the 1930s. They were used as symbols of friendship and diplomatic gestures between countries. During World War II, zoos and animals played a significant role in propaganda efforts. The evacuation of a panda from the London Zoo boosted morale, while in the United States staged photographs of animals performing patriotic tasks were used to inspire support for the war. In contrast, the Tokyo Zoo euthanized animals to demonstrate sacrifice, and the Soviet Union's efforts to keep animals alive during the siege of Leningrad symbolized resistance. John highlights how different countries utilized animals in zoos during wartime, reflecting their varying approaches to propaganda and morale-boosting. Recording Date: 19 Nov 2024 Research Question: John Kinder suggests an interested student or researcher examine What roles can zoos play in 21st century conservation efforts? What are zoos' limitations? How do we limit the suffering of zoo animals caught up in contemporary military conflicts, such as those in Ukraine and Gaza? To what extent do contemporary governments continue to use institutions like zoos to leverage their power and influence on the global stage? For the longest time, Americans have tended to view World War II as the “Good War”? Is that changing? Should we criticize World War II's reputation, in historian Michael C. C. Adams' words, as the “best war ever”? Increasingly, scholars argue that we need to seek out “multispecies” solutions (involving humans, animals, plants, bacteria, fungi, etc.) to solve 21st century problems such as climate change. Do you think that's the case? How might multispecies perspectives help us see the world—and its problems—in new ways? War is not the only danger facing zoo animals. In recent years, zoo animals have died in floods, wildfires, earthquakes, droughts, famines, and periods of social, economic, and political unrest. How does society manufacture “vulnerability,” and what are some of the ways we can ensure that the most vulnerable—human and animal—don't bear the brunt of disasters? Resources: John Kinder Oklahoma State University World War Zoos: Humans and Other Animals in the Deadliest Conflict of the Modern Age by John M. Kinder Paying with Their Bodies: American War and the Problem of the Disabled Veteran by John M. Kinder Panda Diplomacy Ping-pong diplomacy Whipsnade Zoo near London Haus des Meeres zoo/aquarium in Vienna Austria Link to full show notes and resources Guest Bio: John M. Kinder is director of American Studies and professor of history at Oklahoma State University. He is the author of Paying with Their Bodies: American War and the Problem of the Disabled Veteran, published by the University of Chicago Press, and coeditor of Service Denied: Marginalized Veterans in Modern American History. About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

From the escape of Cholmondley the chimp from London Zoo in 1848, to Chichi from the Kharkiv Zoo in 2022, to a group of 43 macaque monkeys from a research facility in South Carolina last week, Megan Nolan reflects on the great annals of animal escapes and why they hold an almost mystical appeal to humans. She believes the reason they are so potent is that they contain the 'dazzling knowledge that things which ARE so, need not REMAIN so'. 'In a week where it felt especially apparent that we have no meaningful ability to shape the world in which we live', writes Megan, the realisation that we can defy inevitability is intoxicating.' Producer: Adele Armstrong Sound: Peter Bosher Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

嘉宾 | Guest：Jeanne Willis, a very prolific British author, with over 400 books published.Jeanne's books are known for surprising, humorous twist, thus very unforgetable. Apart from being an author, Jeanne is also a very interesting person, she had her wedding in London Zoo and her studio is like a mini Insect Garden. We had this conversation at her attic which is also her home studio in North London.01:46 Quick Q&As06:27 Childhood influence-- how Jeanne began her first book at 508:42 Jeanne's souces of inspiration14:31: Jeanne talk about her favorite picture book Tadpole's Promise22:01 Jeanne's advice to young parents25:29 How has being a copywriter influenced Jeanne's writing style?27:12 How Jeanne's style evoled over the years?33:33 On Boa's Bad Birthday35:49 Jeanne's advice on writing42:12 important things for children节目中提到的书 | Books Mentioned：The Bog BabyTadpole's PromiseStardustBoa's Bad Birthday你可以在这里找到我们 | Where to Find Storyland：https://storyland.education/wechat: Storyland童书研究所（ID:STORYLIVING)

Dateline: November 8, 2024. Rossifari Zoo News is back with a round up of the latest news in the world of zoos, aquariums, conservation, and animal weirdness!   We start off with my thoughts about the election, kind of. Just listen or skip that part, whatever you need today. We then move on to our births section, including red panda triplets at Lincoln Childrens Zoo, a cool giraffe birth story from Potawatomi Zoo, the start of African penguin breeding season at the Maryland Zoo, possibly the cutest pygmy hippo ever, unless you're a TikTok person, and more! We also say goodbye to some incredible animals from Zoo Miami, the National Zoo, the Buffalo Zoo, the Adelaide Zoo, and the Edinburgh Zoo.  We then move on to our other Zoo News stories.  This episode features stories from The Fort Worth Zoo, Buttonwood Park Zoo, Beardsley Zoo, the London Zoo, Seneca Park Zoo, Seaquest Aquariums, and The Wilds! In Conservation News, we talk about the climate and some more good news for North Atlantic Right WhalesIn Other News, we talk about an emperor penguin and the loss of 43 monkeys. 

Catherine meets a retired couple enjoying a mid week trip to London Zoo.Catherine Carr stops strangers to ask them “Where Are You Going?” and uncovers unexpected stories about people's lives.---Named 'Podcast of the Year' by Radio Times and picked as 'Best Podcasts of the Year 2023' by the Financial Times, Observer, Pod Bible and The Week. ---The conversations that follow are always unpredictable: sometimes funny, sometimes heart-breaking, silly, romantic or occasionally downright ‘stop-you-in-your-tracks' surprising. Catherine's been travelling and recording since 2014. Be transported to places around the world and into the lives of others: You just never know what story is coming next…We're actively seeking brand partners and sponsors and would love to talk to you. Please email us at whereareyougoing@loftusmedia.co.uk---Presented by Catherine CarrProduced by the team at Loftus MediaMusic by Edwin PearsonFollow whereareyougoing on InstagramCheck out our site: whereareyougoing.co.ukSend us an email: whereareyougoing@loftusmedia.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's Sponsor: YouTube TVhttp://thisistheconversationproject.com/youtubetv       Today's Rundown:Church of England dropping word ‘church' to be more ‘modern'https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/church-of-england-dropping-word-church-to-be-more-modern/ar-AA1oVE8K New CBS News poll shows gender gap, enthusiasm, economy make for tight Harris-Trump race on Democratic convention evehttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-poll-kamala-harris-policies-trump-democratic-convention-2024/ Simone Biles wears Packers jacket to cheer on husband at Bears gamehttps://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/bears/2024/08/17/simone-biles-cheers-husband-jonathan-owens-bears-game/74846305007/?tbref=hp  ‘Banksy woz ere.' London Zoo is the latest to remove street artist's animal mural for protectionhttps://apnews.com/article/banksy-animal-murals-london-zoo-gorilla-removed-9a883eefbeb7bbbfc249eb8a6022e6a0  ‘Alien: Romulus' Wins Busy Box Office Weekend With $41.5M Opening, $108M Globallyhttps://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/alien-romulus-box-office-opening-1235977632/  Person Who Bought Kevin Spacey's Mansion For $3.24 Million Says The Actor Is Refusing To Leavehttps://brobible.com/culture/article/kevin-space-refusing-move-out-of-baltimore-mansion-after-auction-sale/ Massive data breach that includes Social Security numbers may be even worse than suspectedhttps://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2024/08/15/social-security-hack-national-public-data-breach/74807903007/ Keith Urban plays free pop-up concert outside a Buc-ee's store in Alabama https://apnews.com/article/keith-urban-bucees-alabama-concert-1a755465e22dbfc3e432b356ecdb8cf0  Chechen warlord invites Musk to Russia after he's filmed driving machine-gun mounted Cybertruckhttps://www.google.com/search?q=https%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2Frussia-chechnya-kadyrov-cybertruck-musk-33b123d4bd7fe0036e80952026a54a74&sca_esv=3586d42fed26ceb9&sca_upv=1&udm=2&biw=958&bih=918&sxsrf=ADLYWIJ0OItfdX359A2KL9AlSEQiW-GRng%3A1724057155495&ei=QwbDZqj3HazLp84P0rDsmQQ&ved=0ahUKEwjopM2y1YCIAxWs5ckDHVIYO0MQ4dUDCBE&uact=5&oq=https%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2Frussia-chechnya-kadyrov-cybertruck-musk-33b123d4bd7fe0036e80952026a54a74&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiY2h0dHBzOi8vYXBuZXdzLmNvbS9hcnRpY2xlL3J1c3NpYS1jaGVjaG55YS1rYWR5cm92LWN5YmVydHJ1Y2stbXVzay0zM2IxMjNkNGJkN2ZlMDAzNmU4MDk1MjAyNmE1NGE3NEgAUABYAHAAeACQAQCYAQCgAQCqAQC4AQPIAQD4AQL4AQGYAgCgAgCYAwCSBwCgBwA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#vhid=Oy8ZsuU6eq68CM&vssid=mosaic   NBA 2K25 ratings say everything about draft class as Bronny James discovers fatehttps://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/nba-2k25-ratings-say-everything-about-draft-class-as-bronny-james-discovers-fate/ar-AA1oWvru?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=ad3a24e0fe8d444593a7d41b5b7e89fc&ei=52 Website: http://thisistheconversationproject.com  Facebook: http://facebook.com/thisistheconversationproject  Twitter: http://twitter.com/th_conversation  TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@theconversationproject  YouTube: http://thisistheconversationproject.com/youtube  Podcast: http://thisistheconversationproject.com/podcasts    DATEBOOK: August 19:Bill Clinton (78)John Stamos (61)Kyra Sedgwick (59)   WHAT HAPPENED TODAY:2004: Internet search engine Google went public.2020: Apple became the First US company to be valued at $2 trillion, just two years after it reached a $1 trillion valuation.2022: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck wed yet again. One month after their surprise Las Vegas nuptials, the couple held a full weekend bash at the actor's estate in Riceboro, Georgia. WORD OF THE DAY: squeamish [ skwee-mish ]https://www.dictionary.com/browse/squeamisheasily disturbed or disgusted by unpleasant thingsMy friend is so squeamish that she can't even watch a movie with a simple surgery scene without feeling faint.DAILY AFFIRMATION: My Life Is Filled With Joy And Abundance.Reduces Negative Thoughts: Repeating the affirmation "My life is filled with joy and abundance" can significantly reduce negative thoughts by shifting focus towards the positive aspects of your life, promoting a more optimistic outlook.https://www.amazon.com/100-Daily-Affirmations-Positivity-Confidence/dp/B0D2D6SS2D/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1WQBWD1QLPY95&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.NRYOXILA_fPs_fuXcyiwODc6ZLTRzYtg7HkX2KxYA70.NatQgGVyJVt3ySzvXdHtT8q-IUGRsteKym8W5ZZ27dM&dib_tag=se&keywords=100+affirmations+payne&qid=1724015654&sprefix=100+affirmations+payne%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-1  PLUS, TODAY WE CELEBRATE: Potato Dayhttps://nationaltoday.com/national-potato-day/Potatoes have been a popular food for centuries so it's about time we recognize this versatile and ap-peeling favorite. Mashed, smashed, chipped, or covered in cheese, potatoes can be eaten with just about every meal — or as a meal! — making these starchy veggies a delicious and easy way to get iron, potassium and vitamin c. The puns are just baked right in! Now just fry and stop us from telling you the whole scoop on what makes National Potato Day so …spudtacular. 

AP correspondent Rica Ann Garcia reports on a London zoo removing Banksy's animal mural for protection

Dateline: August 16, 2024. Rossifari Zoo News is back with a round up of the latest news in the world of zoos, aquariums, conservation, and animal weirdness!   We start off with a quick recap of what's going on in my life, including some viral video stuff. Who doesn't love discussing download numbers again? We also talk about Miles' birthday and how I hurt myself.We then get into our births for the week including so many red panda cubs, weedy seadragon fry at Columbus, a new Nyala named Peach at the Toledo Zoo, a baby bongo at Milwaukee County Zoo, a penguin hatching at Jacksonville, Some Pig(s) at Beardsley Zoo, two patas monkeys at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, and so many more! We also say goodbye to some incredible animals including an incredible sheep (no, really) at Zoo Atlanta, a rascal of an otter at the Buffalo Zoo, two losses at the Cincinnati Zoo, a moose at the Toronto Zoo, an elephant at Point Defiance, one of the oldest red wolves in the world, and more.  We then move on to our other Zoo News stories.  We start off with some gorilla movement taking place at Woodland Park Zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo, and others, and why these stories matter so much. We also do a deep dive that comes from an orangutan trying to learn to breastfeed from human mothers. We then talk about pangolins at Brookfield Zoo, new artwork at the London Zoo, and so much more.In Conservation News, we talk about a rediscovery that is leading to desperate breeding efforts to save a species, the Florida Python Challenge, and a reintroduction in Australia that helps put the Python Challenge into context. In Other News, we talk about a bear that can read (maybe) and singing gorillas.  ROSSIFARI LINKS:  www.rossifari.com  patreon.com/rossifari  @rossifari on socials  @rossifaripod on TikTokBirds of a Feather Talk TogetherA podcast all about birds. Two experts have fun with two beginners - you'll love this :)Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Good afternoon, I'm _____ with today's episode of EZ News. Tai-Ex opening The Tai-Ex opened up 155-points this morning from yesterday's close, at 21,952 on turnover of $6.9-billion N-T. Shares in Taiwan closed slightly higher Tuesday following a reduced turnover amid caution ahead of key U.S. economic data due out later this week. Because of the lower turnover, many large-cap tech stocks fell into consolidation mode throughout the session. iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. attracted bargain hunters which helped boost the broader market. Taiwan to recognize Lin's World Boxing Championships bronze medal Premier Cho Jung-tai announced that Taiwan's government has decided to recognize the bronze medal won by Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting at the 2023 World Boxing Championships, despite her later disqualification by the International Boxing Association. Cho made the announcement in a media interview, saying he has instructed the Ministry of Education to work out a plan to present a National Glory Medal and prize money of $900-thousand NT to Lin, in recognition of her outstanding performance in international competitions. The Cabinet says Taiwan experts and medical authorities have already verified (核實) Lin's eligibility, and the International Olympic Committee allowed her to compete in the 2024 Paris Games, with the IOC and its President Thomas Bach repeatedly backed her eligibility to compete in the women's event. The Cabinet says this shows that Lin's disqualification at the 2023 World Championships was illegitimate. Deputy Education Minister Chang Liao Wan-Chien also announced that Lin will be appointed an anti-bullying Public Welfare Ambassador. War crimes in Myanmar escalating at alarming rate A team of United Nations investigators warns that war crimes committed by Myanmar's military government has escalated (加劇、惡化) at an alarming rate. In the past six months the UN estimates that over three million people have been forced to flee their homes. East Asia correspondent William Denselow reports. Russia Claims Ukraine Incursion Checked The Russian Defense Ministry says its forces have checked an effort by Kyiv's troops to expand a stunning weeklong incursion into Russia's Kursk region. A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday that Kyiv has no intention of occupying Russian territory in the operation that has been shrouded in (籠罩在) secrecy. The Russian Defense Ministry said army units, fresh reserves, army aircraft, drone teams and artillery forces stopped Ukrainian armored mobile groups from moving deeper into Russia. A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the cross-border operation was aimed at protecting Ukrainian land from long-range strikes launched from Kursk. He said that Ukraine isn't interested in taking the territory of the Kursk region. Banksy Artwork at London Zoo Workers arriving at the London Zoo were surprised to discover an unexpected exhibit that suggested the animals were being set free. A mural by elusive street artist Banksy showed a gorilla holding up the entrance gate as birds took flight and a sea lion waddled away. Three sets of eyes peered out (向外看) from the darkness inside. The painting may explain why Bansky-created creatures, including a mountain goat perched on a building and a rhinoceros mounting a car, have been showing up around London for nine straight days. That was the I.C.R.T. news, Check in again tomorrow for our simplified version of the news, uploaded every day in the afternoon. Enjoy the rest of your day, I'm _____.

In this episode, we share all about our fabulous School Runway trip to London Zoo, all thanks to our amazing sponsor, Deichmann. It also wouldn't be the School Runway if we didn't share some fashion advice.We discuss the importance of comfortable and stylish outfits and footwear for the long days in theme parks in preparation for one our listeners up and coming holidays to Florida, and Cara reveals her genius packing hack for your next Disney trip.We unpick the confusing world of US and UK sizes, helping our listener dress confidently in their 40s, and the best eye makeup removers. Whether you're looking for practical parenting tips, fashion inspiration, or just a good laugh, tune in.This episode is sponsored by DeichmannLearn more about the Buy one Get one Half Price promotion here: https://deich.mn/runwayBuy One Get One Half Price Offer is valid on over 500+ lines on all school shoes, some of these will be online only.Buy One Get One Half Price Offer launches in Scotland & Northern Ireland from 22nd July 2024Buy One Get One Half Price Offer launches in England & Wales from 29th July 2024Buy One Get One Half Price Offer launches online from 22nd of July 2024Connect with The School Runway Podcast:Instagram: @schoolrunwaypodLeave us a voice note on: https://sayhi.chat/TSRWe love hearing from you! If you have any questions, style dilemmas, or topics you want us to cover, drop us a message on Instagram @schoolrunwaypod, or even a voice note on Telbee!And don't forget to leave your lovely ratings and reviews on both Apple Podcast and Spotify x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Landscape gardening leads to the downfall of a powerful politician in 17th century France. In the 1820s, two Englishmen test their new lawn mowing invention in the middle of the night, much to the displeasure of their neighbours. A camel helps to cut the grass at London Zoo. And in America, a man resorts to an unconventional mode of transport when his brother falls ill hundreds of miles away… A Noiser production, written by Roger Morris. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the Noiser+ banner to get started with a 7-day free trial. Or, if you're on Spotify or Android, go to noiser.com/subscriptions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Catface, Toto och Silver smyger in på London Zoo. De ska lista ut vart den livsfarliga kobran Brian är på väg. Men inne i djurparken blir Silver hungrig... Del 6 av 15. Lyssna på alla avsnitt i Sveriges Radio Play. Ninjakatten Toto och den stora kobrajaktenKatten Toto ser inte speciellt bra, men det gör inte så mycket – för hon är en ninjakatt! Tillsammans med sin bror Silver hamnar hon i ett äventyr som tar dem genom hela London på jakt efter en livsfarlig orm.Barnradions sommarföljetongBarnradions sommarföljetong 2024 bygger på boken "Ninjakatten Toto och den stora kobrajakten", av Dermot O'Leary, och det är Lennart Jähkel som läser.Serien är perfekt som familjelyssning, och passar från ca 4 år och uppåt.Vi släpper ett avsnitt om dagen 24 juni-12 juli.MedverkandeFörfattare: Dermot O'Leary (boken gavs ut 2019)Översättare: Torun Lidfelt BagerFörlag: ModernistaBerättare: Lennart JähkelMusik: Aron McFaulIllustrationer: Johanna KristianssonProducent: Klara Grape, Barnradion

In this first episode of a new series, ducks' super vaginas and a meteorite that's the key to how life on Earth started wow the team.For this new series of Sue Perkins' ARIA-winning ‘Show and Tell' wildlife comedy, Team Nature Table have recorded at the Natural History Museum, Kew Gardens – for some botanical specials – and London Zoo.Starting the series off, we're at the Natural History Museum. Sue is joined by special guests: comedian Desiree Burch, science writer Jules Howard and the NHM's curator of meteorites Dr. Natasha Almeida.Our varied subjects include: Dogs, a meteorite that can explain how life started on Earth, Ducks' vaginas (with Sue studying one up close courtesy of a VR headset) and moon rock.Nature Table has a simple clear brief: to positively celebrate and promote the importance of all our planet's wonderfully wild flora and fauna in a fun and easily grasped way... whilst at the same time having a giggle.Hosted by: Sue Perkins Guests: Desiree Burch, Natasha Almeida & Jules Howard Written by: Catherine Brinkworth, Jenny Laville & Jon Hunter Additional material by: Christina Riggs & Pete Tellouche Researcher: Catherine Beazley Executive Producer: Richard Morris Sound Recordist & Editor: Jerry Peal Music by: Ben Mirin Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls Producer: Simon NichollsAn EcoAudio certified production A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4

It's time for another trip around the solar system on the BIGGER and BETTER Science Weekly!  This episode of the Fun Kids Science Weekly we continue our bigger and better podcast where we put YOUR questions to our team of experts, have scientists battle it out for which science is the best & learn all about the London Zoo's 200th Anniversary History Hive project! Dan starts with the latest science news, where we learn about a satellite that's been launched to see the effect of clouds on our climate, why the North Atlantic Ocean could have up to SEVEN major hurricanes this year and Tina Campanella from the Zoological Society of London tells us all about London Zoo's History Hive project ahead of their 200th anniversary in 2026. Then we delve into your questions where Dan answers Lucy's question about why screens make it harder for us to fall asleep and we pose Max's question on how weather satellites work to Professor Douglas Parker from the University of Leeds. Dangerous Dan continues and we learn all about the ambush predator in the sand dunes of Africa - The Six Eyed Spider!The Battle of the Sciences continues where Dan chats to Alex Easton from Durham University about why Neuroscience is the best kind of science? What do we learn about? - What effect clouds have on our climate? - The 7 hurricanes that could be reaching the North Atlantic Ocean this year - London Zoo's History Hive project celebrating its 200th anniversary - How do weather satellites work?? - Is Neuroscience the best type of science? All on this week's episode of Science Weekly!Join Fun Kids Podcasts+: https://funkidslive.com/plusSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dateline: April 12, 2024. Rossifari Zoo News is back with a round up of the latest news in the world of zoos, aquariums, conservation, and animal weirdness!  Our Headline Story of the Week is actually a personal story about Logan, a dog I briefly fostered. Bring tissues. We start with our births for the week, which include exciting additions at The London Zoo, Hamerton Zoo Park, The Metro Richmond Zoo, Potawatomi Zoo, the Denver Zoo, the Akron Zoo, Zoo Tampa, the Memphis Zoo, Zoo Atlanta, and more!We say goodbye to some beloved animals headlined by two wonderful red pandas, Tilly and Burma, at Hertfordshire Zoo and Miller Park Zoo, respectively.  We also say goodbye to incredible animals at the Cincinnati Zoo, Zoo Miami, and the NEW Zoo and Aquarium. We then move on to our other Zoo News stories, including an exciting pairing at Henry Vilas Zoo, an amazing dog helping in situ conservation work thanks to Woodland Park Zoo, the latest in panda diplomacy, platypus conservation at Taronga Western Plains Zoo, and a discussion about the eclipse and zoos.In Conservation News, we talk about another species getting avian influenza, a potential taxonomic change for orcas, my take on Molly the magpie, and why reptiles may be more charismatic than most people think!In Other News, we talk about defensive defecation! TO SIGN THE PETITION: www.salsalabs.org ROSSIFARI LINKS: www.rossifari.com patreon.com/rossifari @rossifari on socials @rossifaripod on TikTok

If you find watching sport in public a bit intimidating, Set Piece Social will be for you. This week, Jen chats to Naomi Fitzgibbons and Kate Hetherington about their pioneering new project to get women watching women's sport. Hannah's talking to writer Farine Clark about her new play London Zoo, and what inspired her career changes from medicine through journalism and into the arts. In Rated or Dated, Mickey (*screeches to a stop in a 1974 Gran Torino*) has had us watching 2004's Starksy & Hutch (*doesn't run out of fingers on one hand counting female roles*). And in BT, we've got some good news and some more good news and some more good news. Also some bad news. But let's focus on the positive eh? More info about London Zoo at the Southwark Playhouse here: https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/london-zoo/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dateline: February 23, 2024. Rossifari Zoo News is back with a round up of the latest news in the world of zoos, aquariums, conservation, and animal weirdness!  We yet again open with some breaking news, this time about panda bears at the San Diego Zoo! We then get back on track with our births and deaths. We talk about new penguins in Memphis and Kansas City, a new giraffe in Fort Worth, a new rhino at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, a new tamandua at the Nashville Zoo, and a new gorilla at the London Zoo! In deaths, we say goodbye to a sea lion at the Pittsburgh Zoo, a young giraffe at Seneca Park Zoo, and Tonka, the second oldest male Sumatran orangutan in human care. We then move on to our other Zoo News stories, including multiple panda stories, an update on polar bear breeding that is really exciting, a look at what is going on with the SeaQuest brand of aquariums, why coins in exhibit water are a bad idea, and more! In Conservation News, we talk about a new species, more good news for rhinos, a really dumb reason for a proposed law in Florida, and a story that is about cloned sheep that you have to hear to believe! All this and more! In Other News, we talk about a surprising human death and bats singing love songs like upside-down Paul McCartneys. ROSSIFARI LINKS: www.rossifari.com patreon.com/rossifari @rossifari on socials @rossifaripod on TikTok

Winnie-the-Pooh is a fictional teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name in a children's story commissioned by London's Evening News for Christmas Eve 1925. The character is inspired by a stuffed toy that Milne had bought for his son Christopher Robin in Harrods department store, and a bear they had viewed at London Zoo. The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Milne also included a poem about the bear in the children's verse book When We Were Very Young (1924) and many more in Now We Are Six (1927). The stories are set in Hundred Acre Wood, which was inspired by Five Hundred Acre Wood in Ashdown Forest in East Sussex—situated 30 miles south of London—where the Londoner Milne's country home was located. In 1961, The Walt Disney Company licensed certain film and other rights of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories from the estate of A. A. Milne and the licensing agent Stephen Slesinger, Inc., and adapted the Pooh stories, using the unhyphenated name "Winnie the Pooh", into a series of features that would eventually become one of its most successful franchises. Bedtime Stories for Children is produced by Magic Monorail #Bedtime #Stories #Children #BeatrixPotter #BrothersGrimm #Disney #Aesop # Aesopsfables #bedtimestories #books #childrensbooks #goldenbooks #kindergarden #preschool #learning #reading #WDW

For this Christmas, Sonia T. and Sonia C. decided to celebrate and nourish their inner child. Both the ladies are together in London celebrating the holidays with a focus on fun things that reawaken their inner spirit and joy. Instead of focusing their joy on ‘stuff' and collecting things,  they decided to focus their joy on experiences.    This week's theme is: Beautiful year-end reflection and nourishment.    Highlights: It's such a magical time of the year. Let's nourish our inner child. [1:45]  This is a great moment in the year to reflect and celebrate what's working. [6:35]  As a creator, we need to stop and appreciate all the things we've created. [7:05]  Take a moment to really celebrate the success and not what's missing in your life. [7:55] What were some of Sonia C.'s favorite moments of this year? [8:00] How do we successfully achieve our goals? More than 40% of people abandon their goals by the first month! [12:15]  Sonia C. told a very left-brain doctor about her line of work, and he was open to it! The world is changing and more accepting of intuitives. [15:00] Tool of the week. [24:55] Question of the week. [31:15]   The ladies admitted that they really didn't need anything physical this year. What can you get someone that already has ‘everything'? So, switching up the theme, they decided it was time for a little bit of planning. They were able to see Santa at the London Zoo with Sabrina and her daughter. It's such a joy living life through a child's eyes who is experiencing new things for the very first time. Sonia T. has surprisingly cried more times than she thought was possible in witnessing this!    Sonia C. was so surprised by how well the actor played Santa this year. She was convinced he was the real deal. They certainly do not mess around with their high-quality Santas in London, that's for sure! Santa must have thought the ladies were a train wreck because Sonia T. was still crying from witnessing the pure love coming from her family and her niece. She can't be the only one teary eyed. As sensitives and empaths, we just have to embrace the public cry from time to time.    Tool of the Week: Jumpstart your intuition. It's never too late!    Continue on Your Journey:   Question of the Week: I trust the vibes I'm getting, but I'm struggling to act on the big change. How can I make the leap?    More Sonia Choquette at www.soniachoquette.com More Sonia Tully at www.soniatully.com Connect with Sabrina at www.sabrinatully.com Join Sonia Choquette's Vibe Tribe Follow Sonia Choquette on Instagram Follow Sonia Tully on Instagram Buy Sonia and Sabrina's Book You Are Amazing Ask your intuitive questions at: itsallrelatedpodcastquestions@gmail.com Masterclass: You're Glorious Life by Sonia Tully Book a Discovery Call with Sonia Tully Protecting Child's Intuition PsychicYOU Fall Class Level 1  Pre-Order Sonia Choquette's New Book Share with us your questions and vibe stories at itsallrelatedpodcastquestions@gmail.com and vibecheck@soniatully.com

This week, we're taking a look at the genetics of selective breeding, how it might be dooming certain breeds of dog but saving certain endangered species. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

A former senior zookeeper at London Zoo has been collecting animal poo for over 20 years. Now, her extraordinary collection is on exhibition. Tracey Lee, ex-zookeeper and artist joined Sean to discuss...Image: The Origin of the Faeces: Poo from the Zoo

Known as “Darwin's bulldog”, Thomas Henry Huxley fought a tireless battle against the opponents of evolutionary theory. His grandson Julian lived among the animals of London Zoo and made nature documentaries with a young David Attenborough. Alison Bashford is the author of a Cundill Prize-shortlisted book on the Huxley family, An Intimate History of Evolution. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, she reveals how this pioneering dynasty of scientists and thinkers shaped our view of nature across the 19th and 20th centuries. (Ad) Alison Bashford is the author of An Intimate History of Evolution: The Story of the Huxley Family (Penguin, 2023). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fan-intimate-history-of-evolution%2Falison-bashford%2F9780141992228 The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Geri Halliwell-Horner talks with me about her motherhood journey. Geri shares the values she looks to instill into her kids. In addition, she talks about the life lessons that her kids have taught her. After that, Geri talks about her new book, Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen. Geri shares the inspiration for this book. We also talk on her music career.Lastly, we finish the interview with the Fatherhood Quick Five.  About Geri Halliwell-Horner Geri Halliwell-Horner is an accomplished singer, writer, actress and producer. In addition, she is widely recognized for her iconic place in British pop culture as an original member of the record-breaking girl group the Spice Girls. As Ginger Spice, Geri played a formative role in the band as they became one of the biggest-selling girl groups of all time. She is the successful author of the Ugenia Lavender book series in the UK. Geri continues to work with the Royal Commonwealth to promote prospects through literacy to Commonwealth citizens. She was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters at Sheffield Hallam University and is an outspoken supporter of animals and an ambassador of the London Zoo. You can visit Geri Halliwell-Horner online at RosieFrostBooks.com or follow her on Instagram @gerihalliwellhorner. This Week's Sponsor Is Medela And March Of Dimes  Medela and The March of Dimes asked me to host a panel about how Dads are creating family-friendly workplaces and supporting parenting and work-life integration. On the panel was Jeffrey Castillo, Malcolm Newsome and David Holstein. We talk about the importance for men being able to count on others for support. In addition, we talk how men can be advocates for women coming back after maternity leave. Check out the full podcast/panel wherever you get your podcasts, on YouTube and on my site.  About The Art of Fatherhood Podcast  The Art of Fatherhood Podcast follows the journey of fatherhood. Your host, Art Eddy talks with fantastic dads from all around the world where they share their thoughts on fatherhood. You get a unique perspective on fatherhood from guests like Joe Montana, Kevin Smith, Danny Trejo, Jerry Rice, Jeff Foxworthy, Patrick Warburton, Jeff Kinney, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Kyle Busch, Dennis Quaid, Dwight Freeney and many more.

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, Founder of Rubber Cheese.Download the Rubber Cheese 2022 Visitor Attraction Website Report - the first digital benchmark statistics for the attractions sector.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. Show references: https://carbonsix.digital/https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmarden/Paul Marden is the Founder and Managing Director of Carbon Six Digital and the CEO of Rubber Cheese. He is an Umbraco Certified Master who likes to think outside the box, often coming up with creative technical solutions that clients didn't know were possible. Paul oversees business development and technical delivery, specialising in Microsoft technologies including Umbraco CMS, ASP.NET, C#, WebApi, and SQL Server. He's worked in the industry since 1999 and has vast experience of managing and delivering the technical architecture for both agencies and client side projects of all shapes and sizes. Paul is an advocate for solid project delivery and has a BCS Foundation Certificate in Agile. https://www.rubbercheese.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellymolson/Kelly Molson is the Founder of Rubber Cheese, a user focused web design and development agency for the attraction sector. Digital partners to Eureka! The National Children's Museum, Pensthorpe, National Parks UK, Holkham, Visit Cambridge and The National Marine Aquarium.Kelly regularly delivers workshops and presentations on sector focused topics at national conferences and attraction sector organisations including ASVA, ALVA, The Ticketing Professionals Conference and the Museum + Heritage Show.As host of the popular Skip the Queue Podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions, she speaks with inspiring industry experts who share their knowledge of what really makes an attraction successful.Recent trustee of The Museum of the Broads. Transcription:  Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip The Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson.In this new monthly slot, Rubber Cheese CEO Paul Marden joins me to discuss different digital related topics.In this episode, we're talking about the impact of design, navigation and content on selling tickets and how to go about testing if your design is working or not.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on all the usual channels by searching Skip The Queue.Kelly Molson:  We're doing something a little bit different on the podcast this season. So alongside the usual guest interviews, which we'll have each month, me and the Rubber Cheese CEO, Paul Marden are also going to be recording an episode on a different digital related topic. So we're going to do this once a month. Kelly Molson: Each of the episodes, we're going to share insight around design, user experience, content, accessibility, SEO and loads, loads more. We're going to talk a little bit about what's possible, give you some ideas about how easy or how hard that topic is to implement.Kelly Molson: Maybe what kind of budget that you might need to look at and what some of the next steps are to take if you want to implement some of these things. We're even going to call out some of the best in breed websites, people that are doing things really well within the sector.Kelly Molson:  So I've been hosting the Skip the Queue podcast since July 2019. Goodness, that's been a long time. Five seasons in now. This is season five. You all know me already. So I am the founder of Rubber Cheese and my background is in design. Kelly Molson: I co founded Rubber Cheese back in 2003 after learning about ecommerce when I worked at a very early kind of Shopify type startup agency. The person that you don't know quite as well as me is my fellow host on this podcast. That's funny to say, that my fellow host is Paul Marden. So. Paul. Hello. Welcome. Paul Marden: Hello. Kelly Molson: This is strange. I'm going to have to share the spotlight for a while, that's very uncomfortable for me. No, it will be fine."It will be fine", she says. Paul, I would love it if you could give us a little intro to yourself. Kelly Molson: I know your background and I know you very well. We've known each other for about, I think it's about 14 years now. It's been a long time, hasn't it?Paul Marden: Yeah. Not long after I started doing this as a proper job. Kelly Molson: Well, there you go. Tell us about what your proper job is. Paul Marden: Yeah, so I'm the CEO of Rubber Cheese now, alongside another agency that I run called Carbon Six, which we merged Carbon Six and Rubber Cheese just over a year ago. My background is as a geek. I'm a developer by training. I started out ten years at British Airways, all over the airline, doing all different sorts of IT related jobs. So I saw lots of operational side of things, commercial sides of the airline, say, selling tickets, that kind of thing. I don't know if I've told you, but my first visitor attraction job was a long time ago, because when I was at Uni, I did a placement at the National Botanic Garden of Wales when it first opened. So I was there when it was a hole in the ground and I helped them write their IT strategy. Paul Marden: So my visitor attraction experience predates my involvement in Rubber Cheese. Kelly Molson: I did not know that. So you've done geek stuff for attractions. Paul Marden: For a long time. Yeah, it was amazing. I can still remember I was in an office in a farmhouse as they were building the giant glass house. It was just the most amazing place and I've not been back for a long time. It would be amazing to go and see the place, how it's transformed in the, what is it, 24 years since I was there? God, I really sound old now, don't I? Kelly Molson: You do sound old. I'm just wondering if they still use the IT plan that you put in place for them. Paul Marden: Probably not. I was only a student at the time. It can't have been amazing. Kelly Molson: So what we normally do on the podcast, listeners, as you well know, is I ask my guests a series of uncomfortable questions, icebreaker questions, which they very graciously answer beautifully for me. We're not going to do that on this episode. Ha. So we thought, yeah, Paul has wiped his brow in a state of relief there. But what we thought we would do is Paul and I both visit a lot of visitor attractions, both professionally and in our personal life as well. We've both got daughters at very different ages, so Millie is  coming up for I think, 9.Paul Marden: 10 in two weeks' time. Kelly Molson: Okay. And my little one is 2. So we're going to very different visitor attractions right now. But we thought we would talk about the attraction that we visited most recently and what we loved about it, and we thought we'd ask each other that question. So I am going to ask you that question first, Paul. What attraction have you visited most recently and what did you love about it? Paul Marden: So we just finished the summer holidays, so went away for just over a week to the Netherlands. We did visit a few different attractions whilst were there, but went to an amazing place. We went back to it, actually, it was one that we've been to before called Burger's Zoo. So I loved the whole experience of going there the first time around and we wanted to go back there. It's an amazing place. But the reason why I was going to call it out today was a conversation that we've been having and something that we've done with Kitten Museums in terms of the food offering. Because when you go to Burger's Zoo, the restaurant is amazing. We've talked recently about the sorts of food that you get at visitor attractions and your frustration around this. Lots of fried food. Paul Marden: There's never any healthy food. So went to Burger Zoo, we had lunch and of course, there'd be obligatory portion of chips there if you want to have it. Lots of kids food there, but I was able to have a massive great salad. It was in enormous and it was lovely and healthy and really enjoyable and it didn't cost the earth when you were there. And it's so unusual to talk about going to an attraction and getting that kind of quality of food without spending the earth in doing it. So, yeah, that was pretty cool. Kelly Molson: That is cool. This is probably a whole another podcast episode to talk about that. I think actually, in your intro, you forgot to mention that you are a Trustee for the Kids in Museums, which is quite a new role for you, isn't it? But it's one that kind of immersed you into the world of attraction. I think that's been a good one for you. They have set up a brilliant scheme, which is kind of an accreditation scheme for attractions to go through, just to check into how healthy and how great their food offering actually is, which I think is brilliant. It's really weird. Kelly Molson: The day that they launched it, I was having a like, literally the day before, I was having a conversation on LinkedIn about how atrocious the food offering had been at an attraction that I went to, which is one of the top ten most visited attractions in the UK. It's a great place. It really is a brilliant place, especially if you've got toddler. However, the food was pretty horrendous and I've got an unusual toddler in that. Well, she will eat chips now, she will eat chippies, but she won't eat fried stuff or battered things or anything like that. She's just not interested.Paul Marden: Nothing beige.Kelly Molson: Not really, even pasta has to be, she should have been an Italian, she should have seen the amount of pasta that she wolf down when were over there. But it's got to be good. Kelly Molson: It's got to be good. Yeah, she is particularly fussy toddler. But just for myself, I mean, just the range of food that was available that day was just dreadful. I mean, the healthiest thing that was on the menu that Lee and I both had was jacket potatoes and I think I took a picture of it somewhere and it was too awful to put on social media. So, yes, that is well needed and I'm glad that attraction stood out on the food front for you. Paul Marden: What about you? Where have you been recently? Kelly Molson: I've been to lots of different places recently, but this one I can't stop thinking about and so I want to talk about it today and it's not one that I visited with Edie. It's one that I visited with a fellow attractions professional a little while ago, but it's the Beamish Living Museum. I honestly can't stop thinking about it. It's the first living museum that I've been to, so it's the first experience of that for me. And I had such an emotional reaction to it. I'm a bit embarrassed, actually. So I went to meet a couple of people. I met one person that I'd met briefly at a conference before, and then I met one of their colleagues who I'd never met before in my life. And I actually had a bit of a cry to this colleague because it was so emotive. Kelly Molson: If anyone who hasn't been to Beamish Living Museum, there's lots of different areas that you can visit, and one of them is a 1950s area and they essentially recreate what it was like in the 1950s, where the museum is located. And it brought back so many memories of my grandparents, both sets of grandparents, for different reasons. The house was very similar to my grandparents on my father's side and just down to some of the things that they had in that space. And I just got overwhelmed by it. It was so wonderful to go back and see that. And in my head all the time I was thinking, well, both my sets of grandparents are no longer with us. They passed away when I was in my early twenties. And so Edie will never get to meet her great grandparents on that side. And I thought, God, how amazing would it be for me to bring here and say, show her some of the things that great granny used to have in her house and yeah, just lost it. Paul Marden:  It's interesting, isn't it, that you can become so immersed that even now the emotional attachment that you've built when you were there takes you straight back there. Because there's a risk, isn't there, with those sorts of places of it feeling a little bit plastic and fake, isn't it? But this clearly had an emotional impact on you. Kelly Molson: Yeah, I think for me, I was worried that it would be people in costumes. It would feel like that. And it did not feel like that at all. It just felt so authentic. Anyway, you've got to go. I don't want to cry for the rest of this podcast, but yeah, it's definitely a must visit for me, it was something really special. Paul Marden: Excellent. Kelly Molson: Should we move on to what we're going to talk about? And I'll compose myself, shall we?Paul Marden: Okay, moving swiftly on.Kelly Molson: Let's. So in this episode, we're going to talk about the impact of design, navigation and content on selling tickets and how we go about testing if it's working or not. So this episode actually launches on the 4th of October, which is one day after we release the 2023 Visitor Attraction website report. There's data that has come out of this year's report that is so insightful and I cannot wait for everybody to get this year's report. It dives deeper into a lot of the topics that we talked about in the first report last year, but there's just so much more to it and I'm very excited about it.Kelly Molson: Anyway, looking at the data from the report, a 100% of the attractions that took part think that having consistent design and clear navigation is important, which is brilliant. Big tick there. However, many of them don't think that their site meets the need and some of them think it does, but they don't test that it does. There's some really interesting stats about testing that we're going to talk about in a minute that have actually blew my mind a little bit. But one good stat around the design is that 76% of respondents believe that their websites were consistently designed despite using multiple platforms in their customer journey. Kelly Molson: And this is something that we talked about quite frequently in that sometimes there's a big disconnect if you are using if you've got your website that's built and designed in WordPress for example, and then you've got your ticketing platform and the two don't look like each other, they're not consistent, they're incongruent. That can be a bit of a challenge for people in terms of trust and how they feel about your brand. Paul Marden: It can be a jarring experience, can't it? Kelly Molson: Yeah, absolutely. Responses this year once again saw that websites that look good and are easy to use are doing far better than those that don't prioritise consistency. So I'm just going to read out this snippet from the report. We saw that websites that were high scoring for their design and navigation made more sales over the past twelve months. So those successful websites had around 200,000 to 500,000 completed transactions. Whereas on the other hand, websites with lower design and navigation scores didn't do as well, stating that they had below 50,000 completed transactions in the last month. That's quite fascinating, isn't it? Paul Marden: It is. This is not just a handful of people that are answering, is it? Because there's a large number of people that are answering that this is important to them and that they think they're doing quite well. And then you see how their perception of doing well correlates really strongly with the actual outcomes of the site itself. Kelly Molson: Yeah, I think that the way that we asked the questions this year is interesting as well. So when I talked then about we said that websites that were high scoring for design and navigation, we gave respondents the options to score their website. So we gave them how well designed do you think your site is? Between 1 and 10, 10 being the highest. So we allowed them to kind of self score. But it's interesting because some of those self scores don't correlate to the data that we then took. So those scores, they're based mostly on assumption, which is always a difficult, challenging place to be. But I think, Paul, you had some insight here around the conversion rate and design and how they tally up. Paul Marden: So the stats you just talked about were about the volume of transactions. You could say that having good design leads you to have more transactions flowing through your website, but you could also say that the organisations that have more transactions flowing through their website can afford to spend more money on design. But what I found interesting was that when you ignore the absolute number of sales that they make on the website, if you actually look at what their conversion rate is on the website, the attractions who think they have good design tend to have a higher conversion rate by about 1% or 2%. Now, that could be on a low base. Paul Marden: There could be a fairly small attraction that has fewer people coming to it, but they still perform relatively better than those attractions that didn't think they had good design but could be massive organisations with large numbers of transactions flowing through. And what I found interesting is we started to work out what is the value of 1 or 2% extra conversion rate, because it doesn't sound like much. Really. There's somebody in the business that doesn't necessarily understand the technology side of it that doesn't sound like a lot. So we started playing with converting that into money. What could that actually be worth? So we played around with we tried to model what is our average attraction and what is the absolute top performing attraction. Paul Marden: And even for our average, an increase of 1% in conversion rate could mean tens of thousands of pounds of extra sales that they make. But for the top performing attraction, it could make the difference of hundreds of thousands of pounds of extra sales just by squeezing 1 or 2% of extra conversion rate out. I think that's absolute gold dust in terms of insight that we've drawn out of this data. The organisations that think they have good design tend to have a conversion rate of 1 or 2% more, which could equate to tens of hundreds of thousands of pounds of extra sales that they make. It makes you begin to think that investment in the design of the site could actually be really worthwhile. Kelly Molson: Absolutely. And information like that helps the marketing managers build the case for good design and investing in good design. Paul Marden: Yeah. And before you say, "Oh, the large organisations with the big budgets, they can afford to do this, what about the small ones?" The smaller organisations with small budgets who had good navigation tended to be the ones that would have the better conversion rate amongst their peers. So you don't need to be a nationally recognised attraction brand to be able to invest an appropriate amount of money in design and get a return on that investment that you make. Kelly Molson: I always think that the best use of budget is on the pre planning side, which is unusual coming from a designer, I think. Yeah.  But Paul, you're really data driven, aren't you? You're super data driven. Paul Marden: Such a geek. Kelly Molson: Yeah, you are a massive geek. Massive nerd. We're very complimentary, but I never used to be very data driven. I was always far more visual driven. But actually well, I'm not going to share it on this podcast, actually, because I'm going to share it at a talk that I'm given. But I've got a really good story around why user testing is very important. We'll come a bit more onto that later. And why you should be driven by the data and the stats and not just by what something looks like. Okay, let's talk about navigation quickly as part of this design section. So it's really interesting. So we've actually got some findings from the Journal of Market Research. Kelly Molson: So they state that, when websites are easy to understand and navigate, individuals have a lower cognitive load, so fewer things to work out, and therefore are more likely to have a positive experience to go on to purchase. So having a consistent and well designed website can really help people make complete purchases with your visitor attraction. What I've always said, it's about trying to stop making people think, give them something that is really easy. So I think when we worked with Eureka!, and this is back in 2016, when we first worked with them, we did some research around what people wanted to find out about attractions, what were the first things they needed to know about. And it was literally, when you open, how much do you cost? How can I get there? Kelly Molson: So, if they're the three things that people desperately need to know, they're the three things that really need to be highlighted front and centre when you arrive at the site, wherever you arrive at it, whether that's the homepage or what. And it's the same with navigation. People need to understand where they're being taken and why they're being taken to certain places. So we're working with an attraction at the moment, we've just about to start work with them. They have got some really key, really strong elements to their Nav, but then they've got an area that says more, and there's a load of stuff that's been added onto the more section, and things like this happen over time. Kelly Molson: When you've got a website, people will say, “I need this to be featured on the site, I need this page to put up there”, and it gets added to, and ultimately you end up with all these things that haven't been thought about from the start, about where they're supposed to go. So they get kind of bundled somewhere, and a more section kind of feels an obvious place to put them. But what is it? Users don't understand what's in there. And they're not going to go searching for hours to find something that they want. They need to find it quickly. And so that for me, is a huge no about bundling stuff into these kind of sections. That just so ambiguous, you don't know what they are. Paul Marden: I think that figuring out what people are trying to do, what are they trying to get out of the website? I think that bundling exercise, putting lots of things onto the site that happened over time or putting it in a bucket of more is often there's so many people in an organisation that want their content heard and seen, don't they? Everybody wants their content on the site. It all goes on there. And sometimes you have to step back and think, what's the point? Who is it that's coming to the site and what are we trying to get them to do? We want the customer at the end of it to think, now that you've read this, what are you going to do next? But we don't always think about that journey. Paul Marden: We think about the snippets of information that we put onto the site, but we don't think about what the journey is they're going through. Attractions are really lucky. I think a lot of the people that go to their sites are really motivated to buy, a lot more motivated to buy than the average ecommerce site. So how do you get out of the way of those people so they can just buy stuff? And then for the people that are less motivated, they don't necessarily want to know how, when and how much they still want to be sold on the idea of going to the attraction, then maybe you need to give them more information. Paul Marden: But identifying who those people are and giving them a journey to go through and coming up with a navigation that makes it really easy for those people to navigate along that journey, there's a lot of psychology that's hard. That's your prep work, isn't it, before you do the design? Kelly Molson: Yeah, and it's the hardest part of it. And I think that's where the most amount of time needs to be spent there and the wireframes really, the design. If you've got good brand guidelines in place, the design ultimately becomes a simplified process at that point. But the pre design work is really where the time and effort needs to be spent. And I think it is a challenge for attractions. So there are attractions that are, if you compare a Chessington World of Adventures, for example, a theme park orientated to a historic museum that you're coming to visit, that not only is an attraction, but obviously has a lot of historical information to share and learning and education plays a big part in them as well. You have different audiences for those. Kelly Molson: So I think one part of that process is you need to think about all the different audiences you have and what are their motivations for visiting the site and what do you want them to do, what actions do you want them to take? But I think when you are working, this has gone off a bit of a tangent, but when you're working with an agency, I think what's really core for the attraction is to make sure that you've got key stakeholders from each of those areas of your attraction that play a part in those early conversations. So you don't want the site redesign to be driven solely by the marketing team for the attraction side. You need someone from the education side to be part of those conversations as well. Kelly Molson: You need visitor experience to be part of those conversations because if you're planning content, each of those individuals will have a different need for what content they need to showcase on the site. So they all need to be talking to each other about how that's going to look. I'm talking from experience because this has not happened in the past. Paul's nodding his head at me because he knows that we've had this challenge previously.Paul Marden: Yeah. Kelly Molson: So yeah, and I think that kind of leads us nicely onto content, really, and about the need to frequently update your site and keep it refreshed. So once you've done all of that hard work of working out what content is going to be on it doesn't stay static. So in the report we have a stat that says 31% of respondents said that they updated their online content multiple times a week. That's good. Another 31% said that they did so at least once a month. Good. However, 22% of respondents said they had infrequent content updates or didn't update their content at all. Not updating your content at all. Paul Marden: That surprised me, that one. Yeah, I was surprised that there were 31% of respondents updated it multiple times a week. I was really impressed by that. Yeah. That takes some work, doesn't it? To be able to produce that level of content change, but to do it infrequently or not at all, that surprised me. Kelly Molson: I guess it depends on the attraction and what their offering is as well. Thinking about one of our clients, Holkham actually, so we know that Holkham update their website frequently. They have a lot of different events, they write a lot of really incredible content about what happens across Holkham Estate. So they're engaging with the audience from the perspective of someone coming to visit and what they can do on the day and what they can come and see. But they're also talking about their wider sustainability efforts across the state and what they do and how they focus on that, which again, might be for that same audience. Might be for a slightly different audience as well. Kelly Molson: So the volume of content that they produce is a lot higher than potentially Thorpe Park as a visitor, they will talk about what's on that day and maybe an events that they're running, but they might not talk about the same things that are going on across the Estate that Holkham would, for example. So I think, yeah, it's what your attraction offers. Paul Marden: Holkham's a really good example because they can take inspiration from the place. They're very diverse, they've got lots of different things that they do at that location. It's quite a large location, but there's lots of different things going on and those things are inside and outside. They can take inspiration from the season. So there's a lot of inspiration that you can take there and produce. Just off the top of my head, I could think of lots of different stories that you could tell and changes to the site that can be inspired by the season. But then I think about a theme park where there's lots that goes on. I think I've done lots of trips to Legoland. There's Legoland at Halloween. There's Legoland in Spring time. It changes through the seasons and there's a lot of story around that. Paul Marden: I wonder if you're an indoor attraction, if you're Heritage Museum based, there's going to be lots of stories that you can tell about the items that you've got in your collection. But it might be harder to tell those stories influenced by the seasons, which can be a real driver for telling varying stories throughout a year, can't they? Yeah, but I don't write a lot of stories for those sorts of organisations, so maybe I don't have the right view of the world, but I would imagine it would be a lot harder to write lots of content varying through the year for that sort of organisation. Kelly Molson: Yes, probably so I'm just thinking about it would just be a change in topic, wouldn't it? So I know Blackpool Pleasure Beach, who Andy Hygate, the Operations Director, came on the podcast a couple of seasons ago, actually, and he talked about the experiences they've developed around walking up the big one and the rise that they have there. And actually, I think for people that are interested in theme parks, there's probably a lot of content around how things are built and how they're developed and that kind of side of stuff that people would be really interested in. So it's not talking about seasonal stuff, it's about the things and how they're constructed and how they're designed and kind of stuff like that. Kelly Molson: So, yeah, again, it comes back to just knowing your audience and what are they interested in and how you can engage them and what are your potential new audiences as well, and how can you develop content that attracts them. There is a correlation between content and purchases, though, which is quite interesting. So our report shows that those who were deliberate in ensuring their content was kept fresh and engaging saw an average of 25 to 50,000 completed website purchases a year, whereas those who didn't, on average, had around 10,000 completed purchases. In the same time frame. That's interesting. In addition, of the respondents who recognised the need for regular content updates but weren't action in them, 23% stated that their average sales conversion rate sat between one and 4%, which is below the benchmark for the sector. Kelly Molson: So the sector benchmark is 5% now, so that 1% is significantly low. Paul Marden: Absolutely. Shall we move on and talk about some testing? Because I know you think this one really is. Kelly Molson: Oh, yeah, I really do. So there is a statistic in the report that I had to reread a few times, actually, to believe. So last year's survey and report, we had about 70 attractions take part. This year has been significantly more than that. We got 188 attractions from up and down the UK and Europe take part, which was incredible.Paul Marden: And one in North America as well. I was really excited when I saw that one. Kelly Molson: Yes, we went international. That was exciting. Okay, so think about this: 188 attractions took part in this. 70% of the respondents have never conducted user testing of any kind on their website. 70%! That's actually not the worst stat though. I'm going to save the worst stat for another episode, but that's not the one that shocked me the most. But this one is really surprising. We've talked a bit about making assumptions about how well your website is perceived by people.Kelly Molson: Hard data from actual users is the key to designing a website that has an improved user experience because it can clarify problem areas and identify where most effort is needed to create a really great online experience. So if you're not asking your users how they're interacting with the site and do they like it? Can they buy things well? Can they find what they want? How do you know if it's good or not? It's blown my mind. Paul Marden: It's really hard, isn't it? Really hard. Kelly Molson: And I think it's really you wrote this down, actually. It's really important to be aware of a familiarity bias. So just because you think your website is easy to navigate doesn't mean other people think is it's because you're familiar with it so you understand where things are. Which is really interesting. Actually, I've just been reminded of a conversation that I had with somebody when I was at an attraction. Now I can't name this attraction, we're working with them and we're under NDA, but they asked me about a website that we'd redesigned. They said, "Oh, you did this website, didn't you?" I said, "Yes", "I can't find this thing anymore that I couldn't find. It took me ages to find it before" and I was like, "All right, what is the thing?" And he talked about what it was. Kelly Molson: I said, "Oh, well, it would be in this area". And he said, "Yeah, which makes sense. But before it was over here and I knew where it was and it just feels a bit weird now." I said, "Do you think it was in the right place before?". "Oh, no, shouldn't have been." Okay. So it's just because you know where it is doesn't mean it's actually in the right place. It's just what you get used to over the years. Paul Marden: It is incredibly hard to put yourself into the position of the person that knows nothing about your organisation. Trying to imagine what the customer is going through takes a lot of effort and I think that you can get data to be able to do that. But a lot of there's kind of levels of kind of understanding of that, putting yourself into that customer's position, the empathy that is required. Lots of people that we meet and work with will talk about how they want their site to be structured and what makes sense to them. Some people then will go the next stage and think about what they think their customer wants. And then there's a stage beyond that which is not even trying to put themselves into the customer position, but actually test what the customer thinks. Paul Marden: It's really hard to have the empathy to understand. If you know nothing, what would you do? And there's loads of stuff that you can do. I'm sure we'll come on to that later on to try to understand and test. But just sitting somebody down and watching them go from zero to hero and buying your tickets is a valuable thing that you could do, couldn't it? Kelly Molson: Yeah, absolutely. Now the report on the survey is anonymous. All the data that we get from it, we don't talk about the people that have submitted it and we don't talk about them. There was a number of websites within the data set that were doing really well in terms of both design and navigation and the impact that they were having on their conversion rate. So we reached out to these organisations to ask if we could talk about them today. And all of them were very happy for us to talk about it. So we have had their permission. I think I'll hand over to you, Paul, because you've been doing the analysis over on these sites. It's really lovely to see that Roman Baths are on this list.Paul Marden: They're on the list.Kelly Molson: Because they have been on the podcast and they're our podcast alumni. So that was good.Paul Marden: Yeah, more than once, I think, as well. Kelly Molson: Yes, they have been. Paul Marden: What I went looking for were who were the organisations that thought that they had good design and navigation in their site? But I didn't think that was really enough because of course you could think that it was good and it isn't very good. So what could I dig into the data to try to pull apart the people that thought they had good design and following through from that good design actually had good outcomes. And Roman Baths was up there in that top set of organisations that had they thought they had a good, consistent high quality design, but they also had a conversion rate up there in the top ratings that we had inside the data set. Obviously, Roman Baths really well known organisation, lots of international visitors will be going there. Paul Marden: There was another that I pulled out in the data set, which was also a really high profile brand. London Zoo came out in that top set. Kelly Molson: Also past podcast guests. Thank you. Yes, lovely people. Paul Marden: So they also thought they had good, consistent design, but coincidentally also had good quality conversion rates up there in the top performance in the data set. But to avoid you saying to me, "Oh, but all these are all big, internationally recognised brands. What's design got to do with it?" Up there we've got Roman Baths, London Zoo. Big, well known brands. But there's also some organisations that I wasn't familiar with in that data set. So there were organisations that are probably more regional, less internationally well recognised brands. And one of those that considered that they had good quality design and they also had high levels of conversion rates. Alongside that were Smithwick's experience in Kilkenny in Ireland. It's an attraction that is a brewery tour. I thought that one was really interesting when I went and looked at it. Paul Marden: It was really easy to navigate around the site, ridiculously easy to go and buy tickets. You go onto the site, it's right there to be able to buy those tickets, to go to that experience. So I think that told me that you didn't need to be a big, well recognised brand to be able to devote the time and attention and budget that's needed to get a good design, which then has the impact on your conversion rates. Yeah, this is not just for the big brands. This is also for other brands, smaller, regional brands that can maybe not devote the same levels of investment to it that a large organisation can, but they can still have good outcomes and good design. Kelly Molson: Yeah. And I think it's fair to say we do ask questions in the report about budget, but we don't ask them specifically. So we haven't asked. We don't, for example, know the investment that Roman Barths, London Zoo or Smithwicks have made in their website to get it to where it is now. We literally have no idea. So their budgets could be phenomenally big, they could be phenomenally small. We have no idea whatsoever. But we know that they have invested in good design and they've done it to a really great standard, which means it's easy for people to make purchases. Therefore their sales are sitting at a really great level. Kelly Molson: The Roman Baths I just a little shout out to Simon Addison, actually, because Simon did come on to the podcast a couple of times now, and actually he came onto a recent episode where we talked about the value of this report and the survey that we carry out. And this is its second year now and we can see the value in terms of the data that we've been able to glean from it is so much more insightful this year. The key insights themselves are much more in depth than they were last year. But one thing that Simon mentioned is that we don't work with Roman Baths. I've made that clear on the last podcast. We didn't design their website. We've not worked with them. Kelly Molson: They did use the report to inform some of the decisions that they made about designing their website and making changes to it, which I think is so great. Right. The report is actually actively doing what we set out for it to do. Regardless of whether anyone comes to work with us or not. Someone can take this report and use the insights from it to inform their current agency to make changes to their site that are going to make a significant difference to their bottom line. Well done, us. Paul Marden: Well done, us. But well done, everyone that's responded as well. Kelly Molson: Whatever. Well done, us. Well done, everyone. Thank you. Paul Marden: So I just think it's really impressive, isn't it, that we've got what was it you said? 180 something respondents from across the sector.Kelly Molson: 188.Paul Marden: It's so hard in a tough industry. There's lots of industries where people would not work together. And this is a collaborative exercise in sharing your data that takes a certain confidence within the sector to be able to be willing to share that information so that then somebody like us can then do the graph that aggregating that and seeing the interesting stories that people can then use to make things better. There's so many places where you would not see that happen.Kelly Molson: It's a wonderful part of the sector, that collaboration and that willingness to share and be open about things. Right, let's talk about next steps then, because we've talked about some of the items within design, navigation, testing. We've talked about who's doing it well. Let's wrap this up with next steps that you can take.  Kelly Molson: If you think some of these things are relevant to you and you want to do something about them. Do some testing. Do some testing and you can do that in a variety of ways. Paul Marden: Do you want me to test some stuff? Kelly Molson: Let's do some testing. Let's test. Look, there's loads of ways that you can do user testing if you're going through the process of a redesign at the moment. Go back to your wireframes, make them interactive. Do some internal testing, do some external testing. You can do this in multiple ways so you can do focus groups, get bums on seats in front of computers and give them some things that you want them to do on your site. Don't tell them how to do it, but just give them some things that you want them to achieve. I want you to buy a ticket. I want you to tell me how easy it is to go and find the interactive map. I want you to find a blog post and can you get from the blog post to buying a ticket, some of those things. Kelly Molson: This doesn't need to cost you a huge amount of money, right? You all have an asset in that. "Hey, would you like a free ticket to our venue if you come and do some testing for us?" Put on a little bit of lunch, put on people are really happy to help and give you feedback in that way. So that doesn't need to be a huge cost at all. You can use online tools, so we use tools like UserTesting.com. You can select a certain demographic that you want to test out and you upload what you want them to test. And then they go off and they do it, and they record videos, and you can see how they interact and they talk through what they're doing and how easy it was for them to do those things as well. Kelly Molson: They are not a huge, costly I actually don't know off the top of my head. There will be a fee to use the system, which will be a monthly fee and then there'll be a fee probably for that will cover X amount of tests within that monthly fee. So it will probably be from what, 150, maybe a month, something like that, maybe a bit more. Paul Marden: The cost depends as well on factors, how many factors you place on the do you only want people to do user testing that are of a particular demographic and age? If your attraction has mainly parents with young kids coming, do you want your user testing to be done only by parents with young kids? When you add more constraints to it, the cost of doing it becomes higher. But arguably the quality of the data that you get back from the testing is more relevant to you. Kelly Molson: You can do this with I've talked about going back to the wireframe stage. You can do this at any point. So great, do a load of testing before you go ahead and release something to the world. But if you've got something that's up and running now, do some testing. So you can do user testing on what you already have. You can do exit surveys so you can ask people once they've bought a ticket, you can ask them how easy that was. What did you find difficult? What were your challenges at the end of your purchasing journey? So there's small little things you can do there. Paul Marden: The world has changed a lot, hasn't it? In the last few years we've moved to almost exclusively online sales beforehand. So we've got this massive pool of data, of contact information of the people that have bought your tickets. That's such a great resource that you could use, which in previous years pre pandemic it would have been a struggle because a large chunk of your people would have been walk ins who you didn't necessarily it wasn't easy to capture those sorts of contact details and follow up with them. Kelly Molson: Yeah, exactly. And then I think there are things that you can do in terms of looking at your user experience and the design side of things. We do things like UX reviews for people. We actually offered one as a prize for all of the people that entered the survey this year and the lovely people at Cheddar Gorge won that. We're going to be looking at that in a couple of months for them. Paul Marden: Back near my home proper, that's Cheddar Gorge is where I went as a kid, like, so that's exciting to be. Kelly Molson: In that we'll be carrying that out later on in the year for them. So, yeah, there's things that you can do in terms of working with an agency to look at what your user journeys look like. Are they correct for the audience that you have? Does your design flow? Where are the barriers that you're seeing? And again, if you're looking at some of the data of where you're seeing people drop off, is that a design issue, is that a function issue? How do we work those things out? Paul Marden: There's loads of tools, isn't there, as well, like Hotjar that you can stick on, which doesn't cost a lot of money. And it's not just Hotjar, there are lots of other tools just like it which would give you insight into the behaviour of the users on the site. It's just a snapshot that you get for free, but that snapshot could really help inform decision making about maybe I need to make it easier for them to find the button because they're finding it hard to book tickets or whatever. Kelly Molson: Because they can't see where they need to book their tickets. Paul Marden: Yeah. Kelly Molson: So, yeah, I think in summary, do some testing is what I'm going to end this podcast episode with. Do some testing, come back and tell us what you find.Paul Marden: Exciting. I'd love to have those conversations. Kelly Molson: As ever, if you want to get in touch with either of us, all of our contact details are in the Show Notes. If anything has sparked your interest that we've talked about today, we're really happy to answer any questions and things like that. So if you do want to ask any questions about any of the kind of stats that we've talked about, again, just our email addresses will be in the Show Notes. And also, if you haven't downloaded the report yet, why not? Because it's out. It launched yesterday. We did a webinar. Did you come to it? Why not? If not, but if you do want to go and download the report, we'll put the link to that in the Show Notes as well. But just head over to the rubbercheese.com website and you'll be able to find it. We'll see you next time. Paul Marden: Awesome. Thank you. Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast.

Greg shares some his favourite moments from his trip to London Zoo last week!

Squiz Kids is an award-winning, free daily news podcast just for kids. Give us ten minutes, and we'll give you the world. A short podcast that gives kids the lowdown on the big news stories of the day, delivered without opinion, and with positivity and humour. ‘Kid-friendly news that keeps them up to date without all the nasties' (A Squiz Parent)   This Australian podcast for kids easily fits into the daily routine - helping curious kids stay informed about the world around them. Fun. Free. Fresh.  LINKS Elephant v crocodile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_WmWidEm5I London Zoo's weigh in https://apnews.com/article/london-zoo-animals-annual-weight-check-7f320ecd718516858a2c386a6a986886 Japan rocket launch YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TTTJ20iRbs Squiz Kids Facebook Squiz Kids Instagram Squiz Kids LIVE! Buy tickets to our Canberra show here: https://moshtix.com.au/v2/event/squiz-kids-live/154887 Squiz Kids Book Club: https://www.squizkids.com.au/book_club/ Newshounds Get started on our free media literacy resource for classrooms https://www.squizkids.com.au/about-newshounds/ Classroom Companion: Teachers! Want to access free, curriculum-aligned classroom resources tied to the daily podcast? Sign up to be a Squiz Kids Classroom and download the Classroom Companion each day. Made by teachers for teachers, differentiated to suit all primary school ability levels. And did we mention it's free? Stay up to date with us on our Squiz Kids Instagram!   Got a birthday coming up and you want a shout-out? Complete the form on our Squiz Kids website. Link: SHOUT OUTS or / send us an email at squizkids@thesquiz.com.au

For hundreds of millions of years insects controlled the skies. Before birds, bats and pterodactyls, insects were the only creatures that had evolved the ability to fly: a miracle of physics and physiology requiring their bodies to act in coordinated ballet. This week three separate CrowdScience listeners have been asking questions about the flight of butterflies and moths. How do they move so erratically, yet land so precisely? What makes such tiny insects such accurate flyers? Presenter Anand Jagatia -- not the biggest fan of either butterflies or moths -- visits Butterfly Paradise at London Zoo to meet keeper Mark Tansley. Anand tries to get over his aversion by immersing himself in fluttering creatures. He then meets insect flight expert Sanjay Sane to learn the hidden mechanics behind their aeronautical skills: the vortexes of air generated by their wings and the complex muscle architecture inside their torsos. Next, aerospace engineer Amy Lang explains how the scales on their wings reduce air resistance by clever manipulation of the air and how this function trades off against other uses of the scales: for colour, for keeping dry, and much more. All of these abilities are put to the test during the incredible global migrations that some butterflies undertake. Gerard Talavera tells Anand how he turned previous thinking about butterfly migration across Africa on its head. Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Phil Sansom Voiceover: Kitty O'Sullivan Production Coordinator: Jonathan Harris Editor: Richard Collings (Photo: Crowdscience presenter Anand Jagatia crouches next to a butterfly. Credit: Phil Sansom)

AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports on Britain Zoo Weigh In.

NTD News Today—8/24/20231. GA Jail: Crowd Lines Road, Trump to Surrender2. House Republicans Probe da Fani Willis3. How Will History Look Back on This Time?4. How Did a Former President End Up in Court?5. Trump, Carlson Interview Has Over 200M Views6. 2024 GOP Primary Debate Analysis7. Biden, Trump React to GOP Primary Debate8. GOP Debate ‘Didn't Stand Out': Analyst9. DeSantis Strength: Not Joining the Fray?10. Ramaswamy's One Rookie Mistake: Tapscott11. What Was Notable About Trump's Interview?12. California Biker Bar Shooting Leaves 4 Dead13. Rep. Elise Stefanik Wants Pause on NY Gun Law14. Only 8% of Maui Burn Area Not Yet Searched15. 350 Wildfires This Week: Louisiana16. Europe's Digital Services Act Checks Big Tech17. Musk Vows to Sue Soros-Backed Organizations18. Analyst: Certainty Needed in Prigozhin Death19. CIA's July Prediction of Putin Retribution20. BRICS Summit: Six New Members Announced21. Tourists Deface 460-Year-Old Corridor: Italy22. Blue Crabs Threaten Italy's Seafood Industry23. Marriage Proposal on the Finish Line24. Washington Couple Welcomes Quintuplets25. Animals Weigh In at London Zoo

It's a famous name - there's Raffles Hotel and Raffles Hospital, plus the rafflesia, the largest flowering plant in the world, an ant, a butterflyfish and a woodpecker, as well as the Raffles Cup, a horse race in Singapore. He was born in 1781 and as an agent of the East India Company, Thomas Stamford Raffles rose to become lieutenant governor of Java during the Napoleonic war. He's also often named as the founder of Singapore and also London Zoo. But how did he achieve so much so fast? Recorded on location at London zoo with Matthew Gould, CEO of the Zoological Society of London; plus Stephen Murphy of SOAS University of London and Natasha Wakely who talks about Matthew Gould's second choice, Joan Procter, first female curator of reptiles who famously used to take a Komodo dragon for walks on a leash. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde

Thomas Mann was a German writer whose books explored themes around family, beauty and the creeping threat of fascism in Europe. Mann's best-known 'Death in Venice' revealed the author's attraction to young boys and it was turned into a film in 1971 starring Dirk Bogarde. Mann moved to Switzerland before the outbreak of the Second World War and lived in exile in Europe and the USA for the rest of his life. From his home in California he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Einstein and Brecht, and he recorded broadcasts for the BBC urging the German people to rise up and over throw Hitler. He was married and had six children, two of whom took their own lives. Lexicographer and word expert on 'Countdown' Susie Dent says German was her first love and she first-read Mann whilst studying at University. She loves the tension in his work between the pull of one's senses and the desire to stay aloof and detached. Susie and Matthew are joined by Karolina Watroba, Research fellow in German and Comparative Literature at the University of Oxford. Karolina was born in Poland where Mann is a huge cultural icon and she first read 'The Magic Mountain' in the summer before she went to University. Future subjects in the series include Hattie Jacques and Stamford Raffles, founder of London Zoo and Singapore. Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Toby Field

Three kings in one year and the Spanish civil war

While exploring London, Collin and Olivia saw over 30 major tourist attractions, from Westminster Abbey to the London Zoo. What's more, they saved over $500 while doing it. How? With the 10 day London Pass. In this episode, they discuss the London Pass: how it worked, how much money it saved them, and whether it was worth it overall. Resources: London Pass ArcelorMittal Orbit London Stadium AllStar Lanes Chocolate Cocktail Club St Paul's Cathedral London Tower Bridge Tower of London Kensington Palace Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace Curzon Cinema London Zoo Twickenham Stadium Kew Gardens Windsor Palace Kia Oval Westminster Abbey Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour Harry Potter Walking Tour Shakespeare's Globe Theater Hampton Court Palace Fuller's Brewery Tour Wicked Natural History Museum National Gallery Platform 9 3/4 High Tea Travel Spreadsheet:  If you're curious about how much money we anticipated spending in each place on our list (and also how much we have ACTUALLY spent so far), you can take a look here. We hope to make long term travel feel more accessible and attainable for everyone, so we are going to be incredibly transparent with our finances along the journey.  Make sure to check our spreadsheet throughout the year to see real time updates.  Send us your questions to takeofftotravelpodcast@gmail.com! Want more? Follow our Instagram - @takeofftotravelpodcast.  About Us: We're a couple traveling the world for 14 months with just $25,000 each. We first arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand in November 2022, and have been working our way across the world ever since. Throughout the podcast, we will share our advice to make long-term travel feel less overwhelming and more accessible. We'll share practical advice and stories that will make your travelers smoother, cheaper, and more doable. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/takeoff-to-travel/support

John Simons is fascinated by the lives of animals which have become stars. From a famous hippo at London Zoo, to a wombat owned by a Pre-Raphaelite painter in England, these are the rock stars of the animal world

John Simons is fascinated by the lives of animals which have become stars. From a famous hippo at London Zoo, to a wombat owned by a Pre-Raphaelite painter in England, these are the rock stars of the animal world

Jumbo, one of the largest elephants ever seen, departed London Zoo for Barnum & Bailey's Circus in New York on March 9th, 1882. Nationally beloved as the ‘pet' to Queen Victoria's children, for 16 years he'd given thousands of rides around Regent's Park, but was sold off for $10,000 once he started exhibiting trauma - and getting erections. P.T. Barnum then embarked upon a promotional blitz, leveraging the controversy caused by his latest acquisition, and selling Jumbo's image to numerous commercial partners. But tragedy struck in 1885 when Jumbo was involved in a railway accident in Canada.  In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how Jumbo became an alcoholic; indulge in the music hall singalong, ‘Why Part with Jumbo, Pet of the Zoo?'; and consider how Barnum's marketing genius continued to exploit Jumbo's legacy, despite him being responsible for the negligence that led to his untimely death…  Further Reading: • ‘Tragic true story of Jumbo, the real life alcoholic circus elephant that inspired Disney's Dumbo'  (Mail Online, 2019): https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6864855/Tragic-true-story-Jumbo-real-life-alcoholic-circus-elephant-inspired-Disneys-Dumbo.html • ‘My Poor Old Jumbo, Your Alice Weeps for You' (The New York Times, 1886): https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/28/insider/1886-my-poor-old-jumbo-your-alice-weeps-for-you.html?searchResultPosition=6 • ‘P.T. Barnum and Jumbo: The Elephant Story' (Barnum Museum, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eawirRHsrMU Love the show? Join 

Welcome to January 18th, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate having a way with words and silly old bears. You may not immediately recognize the name Peter Mark Roget, but chances are you've read his book. Or at least parts of it. In 1852, he published his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, which is still in use today. Over the years, Roget's publication has been a lifesaver for writers trying to avoid overusing the same words. And oddly enough, the word “thesaurus” is derived from the Greek word for “treasure.” Others have published thesauri over the years, but on National Thesaurus Day we celebrate the original tome. Marlo: Did you say tomb? Anna: No, no, no, no; "tome." You know, like the writing or the publication. Marlo: Oh, okay I got you. John: Is a "thesauri" a kind of dinosaur? Marlo: I wonder if anyone ever went up to Peter said, "Hey, I've read your entire book!" Anna: What's another word for cretin? Marlo: Good question. Alan Alexander Milne was born on this day in 1882. His father ran a private school where one of Alan's teachers was H.G. Wells. The boy would grow up to be an author himself, though not in the science fiction genre favored by his teacher. Alan tried his hand at playwriting but found his true calling in children's books. Inspired by visits to the London Zoo, he discovered his most loveable character through a black bear named Winnie. His son, Christopher Robin named his own teddy bear Winnie and the charm of this 1926 series was born. Today the books have been translated into more than 50 languages! On National Winnie the Pooh Day we celebrate the classic legacy of the gentle adventures in the Hundred Acre Woods. I'm Anna Devere and I'm Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With nicknames like ‘prehistoric monster' and ‘living dinosaur', the Komodo dragon has been well and truly judged by its cover. Its gigantic size, razor sharp teeth and deadly attacking power has earned it a vicious reputation. But beneath the scales of this solitary beast are fascinating tales of rapid healing, decoy nests, and virgin births. And as climate change threatens its native Indonesia, can this hostile reptile adapt to living in closer quarters? Adam Hart and guests dig into how a lonely life may be putting the Komodo dragon at risk... Deni Purwandana, program co-ordinator for the Komodo Survival Program in Komodo National Park, and Dr Chris Michaels, team leader of Reptiles and Amphibians at London Zoo.