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Huxley was an English evolutionary biologist, eugenicist and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection and a leading figure in mid-twentieth century modern synthesis. He was Secretary of the Zoological Society of London 1935-1942, the first Director of UNESCO, a founding member of the World Wildlife Fund, the President of the British Eugenics Society 1959-1962, and the first President of the British Humanist Association.

He was well known for his presentation of science in books and articles, and on radio and television. He directed an Oscar winning wildlife film. He was awarded UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for the popularisation of science in 1953, the Darwin Medal of the Royal Society in 1956, and the Darwin-Wallace Medal of the Linnaean Society on 1958. He was knighted in 1958. In 1959 he received a Special Award of the Lasker Foundation in the category Planned Parenthood - World Population.

In 1935 Huxley was appointed Secretary to the Zoological Society of London, and spent much of the next seven years running the society and its zoological gardens, London Zoo and Whipsnade Park, alongside his writing and research. Huxley introduced a range of ideas for making the Zoo child friendly. He fenced off the Fellow's Lawn to establish Pets Corner, appointed new assistant curators who he encouraged to talk to children, and he initiated the Zoo Magazine.

Born in 1888, the son of herpetologist George Albert Boulenger. He was curator of reptiles at London Zoo from 1911-1924, and then director of the aquarium from 1924 to 1943.

Joan Beauchamp Procter was a British zoologist and herpetologist. She worked initially at the British Museum (Natural History) and later at the Zoological Society of London, as the first female Curator of Reptiles at London Zoo. She undertook substantial taxonomic work and made innovative contributions to veterinary practice and zoo displays. She wrote scientific and popular zoological articles, including early accounts of the behaviour of captive komodo dragons.

Senior Overseer at the Zoological Society of London

Desmond John Morris is an English zoologist, ethologist and surrealist painter, as well as an author in human sociobiology. He is known for his 1967 book 'The Naked Ape' and for his television programmes such as 'Zoo TIme'.

Morris was born in Purton, Wiltshire, to Marjorie (nee Hunt) and children's fiction author Harry Morris. He was educated at Dauntsey's School, Wiltshire. In 1946 he joined the British Army for two years of national service, becoming a lecturer in fine arts at the Chiseldon Army College in Wiltshire. After being demobilised he studied zoology at the University of Birmingham. In 1951 he began a doctorate at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, in animal behaviour. In 1954 he earned a Doctor of Philosophy for his work on the reproductive behaviour of the ten-spined stickleback.

In 1956 he moved to London as Head of the Granada TV and Film Unit for the Zoological Society of London, and studies the picture-making abilities of apes. The work included creating programmes for film and television on animal behaviour and other zoology topics. He hosted Granada TV's weekly 'Zoo Time' programme until 1959, and 'Life in the Animal World' for BBC2. In 1957 he organised an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, showing paintings and drawings composed by common chimpanzees. In 1958 he co-organised an exhibition, 'The Lost Image', which compared pictures by infants, human adults and apes, at the Royal Festival Hall, London. In 1959 he left 'Zoo Time' to become the Zoological Society of London's Curator of Mammals. In 1964 he delivered the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on Animal Behaviour. In 1967 he spent a year as Executive Director of the London Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Morris's books include 'The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal' (1967). Morris moved to Malta in 1968 to write a sequel and other books. In 1973 he returned to Oxford to work for the ethologist Niko Tinbergen. From 1973 to 1981, Morris was a Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford. In 1979 he undertook a television series for Thames TV, 'The Human Race', followed in 1982 by 'Man Watching in Japan, The Animals Road Show' in 1986 and then several other series. National Life Stories conducted an oral history interview (C1672/16) with Morris in 2015 for its Science and Religion collection held by the British Library.