John Aspinall Quotes

John Victor Aspinall was born in Delhi, India. He was an English zoo owner, businessman, bookmaker and politician. He studied at Felsted School and Jesus College, Oxford. From middle class beginnings he used gambling to move to the centre of British high society in the 1960s. In 1962, he founded the Clermont Club in London's Mayfair. In 1956, he moved into an Eaton Place apartment with his first wife. In the back garden, he built a garden shed housing a capuchin monkey, a 9-week-old tiger, and two Himalayan brown bears. He lived in the house and set up a private zoo, Howletts Zoo, in the grounds. He ran unsuccessfully for Parliament at the 1997 general election as the candidate of James Goldsmith's single-issue Referendum Party in the Folkestone and Hythe constituency, where he was defeated by senior Conservative Michael Howard. He is the author of book, entitled The Best of Friends.