Winnie the Pooh might argue but Guy the Gorilla may have been the most famous resident in London Zoo’s history

MAYBE it was because we only had a couple of television channels and no internet to scroll through to see animal clips from around the world, but once upon a time there were zoo animals who became almost like celebrities, part of a nation’s cultural reference points.

As a result, one of the most famous residents of chi-chi Regent’s Park in the 1970s was a gorilla called Guy. People of a certain age will remember going to London Zoo to see him, on first-name terms in a way which perhaps doesn’t happen with his successors.

They even put a statue of him up in the grounds.

Harrington, indeed, felt as nostalgic as the MPs who recently took a quantum leap back to their childhoods to spend a parliamentary session wondering aloud about his story.

The House of Commons was supposed to be debating what kind of lease the animal attraction needs from its freeholders – the Crown Estate – to be in a position to secure funding for further redevelopment of its enclosures.

The current 60-year deal is harming bids for cash but a longer extension requires parliamen­tary intervention.

But as politicians from all sides agreed that this extension was a sensible course of action to help the zoo’s survival, the session all became a bit of a tribute: to the research that its experts around the world do for conservation, but also to big old Guy, who left us in 1978 during an attempt to extract a tooth.

Conservative MP James Wild said: “I understand that his tooth decay was caused by him being fed sweets by people visiting the zoo, so it is very important that only zookeepers should feed the animals. It is important to get that on the record.”

It turned out that his fellow Tory MP Bob Blackman had all the knowledge on this.

“Gorillas are herbivores, so they should only be fed by keepers,” he said. “They should certainly not be fed sweets. Does he realise that gorillas share 98.4 per cent of their DNA with human beings? They are very close to human beings. Just as tooth decay in humans in concerning, particularly among young children who eat sweets, the same thing applies to gorillas.”

MP James Wild: ‘Check out my surname’ [richard townshend_CC BY 3.0 Deed]

He turned misty-eyed when he told fellow MPs: “I remember seeing him as a young boy. When sparrows entered his enclosure, he would scoop them up gently and peer at them before letting them go.” Awwww.

There were other important matters to discuss, including what language Guy spoke, having arrived aged 12 months from a zoo in Paris. MP Jerome Mayhew used his time on his feet to say: “It is obviously a matter of deep concern for the House that Guy the gorilla spoke only French. I meant to ask whether Guy, at the end of his life was bilingual.”

Now, stand by for a knockout example of the level of wit in the old place. MP Ben Everitt replied: “We will never know, but perhaps a clue can be found in whether the statue of Guy the gorilla is wearing a beret.” He isn’t.”

It later transpired that Mr Wild, aged 47… well in his words: “As it happens, my first date with my wife was at London Zoo.

“Check out my surname. We had a lovely time and it obviously paid off.”

Before you get on to wondering just how wild James Wild can be on a first date, he did bring up the issue which has always conflicted people charmed by the zoo but uncomfortable at the basic concept of staring at animals who will spend their whole life behind a fence or glass window.

London Zoo’s architecture includes particularly evocative, listed gems.

The Mappin terraces can be seen beyond the gates and older readers may remember seeing what felt like a demented bear wondering where he was, in between some mountain goats. He may have been fine, but they don’t use it for animals of that size now.

Similarly, the penguin pool was more one for design buffs, while it took way too long to agree that the elephant house was unsuitable and those giant marvels should go to Whipsnade.

“When we went on our first date, which was some time ago, we were a bit concerned about the state of the facilities,” said Mr Wild, who is married to Tory peer Natalie Evans. “Some of the cages had signs to assure visitors that animals were not distressed, even though they had been pacing backwards and forwards. There was an urgent need for modernisation.

“When I went back a few weeks ago I noted that some of the enclosures had greatly improved.”

And this is why MPs said they were backing the longer lease.

Thérèse Coffey, the former environment secretary, said: “Ultimately, London Zoo has to generate income in order to ensure that it can continue to function and operate… Certain buildings have closed simply because they are not necessarily safe for animals, or for humans, so it is important that new sources of finance go into London Zoo to ensure the environ­ment for the animals is the best it can be.”

Maybe, if they can, some more celebrity residents will emerge.