The Rake

VULTURE CAPITALISM

Buckingham Palace has seen some pretty strange sights in its time — Queen’s Brian May perched on its roof in 2012 while cranking out a hair-metal version of the national anthem springs to mind — but surely none can top the incident in the early years of the 20th century when a carriage drawn by three zebras (and one nonplussed-looking pony) pulled up in front of the gates.

The reins were wielded by Lionel Walter Rothschild, the 2nd Baron Rothschild, a scion of the banking family whose interests lay in fauna rather than finance; he had driven the zebras from his townhouse at 148 Piccadilly to disprove the widely held notion that the animals were untameable. Many eminent Victorians kept exotic pets — Dante Gabriel Rossetti had a wombat named Top, who liked to nestle in his lap while he painted, and the naturalist Richard Bell kept emus, tortoises and monkeys — but Walter was in), a subspecies with five ossicones rather than two, is named in his honour, along with a further 153 insects, 58 birds, 17 mammals, three fish, three spiders, two reptiles and one millipede and worm apiece.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Rake

The Rake1 min read
The Rake
ART DIRECTOR Rob French rob@therakemagazine.com ART EDITOR Kim Lang kim@therakemagazine.com MOTORING EDITOR Simon de Burton PROPERTY CORRESPONDENT  Ari Reid FOUNDER Wei Koh EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Tom Chamberlin tom@therakemagazine.com CHIEF SUBEDITOR Stephe
The Rake1 min read
The Rake
ART DIRECTOR Rob French rob@therakemagazine.com ART EDITOR Kim Lang kim@therakemagazine.com DIGITAL EDITOR Andrea Buzzi andreabuzzi@therakemagazine.com MOTORING EDITOR-AT-LARGE Simon de Burton FOUNDER Wei Koh EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Tom Chamberlin tom@therak
The Rake3 min read
A Czech Mate
Deep pan, crisp and even.” Many readers will recognise it as the punchline to one of the mercifully less excruciating Christmas gags that do the rounds each Advent (the question that presides it, of course, is, How does Good King Wenceslas like his p

Related Books & Audiobooks