What would a barber want with a pair of bears from a Victorian zoo? Join Time Tunneller Catherine Randall to explore the history of the Surrey Gardens, a zoo in south London – and discover what bears might have to do with gentlemen’s hairdressing!
With a daring rescue writing challenge for young writers!
Free video
About the author
Catherine Randall is a children’s historical fiction writer, brought up in Shropshire and now living in London.
The Great Bear Breakout was inspired by the discovery of a long-forgotten Victorian zoo while researching her family history.
Her debut novel, The White Phoenix, was shortlisted for the HA Young Quills Award. When Catherine isn’t writing, she leads guided walks around the City of London.
About the book
London, 1855.
Sent away from home to live with relatives she hardly knows, twelve-year-old Rosa discovers the Surrey Zoological Gardens and soon befriends Jem, the young bearkeeper. Shocked to learn that the bears are in grave danger, Rosa and Jem vow to join forces to save them.
It seems a new home has been found for them until Rosa encounters the villainous Mr Murdlock and together they uncover his secret, terrifying plan.
With no adult they can trust, and Jem threatened into silence, can Rosa and Jem outwit Mr Murdlock and rescue the bears before it’s too late?
Video transcript
Why would a Victorian barbers’ shop want to buy the bears from a zoo that is closing down? I’m Catherine Randall, and today I’m going to tell you about the gruesome discovery that inspired my novel The Great Bear Breakout. Let’s be Time Tunnellers!
A few years ago, while I was researching my own family history, I came across a long-forgotten Victorian zoo in south London called the Royal Surrey Zoological Gardens. You can see it here in this 1861 map of London under the red S.
Today the site of the Surrey Gardens is just a small park, but they have some boards telling the history of the zoo, and here I found something intriguing.
In 1855 all the animals were sold off because the zoo was losing money. I learnt that you could buy four brown bears for £19 and 15 shillings. I started to think about who might have bought the bears. But then I found this advertisement in a contemporary newspaper from 1855.
Do you have any idea why a barber who cuts mens’ hair would want to kill these bears? Why would they want the fat from them?
Well here is a clue. I found this on display at Southwark Heritage Centre.
In Victorian times, gentlemen used bears’ grease much like people use hair gel today – to make their hair lusher and shinier, and on this lid, it also says that it promotes hair growth, so I guess that if your hair was a bit thin, you might have tried bears’ grease too.
I was horrified that the poor bears at the Surrey Gardens met such a horrible fate. But of course the great thing about being an author is that I could make up an alternative story for the bears, one in which they are rescued.
And so The Great Bear Breakout was born. There are lots of twists and turns in the story, and the bears are actually threatened with an even worse fate than the barbers, but please rest assured that there is a happy ending!
For your writing challenge today, I want you to plan a short story about saving an animal. And as we are Time Tunnelling, why don’t you set the story in the past – any part of history that you like.
- What kind of animal would you like to write about?
- Why are they in trouble?
- How is your character going to rescue them, and who is trying to stop them?
You could write about a domestic animal like a cat or a dog or a larger animal like a horse. Remember that animals like horses were far more important in people’s daily life than they are today, because before trains and cars, they were the only means of transport.
Or maybe you want to write about a wild animal that is injured and needs rescuing from hunters? Let your imagination run riot. I hope you’ll be so inspired that you’ll want to carry on writing the story in your own time!
That’s it from me. Don’t forget to subscribe, and happy Time Tunnelling!
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