Thatcher refused to share a flight with a panda
Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once refused to share a flight to the US with a giant panda from London Zoo, newly-released National Archives’ files have revealed.
The president of the London Zoological Society, Lord Zuckerman, had suggested that Chia Chia the panda could share the Prime Minister’s Concorde flight in 1981 as Washington’s Smithsonian Institution had asked to borrow Chia Chia, to mate it with US-based Ching Ching.
However, Mrs Thatcher said pandas were not ‘happy omens’ for politicians, according to the files seen by the BBC.
Lord Zuckerman had apparently seen the opportunity as a way to demonstrate the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and the US.
But Mrs Thatcher’s private secretary, Clive Whitmore wrote back to him saying: "She has commented that she is not taking a panda with her – ‘Pandas and politicians are not happy omens™’
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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