Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore and London Zoo

Sir Stamford Raffles is championed as the pioneering founder of London Zoo.

It's a famous name.

There's Raffles Hotel and Raffles Hospital, plus the rafflesia, the largest flowering plant in the world, an ant, a butterflyfish and a woodpecker, as well as the Raffles Cup, a horse race in Singapore.

He was born in 1781, and as an agent of the East India Company, Thomas Stamford Raffles rose to become lieutenant governor of Java during the Napoleonic war.

He's also often named as the founder of Singapore and also London Zoo. But how did he achieve so much so fast?

Recorded on location at London Zoo with Matthew Gould, CEO of the Zoological Society of London; and Stephen Murphy of SOAS University of London and Natasha Wakely, who talks about Matthew Gould's second choice, Joan Procter, first female curator of reptiles, who famously used to take a Komodo dragon for walks on a leash.

Presented by Matthew Parris.

Produced at BBC Bristol by Miles Warde.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2023.