by Paul Ciampanelli
Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London, has announced that his wedding to longtime partner Emma Beal will take place at the London Zoo next month. The ex-mayor is well known as an environmentalist and an animal lover -- particularly of newts, which he breeds as a hobby. In fact, Livingstone is such a celebrated newt-lover, a political rival nicknamed him King Newt. According to the Daily Telegraph, King Newt's wedding ceremony is to take place at the London Zoo's Mappin Pavilion, which is located next to -- wait for it -- the reptile house. Natch.
King Newt's love of animals isn't just skin deep; he has a track record of involvement with zoos. Before his stint as mayor, he was vice president of the Zoological Society of London, and before that, he even tried to become a zookeeper. So make no mistake: getting married at the London Zoo isn't meant to be just some publicity stunt. "It's not a media event," King Newt told the Telegraph. "If you try and get in I will set the gorillas on you."
Frankly, we think King Newt's choice of venue for his wedding is inspired, even brilliant. Aside from being a logical and fun choice for an animal lover, King Newt argues convincingly for its practicality as well. "Given you have lots of young kids running around, a wedding can be quite boring for young kids," King Newt explained to the Telegraph. "But they can go and look at the animals." Smart thinking. Plus, the wedding attendees will be allowed to roam the zoo free of charge after the ceremony, which is a nice touch.
Surely, King Newt isn't the very first person to have this idea, but we're excited that a zoo wedding is getting some A-list love! Let us know in the comments if you or anyone you know has ever been to a wedding at a zoo!
http://www.pawnation.com/2009/08/24/...for-king-newt/
Zoo Wedding for King Newt
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