From Lions to Laboratories – Britain’s First Menageries & Early Science

This episode follows how medieval monarchs kept lions, bears and elephants in the Tower as a display of power, then traces that same spirit of curiosity to the founding of the Royal Society in 1660. We sift through financial records, contemporary accounts and later narratives to separate fact from myth about royal menageries and early laboratory experimenters. The story reveals how spectacle, science and statecraft intertwined across centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices