Who We Are

The author: John Tuson

The first words that John Tuson ever spoke were “lion” and “tiger”; he has been obsessed with zoos, and with animals, ever since. Inspired by childhood visits to London, Dudley, Marwell and Longleat, as well as to the now-long-gone collection in his hometown of Bognor Regis, he has spent the past 50 years attempting to visit as many zoos as possible, in as many countries as possible. He is a teacher at a school in Sussex. The author of The Zoos of Great Britain and Ireland, and The Zoos of Germany, when he isn't doing something zoo-related he can be found listening to Bruce Springsteen or watching Portsmouth Football Club.

The designer: Alan Ashby

Alan Ashby is a professional graphic designer, an author, and a zoo enthusiast. He has written two previous zoo-focused volumes: An Illustrated History of Bristol Zoo Gardens (with Christoph Schwitzer and Tim Brown) and We Went to the Zoo Today: The Golden Age of Zoo Postcards. He is the art designer of Zoo Grapevine (the publication of the Independent Zoo Enthusiasts Society), was the designer of America’s Top 100 Zoos and Aquariums (2019),  and has produced a series of informative signs that can now be seen in eight different British zoos. He can be contacted at designaka@hotmail.com. 

The editor: Rob Vaughan

Rob Vaughan is a software consultant by day, but much of his spare time is spent indulging a passion for zoos. He has visited all of the Britsih, Irish, German and Czech zoos featured in the Okapi Press books, and most of the Slovak ones as well. With a particular interest in pachyderms, guenons and birds, and also in the architecture of zoos, he is an obsessive documenter of his zoo visits, via both notebooks and photographs. He also acts as membership secretary for the Independent Zoo Enthusiasts Society, and is happy to offer his proof-reading skills to anyone who might need them. robmvaughan@gmail.com