Life.

Love.

Laughter.

The world had been plunged into a war of unimaginable horror, so these three things were more important than ever.

They are important to this story too.

Our adventure begins on a cold, crisp afternoon in London in December 1940. In LONDON ZOO, to be precise. There, a little boy had just made a discovery. A discovery that made him laugh for the first time in a long, long time.

“HA! HA! HA!”

That little boy was an eleven-year-old orphan named Eric. He was short for his age and had sticky-out ears, which made him feel like he stuck out. The boy wore glasses, but one of the lenses was cracked, and he didn’t have any money to repair them.

As soon as the bell rang for the end of school, Eric would run out of the gates as fast as his little legs would take him. He hated school, where he was picked on mercilessly for his sticky-out ears, and given the nickname “Wingnut”.

Eric had been given strict orders by his grandmother to hurry straight home. But he couldn’t resist taking a detour. From school, he dashed through the streets, dodging the mountains of rubble. There were adventures to be had in the wreckage of downed Nazi planes, burnt-out double-decker buses or bombed buildings, but the boy didn’t dilly-dally. Oh no. He was in a rush to get to his favourite place on earth.

LONDON ZOO.

Apart from all the animals, the best thing about the zoo was that Eric could get in for FREE! That was because his uncle worked there as a zookeeper. Uncle Sid was really his mum’s uncle, but Eric always called the old man “Uncle Sid” too. Sometimes Eric would even help Sid with his work. This he loved more than anything. His dream was to be a zookeeper himself one day. To Eric, animals seemed so much nicer than humans. None of them made fun of his sticky-out ears for a start. Some of them had sticky-out ears too. No matter, they were all beautiful in their own way.

Eric loved feeding the animals, washing them and he didn’t even mind mucking out their cages. Some elephant droppings weighed a ton and shovelling them was a two-man job.

Sid would smuggle Eric in through the back entrance to the zoo. That way he would not have to pay the entrance fee of sixpence, a small fortune for a small boy. Eric didn’t have a penny to his name, let alone six.

So, at four o’clock on the dot each day, Eric would arrive at the staff gate. In what resembled a military operation, he would remain out of sight and knock three times.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Then he would wait in silence until he heard a “Twit-twoo!” This was his great-uncle imitating the call of an owl. That sound meant the coast was clear. The next thing the boy would hear was the old man approaching. Sid had tin legs. His real ones had been blown off in the First World War. Whenever he walked, there was the sound of clinking, clanking and clunking.

CLINK! CLANK! CLUNK!

“Password!” the man would hiss, hiding on the other side of the gate.

“Wibble wobble!” the boy would reply.

“Ha! Ha!” chuckled Sid as he opened the gate. “In you come!”

The password was different every day. The boy would invent a new one each time to make his great-uncle laugh.

Some of their favourites were:

“Thanks, Uncle Sid.”

“How was school today?” asked the old man. There was a strong family resemblance. Sid was short and had sticky-out ears too. However, he also had big, bushy eyebrows and an even bushier beard, so that was where the family resemblance ended. Because of his tin legs the old man was unsteady on his feet, which were also made of tin. Sid looked like he was going to topple over at any moment.

“I hate it!” huffed the boy.

“I don’t know why I bother asking!”

“The kids pick on me about my ears.”

“Your ears look perfectly normal to me!” said the old man as he waggled his own sticky-out ears with his hands to make the boy laugh.

“Ha! Ha!”

“Don’t let the bullies get you down! It’s what’s in here that counts,” said Sid, clutching his heart. “You are a smashing boy – don’t ever forget that!”

“I will try not to.”

“Don’t you have any friends at school?”

“Not really,” replied the boy sorrowfully.

“Well, I know all the animals here are your friends. They love you as much as you love them.”

The boy hugged the old man, nestling his head in Sid’s big, round tummy.

“Whoa!” exclaimed Sid, flapping his arms around as if he were a penguin trying to take off.

“Sorry! I always forget about those tin legs…”

“Don’t worry. You’ll be able to sell me off for scrap metal when I’m gone!” he joked.

The boy smiled. “You’re funny!”

“There may be a war on, but you have to keep smiling. And laughing. Or what else are we fighting for?”

“I had never thought of it like that,” pondered the boy. “But you are right, Uncle Sid. Do you need a hand with anything today?”

“Oh! You are a good boy, but I’ve done all the mucking out. You go and enjoy yourself!”

“Thanks! I always do!”

“I know the animals will be pleased to see you after last night!”

The boy immediately knew what he meant. Last night had been the worst bombing raid by the Nazi air force (or “Luftwaffe”) in London since the war had begun.

“As soon as the air-raid warning went off, I woke Granny up. She doesn’t hear too good.”

“Yes, I know! She’s deaf as a post.”

“And even though I was still in my pyjamas and Granny was in her nightdress we ran to Blackfriars Tube. We slept the night down in the station with hundreds of others, right there on the platform.”

“How was it?” asked the old man. “Noisy, I bet.”

“And smelly. Not the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had!”

“No, but at least you and Granny were safe.”

“Where did you hide out?”

“Me? The air-raid warden ordered me to run for shelter, but I came straight here to the zoo. I had to be here to take care of the animals. Try to keep them calm.”

The boy winced at the thought of them all suffering. “How were they?”

“I did my best, but the bombs just kept on coming. Boom! Boom! Boom! I’m afraid to say your friend took it hardest. She can’t bear the noise of the bombs. Frightened out of her wits, she was.”

The boy gulped with fear. “I’d better go and see her right away.”

“You do that. I know you always cheer her up like no one else can!”

The old man ruffled the boy’s hair. Eric ran off in search of his friend.

To Eric, LONDON ZOO was a wonderland. He had never been outside London in his life, but here in just a few acres of the city were the most magical creatures from all over the world.

But there was one animal in particular that Eric loved more than any other.

Her name was Gertrude.

Gertrude the gorilla.