Livingstone walks on air for zoo wedding

Published on Saturday 26 September 2009 21:29

FORMER London mayor Ken Livingstone was set to marry long-term partner Emma Beal yesterday at London Zoo.

Although the ceremony was just hours away, Livingstone still turned up to host his regular Saturday morning radio show at London's LBC, telling listeners he had gone to work as usual to "get out the way".

"I think there isn't much of a role for the groom in the morning. If I'd stayed at home, I'd be offering unhelpful advice about the better way of doing something and winding everybody up, so I just thought I'd come into work," he said.

The couple are getting married near the zoo's reptile house but Livingstone said the venue was chosen to entertain younger guests rather than because of his love of newts.

"There's going to be an awful lot of quite young kids there because it is a family wedding and they do get bored," he said.

Livingstone, who has five children, including two with Miss Beal, added: "I remember mine used to get bored at weddings because there isn't much to do, whereas (at London Zoo] they can jump in and out of the lion enclosure for fun."

Livingstone told listeners the couple's two children, Thomas and Mia, were "very excited".

"I took the kids to school yesterday and their teacher said, 'We can't stop them going on about it!'

"Most kids don't get to go to their parents' wedding. A more orthodox lifestyle prevails still," he said.

Some listeners asked if Conservative Boris Johnson, who beat Labour candidate Livingstone in last year's London mayoral elections, had been invited. "Oddly enough, it is a small family wedding and I know he's related to the Royal Family – I hope he's not related to me!" he quipped in reply.