Refused entry to America from China in 1958 because of the embargo on "communist goods", the giant panda Chi-Chi came to London Zoo - a constant object of media attention and public adoration. Eight years later she was sent on a diplomatic mission to Moscow to mate with the Russian panda An-An, though this attempt to start a thaw of the Cold War failed on day one when she hit An-An.
Among those recalling this bizarre tale of sex, spies and the media are Desmond Morris , Sir Denis Forman and Edward Heath, who remembers his own brush with pandas when he was prime minister.
