A Lion Called Christian: The True Story of the Remarkable Bond Between Two Friends and a Lion

by Anthony Bourke, John Rendall, George Adamson (Foreword by)

Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A stirring tale of a rare bond formed between humans and an animal.”—Time
 
Two men. One baby lion. What could go wrong?
 
A Lion Called Christian tells the remarkable story of how Anthony “Ace” Bourke and John Rendall, visitors to London from Australia in 1969, bought a boisterous lion cub in the pet department of Harrods. For several months, the three of them shared a flat above a furniture shop on London’s King’s Road, where the charismatic and intelligent Christian quickly became a local celebrity, cruising the streets in the back of a Bentley, popping in for lunch at a local restaurant, even posing for a fashion advertisement. But the lion cub was growing up—fast—and soon even the walled church garden where he went for exercise wasn’t large enough for him. How could Ace and John avoid having to send Christian to a zoo for the rest of his life?
 
A coincidental meeting with English actors Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, stars of the hit film Born Free, led to Christian being flown to Kenya and placed under the expert care of the “father of lions” George Adamson. Incredibly, when Ace and John returned to Kenya to see Christian a year later, they received a loving welcome from their lion, who was by then fully integrated into Africa and a life with other lions. A video of this reunion has become a YouTube classic. 
 
Originally published in 1971, and now fully revised and updated with more than 50 photographs of Christian from cuddly cub in London to magnificent lion in Africa, A Lion Called Christian is a touching and uplifting true story of an indelible human-animal bond. It is destined to become one of the great classics of animal literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780767932370
Publisher:	Crown Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/09/2010
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	485,934
Product dimensions:	5.06(w) x 7.52(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	1190L (what's this?)

About the Author

Anthony “Ace” Bourke is one of Australia’s leading art curators. He lives in Sydney.

John Rendall is a member of the Royal Geographic Society and a trustee of the George Adamson Trust. He divides his time between London and Sydney.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Foreword George Adamson xiii

Introduction xvii

1 A Lion with a Price Tag 1

2 Sophistocat 19

3 Noblesse Oblige 35

4 "The Publicity-Shy Jungle King" 53

5 A Proposal 73

6 The Lion at World's End 85

7 Country Life 97

8 Christian's Parents 111

9 "Coals to Newcastle" 125

10 A Lion's Lion 143

11 Onward Christian 161

12 Christian's Progress 175

13 The YouTube Reunion, 1971 185

14 The Final Farewell, 1972 199

15 Christian's Pyramid 213

The George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust 223

Editorial Reviews

In 1969, Anthony "Ace" Bourke and John Rendall bought a pet from Harrods that was neither a beagle nor a parrot. Instead, "Christian" was a cuddly lion cub who soon became the most regal and noticeable resident of their flat on King's Road. Of course, lion cubs grow at a prodigious rate, and it was not long before his devoted owners realized that he belonged back in the jungle. Wisely, they dispatched him to Kenya, where he was put under the expert transitional care of "the father of lions," Born Free legend George Adamson. Christian returned to the wild, but when Bourke and Rendall visited him a year later, they discovered that their former pet had not only remembered them -- he greeted them with fervor and affection. This profusely illustrated book tells the extraordinary story of a truly moving interspecies friendship.