Lion Called Christian

TO CHRISTIAN AND OUR FAMILIES
WHO NEVER MET HIM.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword by George Adamson

Introduction

1
A Lion with a Price Tag

2
Sophistocat

3
Noblesse Oblige

4
"The Publicity-Shy Jungle King"

5
A Proposal

6
The Lion at World's End

7
Country Life

8
Christian's Parents

9
"Coals to Newcastle"

10
A Lion's Lion

11
Onward Christian

12
Christian's Progress

13
The YouTube Reunion, 1971

14
The Final Farewell, 1972

15
Christian's Pyramid

The George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust

Acknowledgments

In the 1971 edition of
A Lion Called Christian
we thanked the people who had helped make Christian's life with us in England both possible and happy, and those who helped return him to the wild.

In London: Roy Hazle, the Buyer for the Pet Department at Harrods, and Sandy Lloyd; Jennifer-Mary Taylor, Joe Harding, and John Barnardiston, the owners of Sophistocat pine furniture shop on King's Road, where Christian lived in London; Kay Dew; our accepting neighbors in the World's End; The Reverend H. R. and Mrs. Williamson and Joan and Rod Thomas at the Moravian Close; Christian's best friend, Unity Bevis-Jones, Amelia Nathan, and Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, who introduced us to George Adamson.

In Nairobi: Monty Ruben, Jack Block, Agneta von Rosen, Ulf and Marianne Aschan, and the Ministry of Wildlife and Tourism, who agreed to Christian's rehabilitation at Kora.

At Kampi ya Simba, Kora, north of Garissa on the Tana River: George Adamson; his engineer and road-builder brother, Terence; Tony Fitzjohn, staff Stanley and Hamisi Farah; George's lifelong friends Nevil Baxendale and his son, Jonny (George's godson); the Provincial Game Warden of Garissa Ken Smith; veterinarian Dr. Sue Harthoorn, cameraman Simon Trevor, and the Tana River Council.

At Collins, the original publisher, Sir William Collins, and our then editor, Adrian House; Derek Cattani, for his photographs in England and Kenya; and Toni Rendall and Mandy Barrett, who typed our original manuscript.

Sadly, some of these key people are no longer alive today, including Sir William Collins, George Adamson, and Bill Travers. George would have enjoyed the revival of interest in his work with lions and in Christian's life. The George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust continues to fund major conservation projects in George's memory.

Thanks also to Caroline Michel, Alexandra Henderson, Lauren Miller Cilento, Pat and Lindy Bourke, and Sally Gaminara for their help and advice in the production of this book.

Anthony ("Ace") Bourke
and John Rendall
2009

Foreword by George Adamson

In April 1970 I received a letter from London from my friend Bill Travers, telling me about "Christian," a fifth-generation European lion, and asking whether I would be prepared to take him over and rehabilitate him back to the wild of his forebears. The idea appealed to me greatly, not only because it would save Christian from a life-time of captivity, but also because it would be, in all probability, the first time an English lion had been returned to the life for which he was created.

I felt confident that his inherited knowledge and instincts would soon assert themselves, given the chance, and in spite of his breeding. I must admit that I did not feel the same confidence about his two owners, when I heard that they would accompany Christian and stay a few weeks at my camp. I was led to believe they were very "mod," with long hair and exotic clothing. My first sight at Nairobi Airport of pink bell-bottomed trousers and flowing locks did nothing to dispel my misgivings. But Ace and John soon restored my faith in the modern generation. Immediately, I sensed the bond of deep affection and trust between them and Christian. I know from experience how hard it must have been for them to leave Christian to face the inevitable dangers and hardships of a lion in the wild.

At the time of writing, Christian is nearly two years old. He is as much at home in this wilderness as if he had been born here. Apart from initial toughening-up, he required no training. Always the wonderful store-house of inherited knowledge has shown him the way.

George Adamson

Kampiya Simba, Kora

15th July 1971

Introduction

In 1971 we wrote
A Lion Called Christian
, the story of a lion from London who returned to Africa. And now, forty years later, the Internet's YouTube has introduced a new world audience to Christian, an audience that is intrigued and enchanted by his extraordinary story.

We were two young travelers from Australia who had just arrived in London and unexpectedly bought a lion cub from Harrods Department Store. We lived with him in London, then in the country, until it was arranged for him to be returned to Kenya and rehabilitated by George Adamson of
Born Free
fame.

Two documentaries,
The Lion from World's End
and
Christian the Lion
, were made about George Adamson assembling a pride of lions, centered on Christian's return to the wild. The YouTube clip features our unforgettable reunion with a now much bigger lion on our return to Kenya one year later in 1971.

This 2009 edition of the book is revised and updated. We are both proud of the 1971 edition, written when we were in our early twenties, and this edition is true to the original text. However, we took the opportunity to add new information and make some clarifications, and in some instances we have tried to express ourselves more effectively.

Forty years later, some of our memories are very vivid and some are vaguer. We have consulted two very good books that refer to Christian that have been published subsequently: George Adamson's 1986 autobiography
My Pride and Joy
, and Adrian House's 1993
The Great Safari: The Lives of George and Joy Adamson.
These books verified the chronology of some particular events for us and provided new information. Another source was the letters Ace wrote to his parents from this period that until recently he was unaware had been kept. The first edition of
A Lion Called Christian
concluded in 1970, and this new edition has been updated to include our visits to Christian in 1972.

This edition is in response to the great interest in Christian's story generated by the YouTube clip of our 1971 reunion. Late in 2007, we began receiving e-mails alerting us that the reunion footage was on YouTube. We do not know who posted it, and we would not have known how to do it ourselves even if we had thought of it. We did not really monitor the interest, but in early 2008 we noticed the clip was becoming more popular. It was being sent around the world as one of those "send this on to someone you love" e-mails, complete with Whitney Houston's version of the highly emotive
I Will Always Love You
as the backing track. The hits on YouTube began to climb into the millions, and other sites opened. We occasionally read the comments but felt like voyeurs into our own lives. Most people found the clip extremely moving and comments were very positive, which is apparently uncommon, and this was often remarked on by other commentators. It was a very special experience that we now all shared.

The Internet is unregulated territory, and quite a lot of the information about Christian and us was incorrect, particularly the suggestion that we were in danger when we went back to see Christian. George had now known Christian for a year, and he was confident Christian would recognize us and greet us, although he admitted later that he did not expect such an exuberant display of affection.

Then the American television host Ellen De-Generes showed the clip on her program and invited John and Virginia McKenna to appear. They were unavailable, but the showing of the reunion clip saw the hits on the site climb to three million and led to many other international television networks broadcasting it. Christian had become world news, and we stopped counting as the hits reached forty-four million, and the sites expanded to over eight hundred. Hollywood producers began to call. Funny spoofs and parodies have since been posted, and another unknown person joined Christian to Facebook, and he now has many friends.

Christian's story was well known in 1971. The book was published in four languages and serialized in many magazines. The documentaries
The Lion at World's End
and
Christian the Lion
were repeatedly shown on television in many countries. Then, naturally, the interest gradually faded, and as the years passed the memory of the experience was so surreal it seemed to us like a secret dream, a fantasy, or even a hallucination.

Last time, in the early 1970s, people were aware of the entire story--the novelty of a London lion returning to Africa. But this time, because of those few filmed minutes of our 1971 reunion in the clip, the focus has been on the loving relationship we had with a rapidly growing, supposedly wild animal, and the extraordinary welcome we received from him after a year. The interest and the thoughtful responses have been overwhelming for us and have given us the opportunity to reflect on the experience so many years later. In an e-mail from Joanna G. Avery, she expressed that we were able to bridge the differences and stereotypes that society imposes on animals and reveal our similarities.