Lion Called Christian Read online

  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.

  We have tried to understand why this story has struck such an emotional chord with millions of people. Is it the unconditional love Christian demonstrated? Is it about growing up and separation? Is it about loss and loneliness and the joy of reconnection? Are people projecting their own feelings and needs in relation to their own animals and the solace and companionship they provide? With the domination of technology and computer games replacing outdoor activities, are we all now too alienated from the natural world? Is it nostalgia for a time when childhood was more carefree and safer, with more freedom and time for youthful adventures?

  The Internet has revolutionized communication and offers still-unimaginable opportunities for social networking and entertainment--information dissemination as well as social and political activism. Through the Internet we can now exert real influence on causes we believe in. We wonder what we could all achieve together if we work in concert to address some of the world's most urgent social, environmental, and wildlife issues.

  No zoo is complete without lions. The small zoo at Ilfracombe in Devon on the south coast of England was no exception, and the lion and lioness were a particularly handsome pair. The lion had been bought from the Rotterdam Zoo in Holland, and the lioness had come from the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem. They had their first litter on August 12, 1969: four healthy cubs, one male and three females. Nine weeks later, with summer over and no more holiday crowds to attract, two female cubs were sent to an animal dealer and were subsequently bought by a circus. The remaining female and male were bought by Harrods, the Knights-bridge department store, and sent to London by train. The four cubs seemed destined, as their parents were, for a lifetime of frustration.

  Three months before the cubs were born, we had left Australia for the first time, uncertain but optimistic. We had both graduated from university and had had a variety of jobs with no clear career path at that stage. We headed to London as many young Australians had before us, and well-known examples include the satirist Barry Humphries, journalist and broadcaster Glive James, academic and writer Germaine Greer, artists Sidney Nolan, Brett Whitely, and Martin Sharp, social commentator Richard Neville, and more recently, Kylie Minogue. Some Australians traveled overland through Asia and the Middle East, which is difficult if not impossible these days. We traveled independently for several months, but met up unexpectedly in London in late November 1969. Neither of us is a conscientious sightseer, but one day in an unusual burst of enthusiasm we visited, among other tourist destinations, the Tower of London. A suitable contrast, we decided, would be our first visit to Harrods. We were aware of Harrods' boast that they could provide anything at a price, of course. A friend had once inquired about a camel and been asked, "Would that be with one hump or two?" But Harrods seemed to have extended themselves beyond our imagination when, on wandering into their zoo on the second floor, we discovered two lion cubs in a small cage between the Siamese kittens and the old English sheepdogs. A lion cub with a price tag was not an easy thought to assimilate. The cubs were proving to be a successful drawing card for the Christmas shoppers, with the prospect of becoming the Christmas present for the person who already had everything.

  We had not thought about lions before. Of course, we had seen them in zoos, but this was as far as our interest and knowledge extended. Neither of us had even read Joy Adamson's 1960 book Born Free, the story of Elsa the lioness who had been found as a cub, raised and rehabilitated back into the wild by Joy and her husband George Adamson, who was a game warden with the Kenyan Wildlife Department. We sympathized with the cubs, for despite the efforts of the staff, they were incessantly disturbed by intrigued shoppers, yet we had to restrain the same urge within ourselves. Each person demanded a response.

  The female snarled in an alarming manner and people were satisfied, but her brother pretended none of us existed. He was irresistible, and we sat, enchanted, beside their cage for hours.

  John: "Why don't we buy him?"

  Ace: "I've already named him Christian."

  We found out much later that the staff had named him Marcus, a handsome masculine name, but Christian seemed to suit him, and we liked the irony or joke about Christians being fed to the lions in Roman times, which was also a reminder of the danger to which we could be exposing ourselves and the people around us.

  We intuitively knew that we were both serious, and a curious excitement began to grow. Even if it was only for a couple of months, surely we could offer him a better life than this, and try and ensure a better future for him. Or was it that we just wanted to take Christian away from everyone else and have him to ourselves? Neither of us had ever fantasised or dreamed about owning an exotic pet, but he was completely irresistible.

  Suddenly our lives were to be incomplete without a lion cub. An impractical idea for two young Australians visiting Europe, but at least we could allow ourselves the luxury of investigating the possibility of buying him. We inquired if he was still for sale. The female had been sold, but the male was still available for two hundred and fifty guineas, equivalent in 2009 to three thousand five hundred English pounds. This was a vast sum to us, but undaunted, we nonchalantly agreed that it seemed a very reasonable price. The assistant at the zoo suggested we speak to the Harrods buyer. He was, she pointedly warned us, interviewing any prospective purchasers very thoroughly, as Harrods believed it was important the lions did not fall into irresponsible hands.

  We returned the next morning looking far more respectable, with our hair skillfully flattened, and wearing the tweed sports coats our parents, very perceptively, had insisted would be useful abroad, but until now had been lying untouched at the bottom of our suitcases. We succeeded, with the help of a few tiny white lies and our enthusiasm, in convincing Roy Hazle, the buyer for Harrods, that we would be responsible guardians/foster parents for a lion. Now, when Harrods was prepared to part with him, we had the first option to buy Christian.

  Everything up until this point seemed very natural and straightforward. We had gone shopping and had seen a lion that we liked and now wanted to buy, but could not take delivery for about three weeks. We shared a small flat on the King's Road in Chelsea, above the shop where we had both been offered work, and in all respects could not have been in a worse position to own any animal, least of all a lion. We spent days fruitlessly visiting estate agents, looking for a basement flat with a garden "for our dog." It seemed pointless being truthful with them when it was the landlords we would really have to contend with. We were becoming very disheartened, so we decided to advertise in The Times on the assumption that the courageous or eccentric landlord we had been unable to find would probably be a reader of this newspaper.

&nb
sp; LION CUB, 2 young men seek suitable garden /

  roof, flat / house London. 352-7252.

  The only responses we received were a flood of telephone calls from other newspapers, prematurely wanting to photograph the lion.

  In desperation, our last chance was to persuade the owners of the shop where he worked, Joe Harding and John Barnardiston, and Jennifer-Mary Taylor, that in addition to us as employees, their business really needed a lion cub living on the premises, particularly as the shop was called Sophistocat. John Barnardiston was cautious by nature, being English, and fortunately he was in Switzerland at the time. Joe Harding was born in Kenya and had owned a variety of animals, and proved to be no opposition. And Jennifer-Mary was enthusiastic. It was decided that Christian would live in the basement of the shop, and it was to be a surprise for John on his return from Switzerland. As we would be living above the shop and working there, it seemed an ideal arrangement, for we could devote all the attention to Christian we realized would be necessary. Although Sophisticat had an enormous basement, with several rooms, we also needed to find a garden for his exercise.

  Fortunately we had friends living in a studio only three hundred yards from the shop, with access to a most suitable garden. Fully enclosed, and covering three quarters of an acre, it is still owned by the Moravian Church. The minister was an ardent bird watcher, but not prejudiced against extending his zoological interests, he very generously gave his permission for us to use the garden. As a result, we now felt able to assure Harrods that we could fulfill the practical requirements for owning a lion in London.

  Of course, looking back from many years later, we should never have been allowed to buy a lion. We were naive about the risks and were without any insurance coverage. Since the enactment of the Endangered Species Act in 1973 in England, Harrods has no longer traded in exotic animals, and now have the Harrods "Pet Shop" as opposed to a "Zoo." We now appreciate how purchasing wild or exotic animals only encourages further trafficking in them.