![A Lion Called Christian [June]](Books/i418.fs.jpg "A Lion Called Christian [June]")
A Lion Called Christian [June]
By Anthony Bourke and John Rendall
Published by
Transworld Publishers
ISBN 9780593063309
Summer 2010
Synopsis
In 2008, YouTube.com featured an extraordinary film clip that soon became an internet phenomenon. It showed the emotional reunion of two young men and their pet lion, Christian, after they had left him in Africa with Born Free’s George Adamson, who would introduce him into his rightful home in the wild.
A Lion Called Christian relates how Anthony ‘Ace’ Bourke and John Rendall visited London from Australia in 1969 and bought a boisterous lion cub in Harrods. For a while, the three of them lived together as flatmates on the King’s Road, Chelsea, where Christian became a local celebrity. But he was growing up, fast, and even the church garden in which he exercised was becoming too small for him. How could Ace and John avoid incarcerating him in a zoo for the rest of his life?
A Lion Called Christian tells Christian’s remarkable story in words as well as stunning photographs. It is a unique and extraordinary tale of its time that resonates again today with a worldwide audience, and is destined to become one of the great classics of animal literature.
Author's Biography
Ace Bourke was born in Sydney in 1946. He has become one of Australia’s leading art curators, a pioneer in the field of Aboriginal art and a colonial art specialist, staging numerous critically acclaimed exhibitions. He lives in Sydney with his two cats.
John Rendall is a sixth-generation Australian, currently dividing his time between London and Sydney. John continues his commitment to the George Adamson Trust and the Born Free Foundation. John’s three children share his passion for wildlife and conservation.
Reviews
‘This fascinating story has a wonderful ending.’ Daily Mail
‘The massive online popularity of the clip has taken the men agreeably by surprise and led them to revise and reissue their excellent 1971 book, A Lion Called Christian.’ Evening Standard
‘Packed with photos and amusing anecdotes — one time he walked in on someone showering! — A Lion Called Christian is an unabashedly stirring tale of a rare bond formed between humans and an animal. It is not overly sentimental or cloying because it doesn't need to be. To read this book is to feel, for a while, that Christian never left.’ Time
£12.99 Hardcover