A Love story

Once upon a time (1969) two boys from Oz were living in London and decided to buy a pet to keep in their furniture shop and their flat. John and Ace (those were their names) went to Harrods Zoo and bought a lion cub – things were different then. It was love at first sight and the boys and Christian - the cub - had a joyous time until it became clear that the space was inadequate for the ever growing cub.


Those two early conservationists Virginia McKenna and the late Bill Travers came to their rescue and built a compound in their garden where they would all leap and bound and play happily there, and on the beach at dawn before anyone else was around. As Christian became fully grown another solution had to be found. The boys were adamant he should not go to a zoo or a circus and after a lot of wading through red tape and with the help of George Adamson, they finally delivered Christian to George in Kenya, who planned to let Christian have his own pride. To cut a long, fascinating story short there was a happy ending and the You tube below is the first reunion of John, Ace and Christian after a year’s separation.
Sorry about the faintly political bit on the you tube. If I’m not mistaken that’s the voice of Virginia.

Read the whole story in ‘A Lion called Christian’ by John Rendall and Anthony (Ace) Bourke.