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A Lion Called Christian
Anthony Bourke and John Rendall
2009, 226 pages
Nonfiction
Anthony “Ace” Bourke and John Rendall are two friends from Australia. They go to London to work in 1969 and see a lion cub for sale at Harrods. They are captivated and manage to purchase and bring Christian the lion cub to live with them on King's Road.
Soon Christian is growing enormously, and they realize that they will need to make plans for his future. They are extremely lucky and are able to contact George Anderson (of “Born Free” fame) who agrees to try and rehabilitate Christian.
This is the story of the two friends and Christian and their amazing relationship. A year after Christian has been living in the wild, Ace and John come back to see if Christian recognizes them, and there is quite a reunion. You can see on Youtube what a moving event it was. Over 44 million viewers have watched the film clip!
The story happened almost 40 years ago, but Ace and John's memories of Christian are vivid. You can tell that they cherished their days raising and living with Christian, the lion.
