I was at the dentist’s office the other day, when my dental hygienist commented on my Harrods bag. She then mentioned that she always thinks about Christian the Lion when she thinks of Harrods. Who is this lion??? I asked.
Apparently, Harrods used to sell exotic pets. Such as lions. Two young Australians bought a lion cub at Harrods in 1969 and called him Christian. He lived with them for about eight months, until he became too big to live happily in a London apartment. By a stroke of good luck, they met people who hooked him up with conservationist George Adamson, who agreed to rehabilitate Christian in Kenya, so he could live free.
Christian’s owners, Ace Bourke and John Rendall, wrote a book about their experience of raising Christian and then taking him to Kenya. They visited him in Kenya a year later, and he totally remembered them and embraced them excitedly.
Fast forward to 2008, when a student somehow finds a video clip of this amazing reunion, and posts it on YouTube. The clip was watched by millions of people. So now, Christian has his own page on the Animal Planet website. And Ace and John put out a second edition of their book, A Lion Called Christian, in 2009. Which I am almost done reading (I started it this morning), so please excuse me, but I must get back to it.
fancenance.com 