The reunion between the lion and its former owners has garnered 100 million views. In 1969, two young Australians, John Rendall and Anthony “Ace” Bourke
In 1969, two young Australians, John Rendall and Anthony “Ace” Bourke, walked into Harrods department store in London and bought a three-month-old lion cub for 250 guineas. They named him Christian and took him home to their flat on the King’s Road in Chelsea, where he slept on a cashmere jumper and was walked through the streets of London like a dog. He became something of a neighbourhood fixture.
As Christian grew, keeping him in London became impossible. After meeting Virginia McKenna of Born Free fame, Rendall and Bourke arranged for legendary conservationist George Adamson to take Christian to Kenya and reintroduce him to the wild. They accompanied him on the journey in 1970 and stayed until they were confident he had settled, then returned to England.
A year later they went back to find him, with Adamson cautioning that Christian might not remember them.
The film shows Christian at first cautiously approaching, then upon recognising who they were, leaping playfully onto both men, standing on his hind legs and wrapping his front legs around their shoulders, nuzzling their faces. He had brought two lionesses with him. They accepted the men too.
They returned one final time. By then Christian was nearly 500 pounds. He tried to sit on their laps and knocked Adamson over.
In 1973, Christian disappeared into the wild forever. The reunion footage, posted online decades later, has been viewed over 100 million times
