Awesome doco on 5 last night about Christian the Lion who lived with a couple of Aussies in Chelsea during the swinging sixties. John and Ace bought Christian from Harrods in 1969. The lion lived with them and thier girlfriends, cruised the streets in the back of their Bentley, popping in for lunch at Casserole a local restaurant, and posed for a Biba fashion advert. He is such beatiful animal, and so affectionate with his ‘family’ – really just like a big pussycat. Inevitably Christian grew too big to be kept as a pet and after about a year was taken to Kenya, where he was rehabilitated into the wild. In 1973 John and Ace went back to the wildlife park in the hope of seeing the 3 year old Christian. They didn’t really expect to see him and for him to recognise them. I defy anyone to watch their reunion and not cry!
‘We called him and he stood up and started to walk towards us very slowly. Then, as if he had become convinced it was us, he ran towards us, threw himself on to us, knocked us over, knocked George over and hugged us, like he used to, with his paws on our shoulders’.
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I only read about this over breakfast this morning and wished I’d seen it whilst wondering whatever happened to Christian, fearing a sad end. Relieved to hear he went back to the wild and smiled at the recognition he had of his human friends.
I saw this story on Oprah a few weeks ago. The first time I saw the video was on facebook.It DID make me tear up! So much love between them.
It’s beautiful ay? I teared up watching it a couple of weeks ago after coming across it. I think they were really brave though – what if he didn’t remember them? They would have been tucker.