Christian the lion remembered - and a new book

I'm delighted at the news of a book by the two men who raised Christian the lion in London before returning him to the wild in Kenya. This goes straight onto my must-buy list! Here's an extract.

We were two young travellers from Australia who had just arrived in London. It was November 1969 and, one day, in an unusual burst of enthusiasm for sightseeing, we visited the Tower of London.

A suitable contrast, we then decided, would be our first visit to Harrods. Wandering into Harrods, we discovered, incredibly, that there was a zoo on the second floor, where we found two lion cubs in a small cage. The female snarled in an alarming manner, but her brother pretended none of the shoppers existed.

He was irresistible, and we sat, enchanted, beside their cage for hours. A curious excitement began to grow. Even if it was only for a couple of months, surely we could offer him a better life than this, and try to ensure a better future for him?

Neither of us had ever dreamed of owning an exotic pet, but he was completely irresistible. Suddenly our lives seemed to be incomplete without a lion cub. He was for sale at 250 guineas, equivalent to £3,500 in today's money. This was a vast sum to us, but we nonchalantly agreed that it seemed a very reasonable price.

Harrods staff were interviewing prospective owners – they did not want the lions to fall into irresponsible hands – so the next morning we returned, wearing tweed sports coats and looking far more respectable, and we somehow managed to convince the staff that we would be responsible foster parents for a lion.

We shared a small flat on the King's Road in Chelsea, above the furniture shop where we both worked, and we were able to persuade the owners of the shop that their business really needed a lion cub living on the premises – particularly as the shop was called Sophisticat.

On 15 December 1969, we received a telephone call to say we could collect Christian a few days early – during the night, he and his sister had escaped into the adjoining carpet department and destroyed some goatskin rugs that were part of a Christmas display.

We collected Christian the next day, walking him out through the staff exit on a lead. The staff waved goodbye, no doubt relieved their responsibilities were over. With Christian sitting majestically on the back seat of the car, we drove off to our home on the King's Road, extremely happy, but also nervously excited.




In Sophisticat, Christian padded around investigating everything, cleverly evading all the hands that tentatively and incredulously reached down to pat him. He seemed only mildly disorientated, and we stayed up most of the night playing with him.

Within two days, Christian seemed to have fully adjusted to his new surroundings. Any initial inhibitions had vanished, and the teddy bear we had bought him for company was already in a million pieces.

Now four months old, 30lb, and about two feet long, he was himself a larger-than life teddy bear. He loved being carried and cuddled, and his paws would gently reach round our necks and his tongue would lick our faces.

He had soft, tawny-coloured fur. But it was his beautiful, round, rust-coloured eyes that dominated his appearance. He had a delightful, placid nature, and was even house-trained, using a giant lionsized kitty litter tray.

His day began about 8am, when one of us came downstairs to the vast basement where he slept. Often he had to be woken, and a sleepy little lion would affectionately greet us, and walk unsteadily over to squat on his tray.

Then it was time to be fed. His first and last meals of the day were a mixture of baby foods: Complan, Farex, and milk, with drops for additional vitamins.

Two main meals, given to him late in the morning and in the early evening, consisted of raw meat, egg and bone meal. We varied the meat and sometimes gave him an unskinned rabbit. He would carry the skin around the shop for days until it finally disintegrated.

He was inexhaustibly playful and had a variety of toys scattered all over the floor. Wastepaper baskets were a favourite, first to be worn on the head, totally obscuring his sight, and then to be ripped apart.

We had to buy him hardy toys, for the average life of a normal teddy bear was about two minutes. He looked forward each morning to the arrival of Kay, the cleaner, for he was certain that she had been provided for his enjoyment.




He chased her brooms, rode on the vacuum cleaner, and stole or ate her dusters. He demanded our constant attention and it was impossible to ignore him. If one of us was reading a newspaper, or on the telephone, Christian would immediately climb up on to his lap.

Hiding behind the furniture in the shop, he would charge and leap at us. We developed a habit of glancing nervously over our shoulders. If we caught him frozen in a crouched position, with intent mischievous eyes, he would nonchalantly pretend to clean his paws, rather irritated that his fun had been spoiled, for the game was to stalk and catch us unawares. Usually, we could predict what his intentions were from the expression in his eyes.

Each day, we took him for walks in nearby walled gardens, owned by a church whose vicar had given us permission.

Late in the afternoon,Christian would sit regally on the furniture in the shop window, watching the activities of our part of Chelsea. He was the area's star attraction, and the locals loved him.

Christian grew very quickly. Within two months, the beginnings of a mane developed and he suddenly looked quite adult. It was unfair to expect innocent customers to cope with the experience of being sprung upon from behind a chest of drawers and clasped around their thighs by a lion's huge paws.

He instinctively identified those who were frightened, and he enjoyed teasing them. Actresses Diana Rigg and Mia Farrow, customers at Sophisticat, loved to play with him.

Christian was often invited to visit friends with us, and occasionally we took him. On one visit, Christian pushed open a bathroom door, and we ran up when we heard a loud scream. It was difficult to know who was more frightened, Christian or the woman friend in the bath that he had disturbed.

There's more at the link.

The two eventually realized that Christian was getting too big and too wild for urban life in Britain, and through a long series of coincidences and helpful friends, were able to arrange for him to be released into the wild in Kenya, through the good offices of George Adamson, of 'Born Free' fame.

A year later, they returned to Africa, not sure if their erstwhile lion friend would remember them. They needn't have worried! Here's the video of their reunion.

The two were interviewed by NBC a while ago about their experiences with Christian. Here's an excerpt.

Many years ago, the film 'Christian The Lion' recounted their experiences with their friend. I'm really looking forward to their book.

Peter