Friday, December 26, 2025

A Lion Called Christian: The True Story of the Remarkable Bond Between Two Friends and a Lion

By: Anthony Bourke and John Rendall, with a foreword by George Adamson

Libby audiobook 3 hours

Read by: John Lee

Published: 1971 (this version 2009)

Genre: Non-fiction memoir (of sorts) 


I have seen the "reunion" video of the two young men and the lion several times. I vaguely remember Joy Adamson's Born Free from my childhood. But this was a really interesting story about two young men who bought and raised a lion in their London apartment. They cheerfully admit they had no idea what they were getting into.


It's bizarre to think that Harrod's department store had two lion cubs for sale in 1969! This story is fascinating and honest - they had a wild ride with the decision to raise Christian on their own. It would be great to know what happened to Christian years later . . . was he killed? Did he move on to new territory in Kenya? I'm glad I've read the story that sets a context for the video I've seen many times.


This is the six minute version. I've never seen any of the documentaries that cover Christian's life.

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