Two Guys Bought a Lion at Harrods. A Year Later, He Remembered Them.

In 1969, two young Australians stumbled across something that shouldn't exist in any city: a lion cub for sale at a department store. John Rendall and Anthony "Ace" Bourke paid 250 guineas for him at Harrods and took him home to Chelsea. They named him Christian.

A Lion on the King's Road

Christian lived in the basement of Sophistocat, Rendall and Bourke's antique pine furniture shop on the King's Road. He slept on a bed of straw, played in the garden of a nearby vicarage, and was fed by local restaurants whose owners had grown fond of him. The men walked him through the streets of Chelsea - a full-size lion, in London, on a lead.

When Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna - the stars of the film Born Free - met Christian and heard his story, they suggested the men contact George Adamson, the wildlife conservationist who had rehabilitated lions in Kenya. Adamson agreed to take Christian on.

Into the Wild

In 1970, Christian was flown to Kenya and released into the Kora National Reserve under Adamson's care. Over months, he transitioned from a domesticated city lion into a wild animal leading his own pride. By 1971, Adamson reported that Christian was fully wild - living as he was meant to.

The Reunion

Rendall and Bourke flew back to Kenya to see him. Adamson issued a warning before they set out: Christian had been wild for a year and might not recognise them. He could be dangerous. No guarantees.

The footage shows what happened next. Christian appeared at a distance, paused - and then sprinted toward the two men. He rose on his hind legs and embraced them, wrapping his front paws around their shoulders and pressing his face into theirs. The lionesses in his pride came forward too.

A Video That Waited 30 Years

The reunion was documented in the 1971 BBC film Christian, The Lion at World's End. The footage sat largely unseen for over three decades. When clips were uploaded online in the mid-2000s and spread via YouTube, the response was overwhelming. By 2009, multiple versions had gathered tens of millions of views. The official website for A Lion Called Christian - Rendall and Bourke's book about the experience - estimates the reunion has been seen by over 100 million people across television and digital platforms, including appearances on Oprah, The View, and Ellen.

John Rendall, the man who first spotted Christian at Harrods, died in January 2022. He spent his final decades as a conservationist and patron of the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust. Christian was last seen in 1974. He was never seen again after that - which, for a wild lion in Kenya, is exactly what George Adamson would have hoped for.