A lion called Christian - Anthony Bourke

In 2008, YouTube.com featured an extraordinary film clip that soon became an internet phenomenon. It showed the emotional reunion of two young men and their pet lion, Christian, after they had left him in Africa withBorn Free's George Adamson, who would introduce him into his rightful home in the wild.

A Lion Called Christianrelates how Anthony 'Ace' Bourke and John Rendall visited London from Australia in 1969 and bought a boisterous lion cub in Harrods. For a while, the three of them lived together as flatmates on the King's Road, Chelsea, where Christian became a local celebrity. But he was growing up,fast, and even the church garden in which he exercised was becoming too small for him. How could Ace and John avoid incarcerating him in a zoo for the rest of his life?

A chance meeting with Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, stars ofBorn Free, led to Christian being flown to Kenya and placed under the expert care of Adamson. Ace and John did not return to see him for a year. Now, thanks to the internet age, their incredible reunion is again being enjoyed by millions.

Originally published in 1971,A Lion Called Christianhas been fully revised and updated, telling Christian's remarkable story in words as well as stunning photographs. It is a unique and extraordinary tale of its time that resonates again today with a worldwide audience, and is destined to become one of the great classics of animal literature.