The trio were as common a sight in seventies Chelsea as mini-skirts and Mary Quant eyeliner, driving around in a convertible Mercedes, dining in the finest restaurants and partying with glamorous women. And one of them was a lion.
Christian the lion cub was famous among the bohemian and glamorous social world which congregated in that trendy part of south west London and included The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix and Vivienne Westwood, as well as his owners Anthony ‘Ace’ Bourke and John Rendall, whose death at the age of 76 was announced today.
The Lion Man of Chelsea, as Rendall came to be known, and Bourke were flatmates who ran a furniture store, coincidentally called Sophistocat. They came across Christian in the pet department of Harrods department store, where back in the day you could buy tapirs, snakes, monkeys, pumas and even lions as well. This was before the Endangered Species Act of 1976, which made it illegal for exotic creatures to be sold to the public. For the princely sum of 250 guineas – about £3,500 in today’s money – Christian was theirs.
The men set about feeding Christian from a detailed diet sheet supplied by Harrods: raw egg and vitamins for breakfast, raw meat — usually chopped beef or rabbit — for lunch and supper, and, as a special treat, a delicious marrow-filled bone at night.
Local restaurants and butchers offered steaks that were past their sell-by date, and cut-price meat. But exercise soon became a concern as Rendall and Bourke didn’t know where to walk him in this densely populated and traffic-choked corner of London. The local vicar came to their rescue when he offered Christian the use of a churchyard, near the shop.
When he was nearly a year old, Christian had grown rapidly and his owners heartbreakingly decided they had to set him free.
Lion expert George Adamson agreed to rehome him at Kora reserve in Kenya, so two weeks after Christian’s first and last birthday in England in August, 1970, they headed for Africa.
When they took Christian for his first walk in the bush, they witnessed the animal instincts that would ensure his survival. Spotting a lost cow in the bush, Christian instantly froze and began stalking his prey, stealthily creeping forwards. George was worried about the cow’s horns and told the men to grab Christian.
For the first time ever, the lion turned and snarled at them, leaving the pair profoundly shaken by the transformation in Christian from a biddable pet to a deadly hunter.
Although sad that it was time to say goodbye, the pair were relieved to see he possessed the instincts he needed to stay alive.
“Once we’d got him to Africa, I think Ace particularly had a real sense of, ‘my God, we’ve done it. Phew’.” said John years later. “But it was also sad: this wonderful presence had gone.”
A year later, in the summer of 1971, the men returned to Kora to see George and, they hoped, Christian.
George warned them not to get their hopes up as Christian, now the head of a small pride, hadn’t been seen for weeks. But when they landed in Nairobi, George was beaming.
“The lions turned up this morning,” he said. “Christian must have known you were coming.”
The moment he heard his former owners’ voices, Christian ran towards them, grunting with excitement. Watching the 300lb lion bounding towards them at about 20 miles an hour was a breathtaking moment – would he greet or attack them?
Bracing themselves, suddenly Christian was jumping up, rubbing their heads, and running backwards and forwards between them as he tried to embrace both men at the same time. He knew exactly who they were.
The wonderful moment of reunion was captured on film and has since been watched more than 100 million views on YouTube.
“I look at the photos of that meeting and realise how overwhelmed I was by the powerful emotion,” Rendall said in an interview. “At that moment, the gulf between humans and lions had been blurred by sheer euphoria.”
Rendall, who was found dead in his study on Sunday by his magician son, Max, said in an interview once: “Christian changed my life forever and I will never forget him.”
