An extraordinary twominute film appeared on YouTube and immediately became an international phenomenon． It shows the moving reunion of two young men and their pet lion Christian，after they had left him in Africa with George Adamson to introduce him into his rightful home in the wild．

A Lion Called Christian tells the remarkable story of how Anthony Ace Bourke and John Rendall，visitors to London from Australia in 1969，bought the baby lion in the pet department of Harrods． For several months，the three of them shared a flat above a furniture shop on London’s King’s Road，where the intelligent Christian quickly became famous locally，walking in the streets，appearing for lunch at a local restaurant，even posing for a fashion advertisement． But the baby lion was growing up—fast—and soon even the walled church garden where he went for exercise wasn’t large enough for him． How could Ace and John avoid having to send Christian to a zoo for the rest of his life？A meeting by accident with English actors Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers，stars of the hit film Born Free，led to Christian being flown to Kenya and placed under the expert care of “the father of lions”George Adamson． Implausibly， when Ace and John returned to Kenya to see Christian a year later，they received a loving welcome from their lion，who was by then fully integrated （融入）into Africa and a life with other lions．

Originally published in 1971，and now fully rewritten with more than 50 photographs of Christian from cute baby in London to fantastic lion in Africa，A Lion Called Christian is a touching and inspiring true story． It is certain to become one of the great classics of animal literature．