Christian The Lion: The Illustrated Legacy

About Derek CattaniJohn Rendall

Australian-born John Rendall first came to London in the late 1960s and it was there that with his friend Anthony (Ace) Bourke he first came across Christian at that time a young cub lying in a cage in Harrods department store. After protracted negotiations they bought Christian and raised him in Sophistocat pine furniture shop in the World's End in Chelsea. Christian's life in London was subsequently the subject of the Television documentary The Lion at World's End and of a book written by Ace and John A Lion Called Christian which told the story of Christian's successful rehabilitation back into the wild by George Adamson. For the next 18 years John and George stayed in regular contact and when George was murdered in 1989 George's Assistant Tony Fitzjohn founded the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust and John became a trustee. Today John remains an active fund-raiser for the trust which administers the Mkomazi National Park in Tanzania. John lectures at schools and leads safaris to Kenya visiting Meru National Park where George and Joy Adamson's lioness Elsa was rehabilitated and Kora National Park where Christian was rehabilitated. Christian's 'legacy' is the continued interest in his unique life: the first English-born lion to be successfully rehabilitated and the inspiration for the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust. Derek Cattani is an international award-winning photographer whose career spans some four decades on assignment for many top magazines and Fleet Street newspapers including the Daily Mail and The Sunday Times. The highlight of his early career was meeting and photographing Christian an amazing lion cub in London and going with him and his owners to Africa. After a gentle process of introduction Derek was able to capture all manner of images of Christian from sitting in an open top car in Chelsea to football sessions in a high-walled garden culminating in Christian's final adventures when he was taken back to Africa to be rehabilitated back into the wild with George Adamson at that time the world's leading expert on lions. Derek has continued to be involved to the present day with the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust. Derek's photographs capture the early days in London and Africa with a sincere passion and convey the fun of watching Christian and the love of seeing a lion back in Africa.