Welcome to Spotlight.
I'm Luke Haley.
And I'm Robin Basselin.
Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting.
It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
There are many sounds that you can hear in London, England.
You can hear birds.
You can hear cars.
You can hear people talking.
You can even hear Big Ben, the large famous bell.
These are sounds people expect to hear in London.
However, they do not expect to hear the sound of a lion.
This large wild cat is native to countries in Africa.
It lives in grasslands, large open areas. do not live in cities.
They do not come from Europe.
But in 1969, two men met a lion in London.
Today's Spotlight is on a lion called Christian.
Harrods is a famous department store in London.
It sells many things, including clothes, food and furniture.
It is a very busy place.
This is where the two men found the lion.
Harrods was selling it.
Anthony Ace Bjork and John Rendell are from Australia.
They had just moved to England.
When they saw the lion at Harrods, they loved him right away.
They sat by him for hours.
They wanted this lion.
They decided to buy him and name him Christian.
Rendell wrote about it in the Daily Mail newspaper.
We had the crazy idea that if we bought him, we could offer him a better life.
It would be better than his life at a department store. even if it were only for a few months.
They thought they could help the lion.
They did not know that the lion would make their lives better.
On December 15th, 1969, Bjork and Rendell drove Christian home.
Christian sat in the back of their car like a person.
They were very excited.
But they were also worried.
They did not know if they could take care of a lion.
And he loved Bjork and Rendall.
When he was four months old, he loved being carried and held.
He would reach his front paws around Bjork and Rendall to hug them.
He would kiss their faces with his big tongue.
Christian loved to play.
And he loved to run.
He would chase Bjork and Rendall and jump on them.
Then Bjork and Rendall would kick a ball for Christian.
He would run after it, jump on it, and then roll over it.
By April 1970, Christian was eight months old.
He was getting too big for London.
Bjork and Rendall were also getting worried that he would become violent.
Lions are wild animals.
So Bjork and Rendall started looking for a new home for Christian.
They found it in Kenya.
Some friends connected them to George Adamson.
He was a conservationist.
He worked to protect wild animals and natural places.
These friends offered to pay for Christian to travel to Kenya.
Adamson was willing to help Christian return to the wild.
Bork and Rendell thought this was the perfect solution.
In their book A Lion Called Christian.
They wrote That night Christian made his first attempt at a roar.
It was early, but we could tell it was a roar, and we were very proud.
Adamson found a natural area where he could work with Christian.
He brought other lions to help train Christian.
It was large enough that Christian could also learn to hunt.
In their book, Bjork and Rendell wrote...
When the area was completed, Christian left London forever.
Many of his friends came to see him one last time.
We were thankful to leave with only happy memories.
But we were also sad.
Happy and special months with Christian in London were over.
Starting a new life in Kenya was hard.
Christian was not used to the hot temperatures and hard ground.
He had never lived with other lions.
He did not know how to find food.
Christian had many things to learn.
But he learned quickly.
The first time he saw an animal, he followed it perfectly.
He hunted it like any wild lion.
It was soon time for Bjork and Rendell to fly home to England.
They were sad to leave.
They both cried.
They knew this was the best home for him.
But they wondered if they would ever see Christian again.
Over the next year, Adamson continued to send reports to Bjork and Rendell.
They hoped to see Christian one more time.
So in 1971, they flew back to Kenya to see him.
Bjork and Rendell did not know what to expect when they saw Christian.
Would he remember them?
Would he try to hurt them?
They did not know.
But they hoped that he had not forgotten them.
Bjork wrote about the meeting in a letter to his parents.
Christian looked at us for a few seconds.
He then slowly moved closer to us.
He looked at us again.
We could not wait any longer.
We called his name.
He immediately started to run towards us.
He was very excited.
Then this huge lion jumped all over us, but he was very gentle.
Christian remembered them.
He hugged them just like he had done when he was young.
He even brought his family group to meet them.
A filmmaker named Simon Travers recorded this emotional meeting.
Forty years later, someone put this video on YouTube.
Hundreds of people have now seen the video of Christian running to Bjork and Rendell.
People love it.
It has been seen more than 100 million times.
The video has made the story famous.
In the Daily Mail newspaper, Rendell wrote, "'Adults seem to find it very difficult to watch without crying.
It brings up all the pain of separation and loss.
It also brings the joy of being reunited.
In 1973, Christian disappeared.
He left the protected area.
Adamson believed Christian hoped to create his own family group.
Sometimes they would still hear him roar.
But they did not see him again.
Christian changed Bjork and Rendall's lives.
Today, Bjork and Rendall work to protect other wild animals. and wild places.
They talk about the importance of conservation around the world.
And they encourage all people to work to protect nature.
Over 40 years later, Bjork and Rendell still love Christian as a part of their family.
On his website, Bjork recently wrote Christian is an experience that will always be a part of my life.
It is a story about human and animal friendships.
The writer of this program was Lauren Anders.
The producer was Luke Haley.
The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States.
All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight.
You can listen to this program again, and read it, on the internet.
This program is called, A Lion Called Christian.
We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program.
Goodbye.
