On Monday 17th October 2011 we welcomed John Rendall to College Chapel. John Rendall is a sixth generation Australian, and currently lives in London. John continues to commit his time to the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust, the Elsamere Trust and is a member of the Royal Geographical Society in London. He has been involved in travel focused public relations, concentrating on conservation projects, lodges and reserves in Africa.

John became famous for buying a lion cub from Harrods in 1969 and with a friend called Ace they lived with their pet called Christian in King's Road, London. The following YouTube clip helps give an idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqhJuwUukX8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The YouTube clip and exposure on Oprah, featuring Christian’s unforgettable reunion with Ace and John a year after his return to Africa, introduced a new world audience who are intrigued and enchanted by Christian’s extraordinary story. John has since become a symbol of the potential of human-animal relationships and the importance and urgency of animal and wildlife conservation.

Between 28 October and 1st November 2011 there is an exclusive exhibition of Joy Adamson’s botanical paintings at Ellenborough Park Hotel in Cheltenham. John will be attending most of the time. For more information about the exhibition, visit www.elsatrust.org or click here for a poster. Cheltenham College will be making a donation through one of the upcoming Chapel collections.

Letitia Cookson, (U6, W) wrote the following article following the visit: 

“We were very fortunate to be able to welcome one of the highlights of the Cheltenham Literature Festival, Mr John Rendall. It was wonderful to hear his story about Christian the lion that not only underlines the significance of wildlife conservation, but reminds us that love has no boundaries, something very fitting with the theme of ‘Commandments of Life’ in Chapel this week. 

Once he showed us the clip from YouTube I think we were all in awe of Rendall’s compassion towards Christian, how he cared and nurtured the lion, even if it meant enduring the heartache of saying goodbye; as well as surprised at how an unsuspecting creature can show the level of affection most would assume to be uniquely human. He was a huge inspiration.”