Clare Balding is celebrating the world’s most extraordinary animals
Heroic Animals is a delight, the sort of book you dip in and out of, rather than read from cover to cover.
TV presenter and bestselling author Clare Balding has written a fascinating book that can be dipped in and out of.
Sun, 13 Dec, 2020 - 12:00
Review: Tina Neylon Clare Balding John Murray €22 (£20)
THIS book’s subtitle is 100 Amazing Creatures Great and Small and it includes stories about a huge variety from rats to pigs, ducks to dolphins, and many dogs, horses, cats, even a giraffe. Written by the TV presenter and bestselling author Clare Balding, who is familiar to us mainly from her coverage of sports for decades, it is a delight, the sort of book you dip in and out of, rather than read from cover to cover.
pet department and there were these two lions, the lioness and the cub that we subsequently called christian, and he was totally, totally irresistible. it was really a shock to see these beautiful creatures in such a tiny cage. we half wanted to rescue him from this situation and we half thought it would be an adventure. anyone could see that he really loved us, we really loved him. we were all part of his pride. eventually the lion became too big so he was turned over to conservationist george adamson who would release him to the wild. about a year later, john and ace went back to africa to look for christian and found that the magic was still there. he comes closer and closer and closer, and then you can just see that click of recognition. so we called him and that s when he took off. and he ran towards us with such excitement. the exuberance of it is what surprised everyone, the euphoria
how did they fake this? is that a person in a lion suit? the story was so captivating, did it matter if it wasn t real? it s entirely possible that lion wasn t real. it s entirely possible the whole thing was staged. but the way the story was created, the way it played out and the way the online video portion of it was distributed, you could only think, wow, this is really something different and special? if it s fake, i think i might go shoot somebody. that that would how could you be so cruel to make that up is what i would say. i m hoping it s real. let s put it that way. no need to worry. the video is real. but the true adventure of christian the lion was first told in a documentary that became the source of the viral video footage. the unlikely love story started in london in 1969 when our two heroes, john rendall and ace burke, went shopping at harrod s department store and bought a lion. so ace and i went up to the
cub that we subsequently called christian, and he was totally, totally irresistible. it was really a shock to see these beautiful creatures in such a tiny cage. we half wanted to rescue him from this situation and we half thought it would be an adventure. anyone could see that he really loved us, we really loved him. we were all part of his pride. the lion became too big so he was turned over to conservationist george adamson who would release him to the wild. about a year later, john and ace went back to africa to look for christian and found that the magic was still there. he comes closer and closer and closer, and then, you can just see that click of recognition, so we called him and it s when he took off. and he ran towards us with such excitement. the exuberance of it is what surprised everyone, the euphoria
stuff? the story was so captivating, did it matter if it wasn t real? it s entirely possible that lion wasn t real. it s entirely possible the whole thing was staged, but the way the story was created, the way it played out and the way the online video portion of it was distributed you could only think, wow, this is really something different and special? if it s fake i would go shoot somebody. that would be how could you be so cruel to make that up is what i would say. i m hoping it s real. let s put it that way. no need to worry. the video is real. but the true adventure of christian the lion was first told in a documentary that became the source of the viral video footage. the unlikely love story started in swinging london in 1969 when our two heroes, john rendall and ace burke went shopping at harrod s department store and bought a lion. so ace and i went up to the pet department there were two lions, little lioness and the