John Rendall, 76, owner of Christian the Lion, wildlife conservationist, and former Hello Magazine Diary Editor, died unexpectedly on Sunday 23rd January at his London home.
His many shocked friends have responded with extensive tributes at the loss of this uniquely special man who entered their lives.
Recently, John Rendall and photographer Derek Cattani invited 120 followers of Christian the Lion, to London’s Chelsea Theatre to celebrate the life of this remarkable lion. John and Derek gave an illustrated talk, surrounded by Derek Cattani’s pictures of the life of Christian. John has made the story of Christian the subject of books, films and TV documentaries worldwide, as well as being busy on the lecture circuit. Through John, Christian has become familiar to millions.
Christian was bought by two young Australians, John Rendall and Ace Bourke in 1969, as a cub from Harrods department store in Knightsbridge for £262. He was full of life and had wreaked havoc in the store’s carpet department. After a year the lion became too big for the friends’ flat, and was moved into a new home, the Sophistocat furniture store below the flat. Here he managed to chew anything in sight, and by then was consuming £30 of food in a week. Christian enjoyed riding in John’s open top Mercedes and became the centre of attention in London’s King’s Road Chelsea. The local vicar gave permission for Christian to be exercised in the Moravian Church graveyard, but he also loved trips to the seaside, where he swam in the English Channel.
When Born Free stars Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers dropped into Sophistocat to buy furniture, they met Christian, by now nearly one year old. It was agreed that the lion had outgrown his Chelsea home, having developed from a cub weighing 35 lb to a lion of 185 lb. They offered to take Christian to Kenya to place him in the care of lion conservationist George Adamson, at the Kora National Reserve. So the lion left his home in Chelsea and flew to Kenya and George Adamson. Derek Cattani’s iconic picture captures John with Christian on the Tana River during his first week with George Adamson.
In 1971 John and Ace visited Kenya, for a reunion with Christian, not knowing what to expect. After a cautious approach, the now wild Christian bounded towards the two men, and put his paws around them both in an affectionate embrace, proceeding to introduce them to his lioness and her cubs. He had truly become an African lion. Christian was last seen in 1972. George Adamson believed that Christian ended his days in the Meru National Reserve, a few miles upstream from the Kora National Reserve. In 1989 George Adamson was murdered by bandits, but the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust lives on in his memory, enabling animals to roam free, and John was a Trustee. He visited Tanzania many times to help with the George Adamson Wildlife Trust, which has now returned to Kenya. John was also a Patron of the charity LionAid.
John Rendall said that in 1969, when they took Christian to Kenya, there were an estimated four hundred thousand wild lions in Africa. There are now probably fewer than twenty thousand. In less than fifty years, the lion population has plummeted by more than ninety per cent. Hopefully John and Christian’s legacy will raise awareness of the threat to all wildlife.
One of John’s passions was the Ham Polo Club in Richmond Surrey, where with former Chairman Nick Colquhoun-Denvers and his wife Annie, Ham Polo was put firmly on the map with High Goal Polo, and dinners and balls. It was only weeks ago that John was hosting Nick to supper, following the terribly sad news that Annie had died suddenly in London’s Brompton Hospital.
As former Hello Magazine Diary Editor, he covered Society Life, working with the then Hello Editor Maggie Koumi. I enjoyed working with John, a veritable bible of who was who. He liked black and white pictures to keep his pages distinctive, but eventually agreed to colour.
John was a devoted family man. He was first married to the etiquette expert, events organiser, author and former Tatler Diary Editor Liz Brewer, with whom they had a daughter, the singer, songwriter and sound therapist, Tallulah Rendall. John then married Melanie, who has a keen interest in cheetahs and African wildlife conservation, and with whom he had two sons, Nick and the magician Max Rendall.
We will hugely miss the sociable John, never again to be seen driving around Chelsea in his vintage silver Bentley.
