John Rendall and Ace Bourke bought a lion cub from Harrods in 1969, before hand-rearing the animal at their club on the Kings Road in Chelsea. After the pair met Virginia McKenna of Born Free in 1971, they flew to Kenya to release the lion, whom they named Christian, into the wild.

John and Ace were then reunited with Christian nine months later when they returned to Kenya on a visit. Channel 5 aired a documentary on this Wednesday, and is going out again at 12.00 noon on the 29 March.