George Adamson: Lord of the Lions

The story of George Adamson's lifelong involvement with animals in the Kenyan wild and his stormy marriage to Joy became the stuff of legend long before his brutal death in 1989. At the age of 83, 'Bwana George' had become a kind of nature guru, attracting visitors from far afield to his Kora Game Reserve in north-east Kenya. He had always claimed that lions have a sixth sense; now, in an uncanny foretelling of his death, the whole pride of lions and lionesses gathered outside the camp the night before he died - as if paying their last respects to the man who had always been their protector. Sandy Gall completed his television film, 'Lord of the Lions', only months before the poachers struck. He has interviewed many of the people closest to George, and drawn extensively on his first-hand reminiscences; friends and colleagues testify with a wealth of anecdotes to George's extraordinary life and adventures, and in particular to the ups and downs of life with Joy, the Austrian-born artist (herself murdered in 1980). George Adamson was born in India in 1906. His father, an Irish engineer, bought a coffee farm in Kenya; George became a professional hunter, government locust officer, gold prospector, hotel manager and beeswax trader before, in 1938, he was appointed a warden in the Kenya Game Department. Now he acquired the urge to protect which remained the dominating motive for the rest of his life. In 1942 he first met Joy, who was then married to the Swiss botanist Peter Bally. The book explores the extraordinary relationship between George and Joy, their affinity for animals of all kinds and the background to the filming of "Born Free". The result is a moving, affectionate and lavishly illustrated portrait of a rare, almost saintly man, which will both inspire and entertain the readers. Illustrated with 24 pages of colour and over 50 b/w photographs.