Christian The Lion Hits Hollywood

 Ace Bourke & friend Christine at the Sherman

Ace, Christian $ John

One half of the Christian The Lion duo-Anthony 'Ace' Bourke has confirmed that the famous saga about Christian, the Harrods bought lion that was raised in a Kings Road, Chelsea furniture shop is to be made into a Hollywood film.

Ace was talking at the Sherman Gallery at the exhibition of Vietnamese artist Dinh Q. Lê. 

In 1969 he and Australian born social writer John Rendall purchased Christian and raised him in their shop Sophisticat, eventually returning him to Africa under the care of the famous conservationist of Born Free fame George Adamson.

Bourke and Rendell returned a year later to see how Christian was faring and the grainy film of Christian bounding down a hill to hug both John and Ace became a YouTube hit  (with over 30 million views) when put to the song I'll Always Love You. It lead to a  publishing deal and a world wide tour on TV interview shows including Oprah Winfrey.
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Brian Sherman & Dinh Q. Lê

Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation's current exhibition Erasure, is a newly commissioned work by Vietnamese artist Dinh Q. Lê – an interactive sculptural and video installation that draws on recent debates in Australia concerning refugees and asylum seekers.

The darkened gallery space is dominated by a floor-to-ceiling moving image of an 18th century tall ship beached on an isolated coastline slowly being consumed by flames. The gallery floor is strewn with small islands of debris – discarded clothing and wooden fragments. Amid the destruction are thousands of small black and white photographs – self-portraits, family and passport photos – which Dinh spent years buying in second-hand stores in the hope of finding his own family’s pictures.

To date the Shermans have now sponsored 11 similar artists to the tune of $100,000 each. The exhibition runs until the 11th September 2011, Wednesday to Saturday 11 am – 5 pm
16–20 Goodhope Street, Paddington
Sydney NSW 2021 Australia
Phone +61 (0)2 9331 1112

# a short film of Dinh's installation :

exclusive-Brad Pitt for Aussie lion tale..

Brad Pitt * Christian * Johnny Depp

With one half of the Christian the Lion,  duo Anthony 'Ace' Bourke  in Los Angeles for discussions with a Hollywood studio over the planned film of the saga of their former Kings Road pet lion Christian, purchased at Harrods and kept as a pet in a Kings Road antique shop, a reliable source from the Christian camp tells tSS that Brad Pitt has expressed an interest in playing Bourke in the film.

Ace Bourke

Before Subo swept the world in the youtube video of her Britain's Got Talent performance, the grainy film of ex-partners John Rendall and Ace Bourke's re-union with Christian on animal conservationist George Adamson's African reserve  became a world-wide sensation. Bourke and Rendall were suddenly thrust into the limelight , quickly re-wrote the book they had published 35 years earlier and found themselves in demand for talk shows from the USA to Germany and all stops in between.

John Rendall ?

The Christian bandwagon continues to roll on under the expert guidance of Lauren Miller, daughter of the recently retired agent and entrepreneur Harry M.Miller who published his autobiography late last year and revealed intimate dinner conversations he had had with Prince Charles.

Cuddly toys and merchandising are underway along with advertising tie-ins with the McDonald's hamburger chain and so on.

But who to play Rendall who was once a gossip writer on Hello! magazine and was married to the PR agent Liz Brewer ?. The choice is obvious and one Rendall would surely approve of-Johnny Depp !

And will the scene appear in the film that was often told by the 'Queen of London's cafe society' Lady Edith Foxwell whose country house Sherston backed onto the 1970s commune Bourke and Rendall lived on with assorted folk like a young Helen Mirren and Princess Margaret's beau Roddy Llewellyn ?. Llewellyn and the Princess used the commune for their secret assignations.

Edith fondly recalled how  early one morning she discovered a group from the commune bathing naked in her swimming  pool and  fetching a shotgun, fired off a deafening blast through the window above their heads

"They were making a terrible racket and God only knows what they got up to in my pool" said Lady Edith. . Edith liked the late Dai Llewellyn but had no time for his younger brother Roddy who she described as a "dull young gardener and not a very good one at that".  As she recalled their howls of terror as they scampered off through the fields she said " I always wondered if one of the white bottoms vanishing into the mist was royal"

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To Nino's restaurant for a media lunch for Queer Eye For the Straight Guy Carson Kressley who has become something of a popular star downunder. Kressly is in town for the giant  Westfield chain of shopping malls and his Be Styled Tour where, fresh from Oprah Winfrey's show where he was teaching overdressed American ladies how to 'dress down', he will inform young Australian gels how to correctly 'accessorize'. This appears to involve advising them to wear stiletto heels as our pic at the launch shows. Not bad work for the rumoured $200K he is being paid.

At the lunch and overheard from a publicist in a discussion on merchandising deals and the impending arrival of round the world yachtswoman, 16 year old Jessica Watson who is expected to arrive at the Sydney Opera House in a fortnight after completing her voyage without once touching land.: "after she rounded the Horn (of Africa) the Penguin book deal kicked in-when she crossed the equator the TV network deal was sealed..if she arrives safely, amongst her greeters will be a bevy of Fox Studio executives with the movie deal contract."

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 Sitting unnoticed  at the back of the stage at Jamie Cullum's performance last night at the Basement  was a low key Sophie Dahl. The pair arrived together via the back entrance and quickly split once inside the club. Sophie sat entranced by Cullum-unfortunately critics weren't so kind about his vocals. tSS thought he was wonderful.

exclusive..It looks like love

   They've been spotted several times now, arms entwined and with that special look reserved only for each other. John Rendall of Christian the Lion fame and top publicist Glen Marie Frost.

      tSS encountered them at the launch on Thursday night of Tony Graziana's Maserati show rooms in East Sydney, at the opening of a Darlinghust Thai restaurant a month ago and cruising down Macleay Street in Potts Point in Rendall's classic Rolls Royce last week.

Glen Marie sat quietly in a mezzanine corner to watch John's daughter Tallulah sing a fortnight ago at a Newtown cabaret club while downstairs John greeted and schmoozed a well heeled guest line-up like film producer and wine heiress Rebel Penfold Russell, Constance Farquarson, and Angela Belle McSweeney.

    For years Rendall wrote social columns for magazines in Britain, like London Portrait Magazine and the top glossy, Hello. He was friends with the famed gossip writer Nigel Demspter and with then wife & publicist Liz Brewer, co-host on 'Aussie Ladettees to Lady', helped organize shindigs and restaurant launches. In between he and Liz bought and sold London houses after renovating them.

   In 2007 a youtube film of he and former partner Anthony 'Ace' Bourke greeting their pet lion in Africa in 1972 when ballistic with a few million hits and catapulted the 2 into instant fame. A book deal followed along with film and product endorsement deals which saw the cash rolling in with appearances around the world on dozens of TV chat shows including Oprah Winfrey and The View with Whoopi Goldberg. At present he tours and speaks about African wildlife. Rendall also shared a commune in the 70's in the British countryside with friends like Helen Mirren and landscape gardener Roddy Llewelyn who conducted a love affair there with the late Princess Margaret.
          Glen Marie's business and political credentials are impeccable. One of the best liked PR ladies about town she hosted the corporate sector for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and counts Lady Sonia McMahon and just about every top Liberal Party politico as friends. Lately she has joined an outfit called the Corporate Intelligence Analyst Network whose website says it is "a group that represents more than 150 years of collective experience drawn from a pool of "specially trained intelligence and federal law enforcement personnel".

    Glen-Marie hates being called a socialite which she is, and she hates being in the social pages-where she constantly appears. She says she likes a quiet life away from the glare of publicity and social events.

Ahhh.. Just like John. A match made in heaven.

Ace Bourke, Rendall and Christian the lion in the Kings Road London circa 70's.

Christian on US TV:

Lion King

Christian the Lion's John Rendall has landed back in town for a few months to work on the next stage of the growing industry surrounding the dead Kings Road feline.

Rendall and his partner, Anthony 'Ace' Bourke, a descendant of the controversial Irish Governor of NSW, Sir Richard Bourke, found world-wide fame when a grainy film of them greeting their former pet lion Christian, who they had returned to Africa in the care of animal conservationist George Adamson, greeted them like a long lost friend. The youtube film was viewed by millions.

At Saturday's Paspaley Polo in The Park , Rendall filled in the Shuttle with the latest plans that include  a feature film,, a lecture tour and a range of children's toys. Rendall's 2 sons are studying at a local school and university.

Rendall also has a daughter Tallulah by London publicist Liz Brewer who is starring in the current Ladette to Lady TV show where rough Aussie gals are 'finished off' after a good dressing down by Brewer and others  in the imaginary Eggleston Hall Finishing School. Observant viewers of the high camp show have noticed how portraits and furniture in the series seems to move from room to room. The heritage listed house is available for weddings, parties and bar mitzvahs.

The unruly lasses receive a nicely framed diploma after a winner is chosen as Chief Ladette to Lady by a bunch of new age aristocrats that include former used car dealers and Colonel Blimp  types who pass these days for the landed gentry, along with the delightful Lady Georgia Campbell.

Christian roaring on...

Bourke & Rendell
(copyright the Shuttle)


It was one of the greatest examples (only outdone by Susan Boyle) of how life can change overnight when youtube's 35 year old vision of 2 young blokes greeting a former pet lion in Africa received a few million hits and catapulted the 2 men into overnight stardom with a best selling book titled Christian the Lion , netting the authors a small fortune.

Now the caravan rolls on as one of the authors, former UK gossip writer John Rendell is resting back in his World's End digs in Chelsea before preparing to take on China for a major lecture tour about African wildlife.

Let's hope he doesn't get some of the more curly and embarrassing questions whilst in Beijing like that on the top US show The View when one presenter asked Rendall and co-author Ace Bourke "and how is Christian faring these days?". "Err.." they replied, "lions only have a life of around 9/10 years"- Christian would have probably gone to feline heaven around the early 1980's.