Born Free

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The movie, Born Free, is of course based on this book, and it is one of my favorite movies of all time. On 3 January 1980, in Shaba National Reserve in Kenya, Joy Adamson's body was discovered by her assistant, Peter Morson (sometimes reported as Pieter Mawson). In 1956, George Adamson, in the course of his job as game warden of the Northern Frontier District in Kenya, shot and killed a lioness as she charged him and another warden. This book, however, did not end on a sad note; now I think the movie may have included part of the storyline from the book's sequels.

If you were to visit Bell and Bain, our wonderful book printer in Glasgow, you’d see a swimming-pool-sized shed with vast stacks of paper; shelves of printing inks; enormous metal printing plates; machines folding, gluing, binding and trimming; and many lovely new books coming off the line ready to ship. First edition bound in tan cloth with a gold lion on the front cover and gold lettering and decorations on the spine.It took place in the late 50s and retains a tiny bit of the cultural attitude that was prevalent at the time. Originally penned in 1960, it is the touching tale of how they raised an orphaned lion cub named Elsa and she grew to be their nearest and dearest friend - she was family. I was confused at her reference to "beating" Elsa when she tracked a donkey, which was a purely natural instinct, and not three pages later, said that they never used force with her.

The story of Elsa remains fascinating fifty years on, even if its familiarity lessens some of its impact. I was just coming into my teens when I first saw the 1966 film Born Free, and along with almost everyone else, was overwhelmed by the idea: the passion and the trauma involved.Born Free begins with a description of a busy worker, the ant, and how our lives can feel as full and hectic as the short existence of that tiny invertebrate. The area where the Adamson's released Elsa had within her range a number of villages and given that she and her cubs where extensively fed on goat on by the Adamsons there was a certain, ahem, disquiet among the human population and the Adamsons are told they have to relocate the lions somewhere more suitable.