The Born Free legacy PART 2

JOY Adamson’s book, Born Free, was published in 1960 and was an instant hit. She had travelled alone to London wearing a huge lion skin coat made from the pelt of an animal that had been shot by George, with no sense at all of the irony in what she was doing. She would do a similar thing years later when she posed for press photographs cuddling a leopard cub while wearing a coat and hat made of leopard skin! In London she hawked her idea around the publishing houses before finding a sympathetic ear at Harvill Press. Many commentators believe that she relied heavily on George’s diaries for her book, and that her notes required vast amounts of editing by the publishing house before they were usable. This may have been so, but there is no denying that the book took the world by storm.

George was astonished by the reports of how well the book was being received, while Joy maintained that she always knew it would be a success! Joy’s publisher had kept the price as low as possible and filled the book with wonderful photographs. ‘Booksellers were bombarded with promotion displays; the Sunday Times were persuaded – quite against their better judgement – to carry a pictorial serial; and printed a very large run,’ wrote George. ‘The impact was instant and phenomenal. The Sunday Times begged for more pictures and copies of the book were gone in a week. We were told that people were unwrapping their books on the pavement to gaze at the pictures.’

It was not long before George and Joy were receiving the first in a long line of distinguished visitors. Julian Huxley and his wife were among the first, and Huxley