Spitting Image TV - David Attenborough TV - I Kings 13:26 - II Kings 17:25 - Acts of Paul & Thecla IX - Nursery Rhyme - William Shakespeare - C S Lewis - George R R Martin - India: Nature’s Wonderland TV - Big Cats TV - Mountain: Life at the Extreme TV - Cunk & Other Humans on 2019 TV -
Cut! Cut! Cut! What on earth do you think you’re doing? Well you can’t do that; this is a family show. Spitting Image s16e1, David Attenborough to lions, ITV 1994
It’s the lionesses who do most of the hunting. David Attenborough, The Trials of Life IX: Friends and Rivals, BBC 1990
Lions are territorial ... When the great herds move on, the lions can’t go with them. David Attenborough, Nature’s Great Events III: The Great Migration, BBC 1990
Most lions do most of their hunting at night. David Attenborough, The Life of Mammals V: Meat Eaters, BBC 2002
Lions are the very image of majesty and indeed of Africa itself. Their strength lies in the power of the pride, their tight-knit family. Lions have ruled the savannahs for millennia, and yet within the last twenty years or so their numbers have fallen by almost half. David Attenborough, Dynasties s1e3: Lions, BBC 2018
Perhaps the most famous lion pride of all: the marsh pride of Kenya’s Maasai Mara. ibid.
The family has been abandoned by all the adult males. ibid.
And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord: therefore the Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake unto him. I Kings 13:26
And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them. II Kings 17:25
A she-lion, which was of all the most fierce, ran to Thecla and fell down at her feet. At that, the multitude of women shouted aloud. Acts of Paul & Thecla IX
The lion and the unicorn
Were fighting for the crown;
The lion beat the unicorn
All around the town. Nursery Rhyme, Roud Folk Song 20170
God shield us! – a lion among ladies, is a most dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful wild-fowl than your lion living. William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream III i 32
If you think I come hither as a lion … I am a man. As other men are. William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, players in the forest, BBC 2016
If one should be a prey, how much the better
To fall before the lion than the wolf! William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night III I 127-128, Olivia
‘He’ll be coming and going,’ he had said. ‘One day you’ll see him and another you won’t. He doesn’t like being tied down – and of course he has other countries to attend to. It’s quite all right. He’ll often drop in. Only you mustn’t press him. He’s wild, you know. Not like a tame lion. C S Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
A lion doesn’t concern itself with the opinion of sheep. George R R Martin, A Game of Thrones
For Asiatic males [lions] it’s all about protecting territory. India: Nature’s Wonderland I, BBC 2015
Africa: home to the king of the beasts. Lions may be legendary but among cats they’re strange. That’s because they’re the only ones to live together. Big Cats I, BBC 2018
Here in Ruaha, Tanzania, they are famous for forming super-prides, huge groups that can tackle the most formidable prey in Africa. ibid.
The mountain lion: secretive, silent and smart. Mountain: Life at the Extreme I: Rockies, BBC 2017
The Lion King: the good thing is now we’ve got backup copies of all these animals, so when the environment goes to shit and all the real ones die, we can still go to the zoo in VR. Literally, the only difference is going to be the bum-holes, and I can live with that. Cunk & Other Humans on 2019 IV