Elsa the lioness 1 February 1956 after George Adamson was forced to kill their mother when she charged him, in defence of her three cubs. George only later realised why the lioness had acted so aggressively towards him. George and his wife Joy then adopted the lioness’s four-day-old cubs. While Elsa lived in many ways like a domesticated pet when she was small, Joy Adamson, whom Elsa trusted the most, considered her relationship with Elsa to be that of equals. Indeed, after sending the other two to a zoo, Joy was fiercely determined to give Elsa the education she needed to hunt and
Edward Adamson was formally bestowed upon him. He died at his London home, the Studio, Hollywood Road in West Brompton, on 3 February 1996, aged 84. His ashes were interred at the Ashton Chapel (c 1706) on the Ashton Wold estate. Adamson saw people psychologically recovering - 'healing', in his terms - by means of expressing themselves through art. The act of creating was what mattered to Adamson, who felt the artist or therapist should avoid influencing, distorting, or impinging upon self-expression. Adamson encouraged 'free expression' by letting people come to paint or sculpt without comment or judgement, and with only minimal