I had seen an advert for Raleigh bicycles of that era showing a cartoon (probably non-PC for today) of a grinning black dude proudly standing by his bicycle with a puffed out lion resting in the background (having given up the chase), the idea being that the natives would buy these British bicycles.
It turns out that such an incident did actually happen, but it was a Scotsman who out-pedalled the lion, and even then he nearly got eaten.. :crazy:
Wearied by the slope, Mr Robertson dismounted and began pushing his bike instead. That’s when he heard it. A powerful creature pounding its way through the undergrowth nearby.
“I thought it was some big game, possibly an eland or buffalo,” he later told the British Central Africa Gazette, “but as I felt a certain amount of uneasiness I went to the other side of the road, and pushed away as quickly as I could.”
A few yards further along, he took a glance behind. There, in the moonlit road, was a fully-grown lion. “I almost had a fit when I saw it,” he said, his Victorian stiff upper lip fleetingly wobbling like blancmange in a centrifuge.
For a moment, man faced beast and beast faced man. Then the lion remembered it was peckish, and charged.
“I attempted to mount my machine, but, owing to the slope and my excitement, I failed twice,” said Mr Robertson. “The third time I succeeded in getting away, and I did pedal for all I was worth.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-28056499
