Hercules: the grizzly bear who became family

Maggie Robin raised a bear cub who grew into an extraordinary companion.

When Maggie Robin and her wrestler husband Andy brought home a bear cub in 1970s Scotland, their friends thought they were mad. But the couple raised him as one of the family. Named Hercules, the tiny cub grew into a towering but gentle bear who slept by the fire, played in the garden and travelled everywhere with them. Attitudes towards keeping wild animals have changed since then, but at the time, Hercules was something of a celebrity and even appeared on film, on chat shows across the world, and met the then Prime Minister. To Maggie though, ‘Herc’ was simply family. Then one day, while filming in the Highlands, Hercules slipped his leash and vanished into the wild, sparking a nationwide search.

Archive clips came from Hercules The Bear, A Love Story courtesy of Friel Kean Films.

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Edgar Maddicott

Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(236)

Love Stories: My two husbands

Kris Armstrong and Brandon Smith took their marriage vows seriously. But after Brandon suffered a major brain injury, Kris made a decision that led to their unique blended family. Texans Kris and Bran...

17 Aug 45min

Love Stories: Do you remember me?

A secret tore apart their teenage love. Four decades later, they got a second chance.In 1970s Nottingham, two teenagers fell head-over-heels in love when Mark Bethel arrived from the Bahamas to study....

10 Aug 42min

Love Stories: Finding you in a warzone

In 2016 Janay was a journalist in London and needed footage of the conflict in Syria, so contacted camera operator Habak in Aleppo. What followed was a love story neither saw coming. When Lebanese jou...

3 Aug 44min

Introducing: Love Stories

Introducing a new season of five remarkable true stories in which love rises above prejudice, waits decades, crosses oceans and survives war. From India to Italy, Syria to the Bahamas, and the UK to t...

30 Jul 2min

I crash-landed inside an active volcano

Chris Duddy survived 28 hours in Hawaii's Kīlauea volcano after his helicopter crashed.Cinematographer Chris Duddy has worked on some of Hollywood’s biggest movies like Titanic and Terminator 2. Filmi...

27 Jul 40min

Why I don't hate the person who tried to kill me

In July 2011 Bjorn Ihler was a 20-year-old performing arts student and a member of the youth division of the Norwegian Labour Party. He participated in the Party's summer camp on Utøya island, about 3...

20 Jul 41min

The prisoner who was forced to celebrate a World Cup victory

Miriam Lewin was never much interested in football. Growing up in Buenos Aires, she cared far more about politics than the team her family supported. But in 1978, when Argentina won the World Cup, she...

13 Jul 39min

My father and the curse of the golden egg

Serena Kutchinsky was 10 years old when her jeweller father Paul unveiled his masterpiece to the world: a giant, golden, diamond-encrusted egg. Paul had recently taken over the family business, the ce...

6 Jul 40min