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Simon King was attacked by a six-stone female and suffered a gashed and bloodied arm, as he was filming his new show, Toki's Tale, in Kenya.

Both he and assistant Stephen Nangunye were bitten and scratched during the attack but were not badly hurt.

The men were given rabies jabs after the incident in the summer of 2006. The wild cheetah later died of the disease.

Simon was born in Nairobi in Kenya but moved to the UK in 1964. He has been working in the field of natural-history filmmaking for almost 30 years.

"Having spent 20 years watching cheetahs in the wild, I was utterly shocked by this female's behaviour," he said.

"It was desperately sad that such a beautiful animal should succumb to such a deadly virus.

"I, meanwhile, am fine. Seven jabs later, I should be able to bathe in the rabies virus without being infected."