If you’re fed up with the lashing rain or feeling sad about
your empty nest (sob), then I’ve just discovered the perfect book to restore
your spirits.
You may have heard of James Bowen and his adorable ginger
cat Bob already. The pair are a big hit on YouTube, have appeared on Radio 4’s Saturday Live and have been profiled by
loads of newspapers. Bob is probably the most famous cat
in London.
Now James’s book about how he and Bob found each other is
out in paperback and it’s the most uplifting story I’ve read in ages. Subtitled How One Man and His Cat Found Hope on the Streets, it's a special book – even for people like me who haven't even got a cat. I tore through A Street Cat Named Bob in a few hours and it cheered me up no end
as I sat in a claustrophobic Oxford waiting room.
The tale began in 2007, when James found an injured stray tom
curled up on a doormat in the hallway of his block of flats in Tottenham, north
London.
For days James resisted the temptation to take the green-eyed
cat home with him. As he says: “…the last thing I needed right now was the
extra responsibility of a cat. I was a failed musician and recovering drug
addict living a hand-to-mouth existence in sheltered accommodation. Taking
responsibility for myself was hard enough.”
But eventually he gave in and gave the cat a home. He named
him Bob, after a character in Twin Peaks,
lovingly nursed him back to health and even took him busking. The pair were
soon inseparable and became a familiar sight around the streets of Covent
Garden and Islington. Sometimes Bob pads alongside James on a lead, sometimes he drapes himself across James’s shoulders.
In one interview James said that Bob had saved his life. At
the time he thought his remark was a bit “crass” but in the book he admits that
the cat really did transform everything. Bob helped him get his life back on
track and as he declares in his acknowledgements: “Everyone deserves a friend like
Bob. I have been very fortunate indeed to have found one…”
PS. James is currently working on a children’s edition of
his book. Bob: No Ordinary Cat is due out in the spring.
A Street Cat Named Bob
by James Bowen (Hodder, £7.99)
