Famous Cats And Their People Trivia Quiz

Answer: Simon

Simon was a black and white cat who served on HMS Amethyst, keeping down vermin (and probably acting as a companion to homesick sailors at times, too). He was born in 1947 in Hong Kong and smuggled aboard by Ordinary Seaman George Hickinbottom. Luckily the captain took to him so he joined the crew as rat catcher.

In 1949, Amethyst came under attack and a number of the crew were killed or injured. Simon was badly injured, too, but gradually recovered, eventually returning to rat catching duties. There were still a number of young men in the sickbay and the medical officer thought Simon might aid their recovery so he encouraged him to sit on their bunks and purr as cats do. He was thought to have helped some of them deal with the trauma of the incident and their injuries.

Simon finally made it to the rank of Able Seacat when, despite still being weak, he caught and killed a particularly bold and vicious rat that had been raiding the ship's supplies. From then on he was hailed as a hero.

Simon was awarded the Dickin Medal and was due to be presented with it by the instigator of the medal, Maria Dickin, in a special ceremony. Unfortunately, he died a few days before, probably from a virus. He was awarded this medal and also the Blue Cross medal posthumously.

If you want to read his story in more detail or want to know more then visit:

http://www.purr-n-fur.org.uk/famous/simon.html

Answer: 10 Downing Street

Humphrey was the Downing Street cat from 1988 to March 2006. Number 10 Downing Street is the residence of the British Prime Minister and Humphrey served as official mouse catcher under Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair. He was the successor of Wilberforce but was retired a few months after Mr Blair took office.

Humphrey was named in honour of Sir Humphrey Appleby from the TV series "Yes, Minister" which satirised politics and the civil service. He was said to be more effective than the official pest-controller who never caught a mouse at all and cost £4,000 a year - Humphrey only cost his food!

In 1994, Humphrey was accused of killing four robin chicks which were nesting outside John Major's office window. However, Mr Major made a public statement exonerating him; he said "I am afraid Humphrey has been falsely accused."

In 1995, he went missing and a press release announced his apparent death. Following this publicity, he was discovered in the nearby Royal Army Medical College where he had been taken in as a presumed stray. He was returned to the Cabinet Office from where he made the following press release "I have had a wonderful holiday at the Royal Army Medical College, but it is nice to be back and I am looking forward to the new parliamentary session."

In 1997 Humphrey moved out of Downing Street - it was said that Cherie Blair was allergic to cats - to a retirement home where he died in March 2006, aged 18.

Wikipedia has a good article about him which is where I got most of these facts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphrey_%28cat%29

Answer: Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury obviously loved cats as he lived with several. He wrote a song about Delilah, a tortoiseshell cat, which appeared on the 1991 Queen album "Innuendo".

Answer: Orangey

Orangey was a red tabby cat who appeared in many films and on TV in the 1950s and 1960s. He won two Patsy awards (Picture Animal Top Star of the Year - the animal equivalent of the Oscar), the second of which was for his role as Cat in "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

He was trained by animal handler Frank Inn.

Answer: Winston Churchill

Jock was one of Winston Churchill's cats and he attended many of the war-time cabinet meetings. At meal times servants were sent to find Jock as Churchill would not eat without him. Sir Winston even commissioned a portrait of Jock and towards the end of his life, the cat slept in his bed every night. Sir Winston mentioned Jock in his will.

Answer: Jellylorum

T.S. Eliot's own cat was a female called Jellylorum. He was a cat lover who wrote a number of poems and books about cats as well as many other works. He is probably best known to most people today, however, because of the success of the musical based on his book "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats".

Answer: Patrick Stewart

Bella was homeless when she was found by Patrick Stewart on the set of "Star Trek: The Next Generation". He adopted her and she went to live with him.

Answer: Edward Lear

Edward was devoted to Foss, his tabby cat. When he moved to San Remo in Italy, his architect was instructed to design a replica of his old home in England so Foss would not be unduly disturbed by the move. Lear's drawings of his striped tabby cat are well known, especially those which accompany his famous poem, "The Owl and the Pussycat". When Foss died, he was buried in Lear's Italian garden.

The other authors mentioned above were all also great cat lovers and well known for enjoying their companions sitting with them while they wrote.

Answer: Sir Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton is famous for "discovering" gravity but he is also credited with inventing the catflap. He was said to be conducting an experiment in his attic to look at how prisms split light into the spectrum. His cat kept pushing the door open, thus destroying the experiment by letting in light.

He cut a small opening in the door and fixed a piece of felt over it so that his cat could come and go as she pleased - a cat flap! It is also said that when the cat had kittens he cut a series of smaller holes beside the original for the kittens to use. Presumably even geniuses miss the obvious at times - I bet the kittens would have fitted through the large cat flap....

Answer: Hodge

Johnson described Hodge as "a very fine cat indeed" and today there is a bronze statue of him opposite the house he shared with his owner in Gough Square in London. The house is now a museum. Johnson would go himself to buy oysters to feed Hodge and allowed him to sit on him and keep him company when he was writing. When Hodge was dying, Johnson went to find Valerian (similar to catnip in its effect on felines) to try and ease his final hours.

Percival Stockdale wrote "An Elegy on the Death of Dr Johnson's Favourite Cat", from which we learn that Hodge was a black cat:

"Who, by his master when caressed
Warmly his gratitude expressed;
And never failed his thanks to purr
Whene'er he stroked his sable fur."

Boswell was Johnson's assistant and he was not a cat lover, indeed, he was surprised at the attention lavished on Hodge. However, he does mention him several times in his biography of Johnson, which is how we know about him.

After Hodge died, Johnson had other cats but the only one we know the name of was Lily, a white cat obtained from Battersea Dog's Home of all places.