Inspired by our visit to a cat cafe in our January issue, please meet five of our favourite cats from Modern History
Larry
Role: Downing Street, chief Mouser
Best known for: Smirking in the foreground at the scene of various PMs’ demises and lounging in a louche manner on the doorstep of number 10.
Macak
Role: Inventor of the Hybrid Car
Best known for: Inspiring the electric car. Well, kind of… The story goes that as a boy Nicholas Tesla stroked his cat Macak’s back and saw sparks of static flying, which inspired his lifelong fascination with electricity and, by association, the hybrid car, years later when Elon Musk took up the Electricity Pioneer baton. What a cat!
Snowball
Role: Muse to Ernest Hemingway
Best known for: Having six toes. Snowball was given to Hemingway in the 1930s by a sea captain, and began the author’s love of polydactyl cats. Hemingway collected six-toed cats thereafter and many of Snowball’s ancestors still roam the grounds of Hemingway’s home in Key West.
Felicette
Role: Astronaut
Best known for: Being the first cat in space (and the only one to have survived). Felicette beat 13 other unlucky cats to her place in the mission thanks to her unruffled disposition. One small step for man… four tiny paws for felinekind.
Ollie the Polite Cat
Role: Being Polite
Best known for: Being the star of the 2018 viral meme ‘polite cat’ with his very polite (and quite possibly Photoshopped) smile. We’d probe further but it just wouldn’t be polite. Follow him on Instagram at @Polite_Cat_Olli_Official.
If you’d like to meet some more fabulous cats, don’t miss our Modern Eccentrics feature in which we visit a cat cafe, in the January issue, which is on sale now.
