Joey Essex and his cat ‘Prince’ are in the news because while he was in Dubai he was told his cat had gone missing. Some journalists have described his cat as a moggie. That is incorrect. A Bengal cat is a purebred cat. Moggies are random bred. Prince is a brown spotted (donut spots) Bengal cat. Brown is the classic Bengal coat color.
For Americans who have no idea who he is, Joey Essex is a reality TV star. His whole career is based in being a ‘celebrity’ and he achieved it by not being ‘beige’ meaning bland and he achieved that by being stupid. Either he is deliberately stupid or he fakes it. It does not matter which; as long as you are not beige. That is the mantra of experts in the field of celebrity, a bonkers phenomenon in England, UK. Everyone who has no discernible talent wants to be a celebrity, to have their 15 minutes of fame and become rich.
Joey acts as if there is sawdust between his ears – absolutely thick as the proverbial two short planks. But it works. He has built a career on it. The world of celebrity is strange. An important aspect of this story is that Joey likes cats (I hope it is genuine and not just a part of his celebrity). Some celebs get cats to broaden their fan base and to give the reporters something to write about. Joey was genuinely upset about the loss of his cat. He twitted to his millions of twitterers to help find his cat:
“MY CAT HAS BEEN STOLEN or LOST! @PrinceEssex please if you see him bring him back please. Thank you !!!#”
Well, his cat has been found. Prince was found hiding in a cupboard eight hours after he went missing. It was a “BT cupboard on the ground floor of the flats where he was staying”. This implies Prince was staying at a friend’s flat and had escaped the flat and hidden in a small area where there is telecommunications equipment servicing the flats.
Bengal cats are athletic and energetic. They can easily escape as can all domestic cats if confined. The caretaker panicked when he couldn’t find Prince and telephoned Joey. Joey panicked and it became a news item via Twitter.
The moral is that cats are damn good at hiding. Sometimes it is impossible to find them even if you know all the places where he might hide.
When Joey likes something a lot he calls it ‘sick’. It is the modern English language. He has been meeting politicians in the lead up to the elections and he enjoyed a boat trip with Nigel Farage who he said was ‘reem’. Another new adjective which I think means nice or good. The English language continually evolves. Is it evolving in the right direction? It looks like another example of general dumbing down.
