A Michael Broad Blog
The Daily Telegraph reports that the first named pet in the UK has been revealed as a cat called “Mite” who lived in a 13th century Hampshire monastery. The author claims that that is the first naming of a British pet i.e. companion animal. The cat lived in Beaulieu Abbey in Hampshire in about …
Kiddo was a small, self-assured tabby cat who in 1910 inadvertently joined the American explorer Walter Wellman and his crew as they set off in the airship “America” in an attempt to cross the Atlantic. The crew had no idea that Kiddo was on board having stowed away. Walter Wellman (1858-1934) was a well-known …
At the time of this post there are two mummified cats for sale on ebay. One is described as a “MUMMIFIED WITCH’S CAT – WALLED UP – GAFF 18th CENTURY” and the other as a “Real Rare Mummified Cat With Rat And 2 Mice From The Haunted Museum”. A third on offer appears to …
This photo from WW2 of a ship’s cat in a custom made hammock reminds me of the most famous cat of that era, Simon. He was also a black-and-white moggy and he was awarded the VC for animals, the Dickin Medal. Simon survived the war but died after he returned home to Britain because …
I’m not writing about the internal organs of the domestic cat. I’m referring to what is described as a musical instrument but which I would describe as an instrument of torture; the torture of domestic cats. It is a very bizarre device invented (or simply described), we are told, by Athanasius Kircher in the …
In 1956, Henry Behrens was the world’s smallest man. Here is a picture of him with his black cat standing on his hind legs. It is a remarkable picture of a cat. The scaling is amazing. As one Reddit comedian said, ‘That’d be like living with a panther!’. That’s a bit cruel. Mr Benrens …
This is an interesting photograph because it contains a strange juxtaposition of various elements. The cat is a tabby-and-white random bred cat judging by appearance. The plant behind the cat is cannabis. To the right of the cannabis is a small aviary. It is considered unwise to have caged birds and a cat in …
The domestic cats of ancient Egypt were all brown, mackerel tabbies whereas the bronze statues of cats from that era had plain coats. The statues look like modern day Abyssinian cats both in terms of their coat and body confirmation while the ‘real cats’ of that era look like classic, random bred mackerel (striped) …
