100 Cats Who Changed Civilization by Sam Stall

plates replaced with each course. The servers even tie a napkin daintily around his neck.
    Over the decades, Kaspar has broken bread with numberless luminaries. The cat was a favorite of Winston Churchill, whose dining society, the Other Club, was born at the Savoy. The great wartime prime minister once had to come to Kaspar’s aid, securing his release after he was kidnapped as a prank by some Royal Air Force members. Perhaps Churchill liked him so much because he never, ever, repeated anything he heard at the table.

ORANGEY
    THE QUEEN OF THE MOVIE
CAMEOS

    When one thinks of four-legged actors and actresses, canines generally come to mind. But a handful of cats have also clawed their way to the top. At the summit of this short list of feline thespians proudly perches Orangey, a red tabby “discovered” by legendary animal trainer Frank Inn (whose other pupils included Benji and Arnold, the pig from Green Acres) . Orangey debuted in 1951 in the forgettable flick Rhubarb , which chronicled the story of a cat who inherits a baseball team.
    Her later roles, however, were more stellar. In addition to playing Minerva in the 1950s television series Our Miss Brooks , she also found time for cameos in a number of well-known big-screen projects, including the science fiction classics This Island Earth and The Incredible Shrinking Man , in which she tried to chase down and eat the film’s diminutive title character. Orangey reached the pinnacle of her fame in 1961, playing opposite Audrey Hepburn as her pet cat, Cat, in Breakfast at Tiffany’s . In 1952, she received a Patsy Award (the animal world’s equivalent of the Oscar) for Rhubarb , and in 1962 she crowned her career with another statuette for Breakfast at Tiffany’s .

MIMSEY
    THE CAT WHO MADE FUN
OF LEO THE LION

    When Mary Tyler Moore Enterprises (MTM) debuted in the late 1960s, no one knew it would soon create such hits as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Hill Street Blues , and The Bob Newhart Show . The upstart production company decided to trade on its passing resemblance to the Metro-Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) name to make it’s mark. That storied company was represented by a roaring lion. MTM wanted something similar, but since it was a much smaller, younger operation, management picked a much smaller, younger feline mascot—an orange kitten named Mimsey.
    The former animal shelter inmate, only a few weeks old, was placed in front of a camera. She uttered a squeaky, uncertain meow, and her TV career was over. She was given to an MTM staffer as a pet.
    But her TV incarnation developed a life of its own. The eternal kitten’s meow graced the closing credits of every MTM show. Over the decades her appearance was even tailored to fit specific programs. On Hill Street Blues she wore a police hat, and on St. Elsewhere a surgical mask. The real Mimsey passed on in 1988, but her TV doppelganger remains forever young.

TOWSER
    THE WORLD’S MOST SPIRITED
MOUSE HUNTER

    On the grounds of Scotland’s Glenturret Distillery, birthplace of the delectable Famous Grouse whiskey, stands a bronze statue honoring a distinguished former employee. But it doesn’t celebrate an owner or a particularly skilled distiller or even a human being. It bears the likeness of a female long-haired tortoiseshell cat named Towser, along with her proud claim to fame: “Towser, the famous cat who lived in the still house, Glenturret Distillery, for almost twenty-four years. She caught 28,899 mice in her lifetime. World mousing champion, Guinness Book of Records.”
    It’s no surprise that a distillery needs such a bloody-minded creature. The large amounts of barley stored there attract large numbers of rodents. At Glenturret, as at other distilleries, a feline is the first line of defense. But even among such exceptional company, Towser stood alone. During her very long life, Towser is estimated to have killed three mice every day from shortly after her birth on April 21, 1963, to shortly before her