It’s often said that the Internet exists almost solely for cats — but long before Grumpy Cat, Lil Bub, and “I Should Buy a Boat” Cat became household names, a whole bunch of other furry, four-legged creatures had already gone down in history as some of the most famous felines you’ll ever hear about. Mashable’s latest The Watercooler video, “Five Famous Cats Before the Internet Even Existed,” assembles a small selection of these notable kitties together for your perusal, and it’s well worth watching. It’s cute and it’s informative — the perfect three-minute work break. Everybody wins!
I do love me some Grumpy Cat, but I’m not going to lie: I’d much rather have one of these five cats around in the event of an emergency. It’s all well and good to sit there scowling at everything (even if it’s just Feline Resting Bitch Face), but if I’m, y’know, on a ship that’s going down or whatever, something tells me Simon would be much more likely to help out. Then again, maybe it’s unfair to compare the two of them; Grumpy is full domesticated, while Simon… well, find out about him and my two other favorites below and you’ll see what I mean. Scroll down to watch the video and see all five — you won’t regret it!
1. Room 8
Room 8 got his name from the place he called home for nearly 10 years: A classroom at Elysian Heights Elementary School in Echo Park, California. The tabby cat wandered into classroom number eight one day in 1952; he then proceeded to live on the school’s grounds until summer, at which point he wandered off again. He returned again the following school year and kept up the pattern until the mid-‘60s. When he died in 1968, he was buried at the Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park in Calabasas — but his legacy lives on in the form of a children’s book, A Cat Called Room 8, and a cat shelter that bears his name.
2. Simon
In 1948, George Hickinbottom, a sailor in the British Royal Navy, found Simon wandering around the docks of Hong Kong. He snuck the cat, who was approximately a year old, onto the HMS Amethyst — but although Simon wasn’t technically supposed to be there, the crew all quickly warmed to him. He was an excellent mouser, for one thing, keeping the ship free of rodents of all types. Along with many of the crew, Simon was badly injured during the Yangtze Incident; but in spite of his injuries, he both kept morale up and the rat population of the ship at bay. He was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal with the HMS Amethyst returned to Great Britain.
3. Peter
Peter lived at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London from 1952 to 1964. He liked to wander around while matches were being played, often appearing in television coverage of the games. He was sometimes known as “The Marylebone Mog”; he’s also the only animal to have ever been given an obituary in Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack.
Watch the full video below:
Images: The Watercooler/YouTube (3)
