Tiger, the prize winning office cat of The Times

Among the many silver cups in our archives is a rather special trophy. It is the only silver trophy which was won, as opposed to being sponsored, by one of our newspapers. It is the Best Office Cat in Fleet Street award, presented at the Crystal Cat Show which was held annually at Olympia.

In August 1952 this prestigious trophy was won by “Tiger”, The Times’ cat. his feat was celebrated in a leading article in The Times on August 26. “Tiger “ was among the more mysterious figures in the history of the paper. The leader records that he arrived unannounced in Printing House Square, Blackfriars, where the offices of The Times were then situated, in 1949. In the leader his composure is praised: “success goes so often to the heads of those who find themselves unexpectedly in the limelight of prize winning, that it is pleasant to record an exception.”

Left: The poem published in The Times House Journal, September 1952. Right: The leading article published in The Times, August 26, 1952.

Not only did “Tiger” find fame in the columns of The Times, his triumph was also noted in the pages of The Times House Journal, the internal staff magazine, in September 1952, where a poem was published to celebrate his success.

However, by the end of 1953 he had gone. The January 1954 issue of The Times House Journal advertised the publication of Cockney Cats, a book devoted to forty of the cats of City institutions. Inspired by “Tiger”, the leading article in August 1952 had called for the production of such a book, but our famous feline appears to have been unable to cope with his new found celebrity after all. The article sadly notes that “since the book went to press he has unaccountably disappeared from our precincts as suddenly and with as little ceremony as he came, in spite of the affection that was lavished on him”.

“Tiger”, however, was not the only cat to secure triumph for The Times. In 1966 the tortoiseshell “Taxi”, named so because of the loudness of her purr, represented The Times in the competition. By then The Times had new offices with no resident cat, so “Taxi”, owned by Jennifer Pearson a reporter at the paper, was appointed Times Cat and entered in the Fleet Street section of the National Cat Show at Olympia. At the end of the competition all the Fleet Street cats received cups as competition had been made impossible by the entry of two pedigree Siamese.

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