Blofeld's Cat

[whole diary]

[johnneyw]

As I'm presently looking after a friend's mog on a rather long term basis and having not read many of Ian Flemings books, can any forum members tell me if Blofeld's cat had a name? Please don't tell me it was Tiddles!

[JayMac]

From what I can gather from t'internet, the real world name of the cat featured in the 'You Only Live Twice' and 'Diamonds are Forever' films was Solomon. The cat didn't have a character name in those films.

As for the original novels, ESB didn't have a cat. 

[Western Pathfinder]

Tiddles ,who is on my lap as we speak is a five year old Lady Bengal .
Some of you will know that I'm quite a Bondophille and when not involved here indulging in my Feroeqineology I'm often found with my head in one of Mr Flemings books.
As BNM has already said Solomon was indeed the pet name of the cat used in the films,
However in the shooting script and call sheets he did in fact have a casting name of Tiddles. Eg Tiddles ESBs Cat played by Solomon.
With regards to the books Bond himself had Pussy Galore ! But no cats ever appeared.

[Oxonhutch]

Back in previous lives, I had a Blofeld's cat moment that I shall cherish for ever.  I was in a village Chief's hut in northern Zululand negotiating for exploration access into the area with the Inkosi and all of his local Indunas. It was a long meeting - it had been going on for several hours and there was no end in sight. A local translator was relaying each man's concerns and aspirations to me and I dutifully listened and commentated, but the total repetition was becoming mind numbing and there were still dozens of people who wanted to have their say.

That's when I noticed the kitten on the windowsill. Cats hold a mysterious place in Zulu society - half worshipped, half feared. They do a necessary job around the kraal but tend to be avoided as they lurk a bit too close to the souls of the their ancestors. Now I was owned by a cat at home and knew a few words of cat, which is universal across the cat kingdom; and this half-staved kitten responded to my barely audible "pssp, pssp" with a silent meow, and it dropped down from the open window and into room.  This caused a few nervous glances from those who had seen the entry. A few more encouraging noises from myself and the kitten was soon nuzzling up to my down-streatched hand soaking up some attention that I don't think any adult had ever given it.  The conversation was now getting a bit stilted as everyone noticed the new visitor.  Finally, with a light meow, the kitten left into my lap, orbited anticlockwise about three times and then fell asleep purring on my knees. I was Blofeld.

The meeting came to a sudden and disorganised end as everyone decided to leave through a quite narrow door.  The last man to leave, less than a minute after the kitten started purring, was the translator who told me that all my permissions and approvals had been granted.  I gave the kitten several more minutes of my love and attention before thanking it graciously and slowly getting on my way.

[Oxonhutch]

To put this into context: Imagine today I was addressing a meeting of the Parish Council here in the Home Counties and a large bat exited the belfry, orbited the nave several times and then circled down into my lap and promptly fell asleep - Blofeld style.