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An Hachette UK Company www.hachette.co.uk First published in the UK in 2016 by ILEX, a division of Octopus Publishing Group Ltd Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment, London, EC4Y 0DZ www.octopusbooks.co.uk Design, layout, and text copyright © Octopus Publishing Group 2016 Distributed in the US by Hachette Book Group 1290 Avenue of the Americas, 4th and 5th Floors, New York, NY 10020 Distributed in Canada by Canadian Manda Group 664 Annete St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6S 2C8 Publisher: Roly Allen Commissioning Editor: Zara Larcombe Managing Specialist Editor: Frank Gallaugher Senior Project Editor: Natalia Price-Cabrera Editor: Rachel Silverlight Art Director: Julie Weir Designer: Tina Smith Assistant Production Manager: Lucy Carter All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Wolfgang Wild asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. ISBN 978-1-78157-299-3 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Printed in China

CONTENTS 6 8 10 12 16 20 24 26 28 30

Introduction A bit of an animal Aping humans As cats do Astrocats Audition Bath time Bizarre Board games Camera

32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 50

Cat predicaments Childcare Chilly Cliché Cuddles Dinner time Domesticated Don’t try this at home Down on the farm

52 54 56 58 60 64 68 72 74 76 78 82 84 86 88 92 94 96 98 100 102 104 106 108 110 112 114 118 120 122 124 126 128

Easy rider Facial Fashion For want of a horse Get stuffed Got the bird In motion In the pub In the wars Keep it unreal Life with the lions Masks Mechanical elephant Milking Music tames the savage beast Pipe smokers Play the game Politicians Rabbit rabbit Readers Ride in style Salon Sea lions / seals Spider! Teatime Technology Transport TV Under my umbrella Washday What? and cart You hum it and I’ll play it Acknowledgments / Picture credits

A S T RO C AT S

LEFT , RIGHT , AND OVERLEAF 1968: A cat is dropped upside down to demonstrate how a cat’s movements while falling can be imitated by astronauts in space. The experiment— designed to explore the nature of moving in zerogravity—substituted a trampolinist in a space suit for an astronaut.

16

17

B AT H T I M E

1930: A dog has a bath and blow dry at a parlour in Kensington, London.

24

c. 1950s: Boris the Afghan has his bath in the family bathroom. Location not known.

25

CLICHÉ

1938: Comet, an elephant from Chessington Zoo, spends the weekend working as a waiter at the Trocadero Restaurant in London’s busy Piccadilly Circus.

LEFT

1950: In a china shop in Malvern, England—a bull.

38

39

I N M OT I O N

1938: A showjumper launches his horse over a bed in Colchester, England.

LEFT

1935: A Texas longhorn steer leaps over a car at the 4th Annual Santa Monica Rodeo, USA.

68

69