Book Launch: Bob Angel Tube Cat's book is now on sale

London Underground's most famous cat, Bob, has a book which is available to buy from today. I still can't quite believe I'm saying this, because firstly, cats can't actually write and secondly, it's a story that's so strange you'd think it was fictional. Regular readers of the blog will know that Bob is a ginger tom cat who used to sit with his owner, Big Issue seller, James outside of Angel Tube.


Islington commuters and locals regularly saw James walking up & down Upper Street with Bob sitting on his shoulder.


The inseperable pair were a fixture outside Angel station or often seen travelling on buses in Islington. Bob was even given his own Oyster card by TfL.


It wasn't long before they became an "internet sensation" and we learnt how by caring for, busking and travelling around with Bob, James life had been transformed. My posts on their exploits were some of the most popular posts of the year on my blog. The huge online cat community Catster covered their tale. Bob was featured in The Big Issue (see picture above) and there was much excitement when we learnt they had secured a book deal. So finally A Street Cat Named Bob is now available in book shops and as of today on  Amazon and if the signing & reviews are anything to go by, is set to be a best seller.  Today's Evening Standard has an interview with James and the writer says of Bob "he has entranced London like no feline since the days of Dick Whittington".


On Tuesday 13th March 2012, there was a book signing at preview at Waterstones on Islington Green.  I was pretty gobsmacked to see the size of the huge queue going out of the door. The signing started at  6pm and when I arrived at 6.30pm  I was told that all the books had been sold, but I could still take pictures if I liked.


I went inside and Bob was looking as cool as a cucumber loving the attention and James was clearly overwhelmed by the huge turnout but had a kind word to say to everyone as he signed the books, asking which name he shold put and adding a big heart to each signature. The Waterstones and Hodder & Stoughton (the books publishers) cleverly had a little cat footprint to stamp on the book alongside James's signature too.

I've never been to a book launch before were so many people had at least two copies of a book.  A number at three and there was clearly a huge amount of love & affection for the pair. Hodder & Stoughton have produced a lovely video of the pair briefly telling their story.


It's a heartwarming story and one that is popular not just in London, but thanks to sites like Catster and Madmikesamerica,  has a global appeal too. He's even big on Russian TV!




There's a few more pictures of Bob & James Book Launch in my Flickr set and you can keep up to date of all their news since the launch by following @StreetCatBob on Twitter.  Now , I wonder how long it was take to train my cat to sit on my shoulder &  travel on the Tube!

UPDATE - 28th March 2012 - Bob & James's Book is now in the Sunday Times Bestsellers list and they both appeared on BBC1's Breakfast Bites on 27th March


Bob doesn't look remotely bothered by all the TV cameras in the studio!

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