3. :
1) James Bowens parents
2) James childhood
3) James adulthood and drug addiction
How James earned his living
How James met the cat and helped it
6) The cats popularity
7) James book
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2227639/James-Bowen-Best-selling-true-story-busker-got-life-track-thanks-stray-cat-film.html
How Bob the busking cat is heading to Hollywood: The enchanting bestselling story of a stray moggy who saved a man's life is set to be a movie
A bright afternoon in Londons Covent Garden and the cobbled streets are choc-a-bloc. Office workers rush to and from lunch, tourists mill around, and shoppers pop in and out of the smart boutiques.
In the middle of them all sits a cat wearing a jaunty Union Jack neckerchief. Surrounded by a crowd of 30 open-mouthed spectators, Bob, a tubby ginger tom, smiles beatifically.
Next to him, his owner James Bowen stands with his battered acoustic guitar, belting out a series of Oasis songs. Every now and then, he stops playing and bends down to Bob. Come on, Bob, high-five! he says.
Bob twitches his whiskers, raises a paw, and taps Jamess outstretched hand. The crowd coos. A smart-looking lady in a pink dress and jacket pops a £20 note in the cap at Bobs feet.
Its not every day that you see a cat sitting calmly in Central London, apparently unfazed by the blaring sirens, passing cars and general hubbub but Bob is no ordinary cat.
Bob, you see, is a star. He has his own Twitter account (with 12,000 followers), his own Facebook page, even his own fan group, the Street Cats, who send him photos, scrapbooks and presents.
Oh yes, he also has his own bestseller and is in talks with a Hollywood agent about taking his story to the big screen. Well, its Bobs owner, James, who is leading the discussions, but hes in no doubt that he owes it all to his cat.
Jamess book, A Street Cat Named Bob, a feelgood story that chronicles how the 33-year-old busker and one-time homeless heroin-addict turned his life around with the help of his cat, has sold more than 250,000 copies and been translated into 18 different languages.
So far, the book has made James around £30,000 a figure that is likely to rocket now theres a film on the horizon.
Mary Panchos, the literary agent who discovered James and Bob selling The Big Issue, previously acted as the UK agent for Marley & Me, a book about a mischievous dog who forms a special bond with his human family.
The film version, starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, made almost $15 million on its first day.
Fortune then, as well as fame, beckons for Bob and his friend. I owe everything to Bob, says James. Weve been on quite a journey together.
|
|
|
It all began five-and-a-half years ago, on a grey Thursday evening in March, when James found Bob, starving and wounded, on the stairwell of his block of council flats in Tottenham, North London.
He was hiding in my building he had been attacked by another cat, or maybe a fox. He had a great big wound on his side, the poor thing.
Struggling to wean himself off drugs, James was initially reluctant to take in the poor creature. I assumed he belonged to someone. I asked around, but there was no one.
After three days, James cleaned his wounds and took him to the RSPCA for a course of antibiotics, which cost £28. At the time, James was busking and earning just £25 a day. It was pretty much the last money I had, but I didnt feel it was too much to help something in need. Ive always loved cats, says James.
Dependent on methadone and living in a small one-bedroom flat, Jamess life had veered badly off course just a few years earlier.
When he was just three, his parents had separated and he moved from Surrey to Australia with his mother Penelope, a saleswoman. There, they moved between Melbourne and various towns in Western Australia, at one stage moving back to the UK for six years before returning to Australia.
My mum was a product of the Eighties she always spent more money than she could make. Shed start these businesses but she always ended up selling them, or they just collapsed.
I had to change schools constantly, which meant I was never really stable. I was bullied a lot, too. I felt no one really understood me.
His mother remarried and Jamess relationship with her broke down. He moved back to England, to London, with dreams of becoming a rock star.
I lived with my half-sister Simone for a while. The problem was I didnt get on with her husband, so they asked me to leave.
After a few weeks in squats and staying on friends sofas, James found himself on the streets. It wasnt long before he tried heroin.
When youre sleeping rough, you are surrounded by people doing drugs, he says. They offer you some, saying it will help you sleep which it does or make you feel better. And before you know it, youre thinking Why not? Ive got nothing else.
James descended into a drug addiction so severe that he almost died on several occasions.
After three years on the streets, he was given a council flat. By the time he found Bob, he was in the process of kicking his drug habit with the help of an NHS recovery programme.
Still, he was daunted by the daily routine a pet requires. I didnt plan to keep him I thought he was a street cat. So after three weeks, I tried to set him free.
Bob had other ideas, though. James recalls: Id take him outside, but he just wouldnt run off. I would leave for a days busking and hed follow me up the road. Then, one day, he followed me all the way on to the number 73 bus. He climbed on right after me!
So James began taking Bob busking with him. I got him a lead, but he likes to climb up on my shoulders. He just picked it up naturally. Hes a genius, really.
The pair make quite a sight the 6ft 3in James walking down the road with a ginger moggy draped around his neck. While James sings, Bob curls up on a blanket.
Before Id even tuned up my guitar on that first day, the coins started dropping on the floor, says James. He took home almost three times his usual amount.
|
|
|
Soon passers-by were bringing Bob titbits of food, toys, even clothes. Someone gave him a purple scarf. Then everyone wanted to give him one. He must have more than 20 specially knitted scarves, a couple of jumpers, ten blankets mouse shaped-ones, cat-shaped ones. Its amazing.
For the pairs first Christmas together, one lady brought Bob a miniature stocking stuffed with goodies, and James bought a cheap plastic tree to put it under.
On Christmas morning, Bob was sitting underneath it, says James. He knew it was his!
Twice, James thought he had lost Bob. Once, busking at Piccadilly Circus, the cat ran off after being startled by a man in fancy dress. Another time, he fled a rottweiler in Islington. I was terrified that I had lost him, and felt bad that I hadnt taken better care of him.
Fortunately, Bob reappeared after a few hours.
All the while, Bobs fame was growing, with videos taken by fans appearing on YouTube.
Even so, when James was approached by the literary agent Mary Pachnos, he was surprised.
She said she had been walking past us for weeks, and wanted to know if I was interested in telling my story. Soon, we had publishers on board and six months later we had a book. It came out on my birthday. The best present of my life!
The hardback edition spent six months in the top-ten bestseller lists, with the paperback now at number one on the non-fiction chart. Spin-offs including a sequel and a childrens version are planned.
The childrens book will leave out the more gruesome details of Jamess drug-taking past and focus instead on his bond with Bob, while the sequel will be based on the life lessons that James says Bob has taught him.
Today, James says hes drug-free and insists he wont return to his former life. In a Sunday newspaper this week, he was clear: Ill never go back to drugs. Ive learnt too much and grown up.
For this, he thanks Bob: Its all down to him. For the first time, I felt like I had family. It gave me the determination to make my life more comfortable, to make his life better, too.
He has certainly done that. Jamess first royalty cheque for £30,000 will be spent settling debts, arranging health insurance for Bob and paying for a flight to see his mum in Australia over Christmas.
Its an important trip for James, given his previous estrangement. Bob will stay at home in London and be cared for by a friend.
As for long-term plans, James hopes to get a mortgage, buy his own home and live a normal life, perhaps working for charity.
So what of Hollywood? People say I could be played by Johnny Depp but hes too old, isnt he? says James with a grin.
And Bob? Oh, I dont know. Hes the most famous cat there is!
For now, though, James and Bob are back to busking, though only twice a week.
I still love busking, and so does Bob. Well always do it. I could never say I was his owner. Were partners.
Useful vocabulary
to busk / a busker / a busking cat
A stray moggy
Choc-a-bloc
hubbub
to belt out songs
a high-five
to tap the hand
to twitch the whiskers
to pop a coin
scrapbooks
to turn ones life around
to wean oneself off drugs
RSPCA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a charity operating in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare)
to be bullied
to squat / a squat / squatter / in squats
to tune up the guitar
a hardback edition
spin-offs
a sequel
a royalty cheque
