Paws for thought...

Published: 1st April, 2011
by BORIS LIVINGSTONE

THE famous Archway cat has always looked decidedly forlorn and dejected without his master, the former Lord Mayor of London, Dick Whittington.

Now all that is about to change with plans for a 20-foot statue of Dick – star of a thousand pantomimes – directly opposite his concrete feline  friend on the pavement at Highgate Hill. 

Islington Council is seeking tenders from leading sculptors wishing to create this new historic landmark, a stone’s throw from the Whittington Hospital. The project will be paid for out of the council’s Strategic Figurative Memorial Fund.   

It was on Highgate Hill, of course, that Whittington supposedly heard the bells of London telling him to ‘turn again’ and go back to become Lord Mayor.

A spokesman for Islington Council said: “Over the years, residents and visitors regularly complained that the Archway cat looked lost without his master by his side. The new statue with Dick striking a pose dressed in cloak and hat will complement the cat. We think it will attract visitors from the world over. Everyone remembers Dick Whittington’s triumph against adversity from poor boy to the most powerful man in the capital.

“Once the statue has been erected, we will carry out a public consultation to see if residents are happy with it.”

• The real Richard Whittington was a philanthropist born during the 1350s in Gloucestershire. He travelled to London to find work and served an apprenticeship, and eventually became a “mercer”, dealing in valuable cloth from abroad. He became Mayor in 1397, and was re-elected three more times.