A true story by a London busker and former heroin addict about how he got his life back on track thanks to a stray ginger tom cat is to become a film.
James Bowen’s book about stray cat Bob (pictured together) who he adopted has sold more than 250,000 copies and is being considered for film by the same agent who brokered Marley & Me
James Bowen, 33, whose book A Street Cat Named Bob has scaled best-selling book lists, is in talks with his literary agent who brought Marley & Me, starring Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson and a Labrador, to the silver screen.
Mr Bowen first met Bob when he found the stray cat in the stairwell of his block of council flats in Tottenham, North London five and a half years ago. Now, the pair has become famous for their story and Bob is set to become the next Hollywood pet sensation.
The book was first published in March this year and within weeks was top of The Sunday Times list for hardback non-fiction and has sold more than 250,000 copies worldwide, including 160,000 copies in Britain, and is available in 18 languages.
Bob even has his own Twitter account, with some 11,700 followers and there is a blog called Around the World in 80 Bobs where fans post photographs of the book taken in unusual places around the world.
After Bob refused to leave Mr Bowen alone, he decided to take him busking and before long he was making almost three times his usual earnings as the pair attracted more and more fans
Mr Bowen had struggled with drug addiction, spending three years homeless, before he was given a council flat. He was in the process of kicking his drug habit with the aid of an NHS recovery program when he met Bob.
He said: ‘I didn’t plan to keep him. I thought he was a street cat. So after three weeks, I tried to set him free.’
‘I’d take him outside but he just wouldn’t run away. I would leave for a day’s busking and he’d follow me up the road. Then one day, he followed me all the way onto the bus. The number 73 – he climbed on right after me!’
Mr Bowen decided to take the determined cat busking with him in Covent Garden and before long he was taking home almost three times his usual earnings as the pair attracted more and more fans.
Bob would happily sit on Mr Bowen’s shoulders and was content to be led around on a lead.
The pair turn heads on the street as Bob happily sits on Mr Bowen’s shoulders
He said: ‘Before I’d even tuned up the guitar on that first day, the coins started dropping on the floor.’
Mr Bowen took injured Bob to the RSPCA and spent £28 on antibiotics. At the time Mr Bowen was earning just £25 a day.
Mr Bowen said: ‘It was pretty much the last money I had but I didn’t feel it was too much to help something in need and I’ve always loved cats.
‘I owe everything to Bob. We’ve been on quite a journey together.’
Literary agent Mary Pachnos, who lives in Islington, first saw Mr Bowen selling The Big Issue, a magazine about the homeless, at Angel train station and approached him.
He said: ‘She said she had been walking past me for weeks and wanted to know if I was interested in telling my story.
‘Soon, we had the publishers on board and six months later we had a book. It came out on my birthday. The best birthday present of my life!’
She brokered Marley & Me, the story about a naughty dog who forms a special bond with his human family, which went on to become a Hollywood hit.
Mr Bowen said: ‘People say I could be played by Johnny Depp but he’s too old isn’t he?’
Mr Bowen wrote the book with writer Garry Jenkins and is now working on a sequel. The book has also inspired spin-offs including a children’s version set to be released in February next year.
Despite the success of the book and the royalties Mr Bowen is now earning – his first royalty cheque was believed to be around £30,000 – he plans to continue busking in Covent Garden.
He said: ‘I won’t make millions, that’s for sure but I reckon it’ll be enough to make things more comfortable for me and who knows what will happen if Hollywood is interested our story?
‘But still I love busking, and so does Bob. We’ll always do it. And people love seeing him.
‘Bob’s taken me to a different planet, a different galaxy. I could never say I’m his owner. We’re partners.’
Mr Bowen’s problems began in childhood when his parents separated and he moved to Australia with his mother, living in Melbourne and various towns in Western Australia.
He said: ‘I changed school constantly which meant I was never really stable. I was bullied a lot. I felt no one really understood me.’
When he left school, he returned to London and lived with his half-sister Simone until he was asked to leave. After a few weeks in squats and on friends’ sofas, he started living on the streets. Before long he was taking hard drugs.
He said: ‘When you’re sleeping rough you are surrounded by people doing drugs. They offer you some saying it will help you sleep – which it does – or make you feel better. And before you know it, you’re thinking “why not? I’ve got nothing else”.’
