January 1, 1970

Churchill was very fond of cats – ‘Mickey’ and ‘Tango’ who lived at Chartwell, ‘Nelson’, who would accompany Churchill at Chequers, among others. For his eighty-eighth birthday, Sir John ‘Jock’ Colville, Churchill’s private secretary, gave him a ginger cat with white bib and socks, also named ‘Jock’, of whom Churchill was particularly fond. After his death, the family asked that a marmalade cat, to be named ‘Jock’, should always be in residence at Chartwell. The sixth such ‘Jock’ is now roaming Chartwell in accordance with the Churchills’ wishes.

Learn more about ‘Churchill’s Feline Menagerie’ here.

Who was Munich Mouser?

In 1940, when Churchill moved into No 10 Downing Street, the official principal residence of the Prime Minister, he inherited a cat which he disrespectfully named ‘Munich Mouser’ after Neville Chamberlain, the previous Prime Minister, who had returned from the German city declaring ‘peace in our time’, having ignored Churchill’s warnings about Nazi Germany.