Hodge

This is Samuel Johnson's cat, Hodge. or, rather, a statue of him. It sits opposite Dr Johnson's house in Gough Square, London. I've been wanting to visit the house for a while and, today, I finally did.

Dr Johnson is most famous for writing the dictionary, a task meant to take three years which actually took nine, on the top floor of his house and rented for the purpose.

I guess the most amazing thing about the house is that it still exists. In 1911 it was a mess, left to rot and decay but was lovingly restored, as the guide book says "...as far as possible to its original condition, nothing old being removed and only essential modern additions made." A lot of the house is built from the ballast used by American emigrant ships for the trip back from the US in around 1700. It amazingly survived repeated bombings in the air raids of 1940 & 1941 and a flying bomb in 1944.

The house is an excellent, if difficult to find, site to visit. The video, while 'interestingly' acted, is worth sitting through as a sort of guided tour of the house by Dr Johnson and his best mate Boswell. I particularly liked Boswell's story about the extinguished candle.

PS: I should add, following the comment by bittersweet, that it is actually the size of a normal cat!