A Street Cat Named Bob

James Bowen
James Bowen and Bob (February 2013)
Born	James Bowen (1979-03-15) 15 March 1979 (age 38) Surrey
Occupation	Author, busker
Nationality	British
Notable works	A Street Cat Named Bob The World According to Bob

James Bowen (born 15 March 1979, Surrey) is an author and busker based in London. His books A Street Cat Named Bob, The World According to Bob and A Gift from Bob, written with author Garry Jenkins were international best-sellers. He now dedicates his time to help numerous charities that involve homelessness, literacy, and animal welfare.

Bowen was born in Surrey in March 1979. Following his parents’ divorce, he moved to Australia with his mother. Because they moved frequently, Bowen was often bullied at school. He later dropped out of education in his second year of high school, becoming a self-confessed "tearaway kid" who would later be diagnosed with ADHD, schizophrenia and manic depression.

In 1997, he returned to the United Kingdom to live with his half-sister and her husband. Tensions arose and the arrangement did not last. In time, he began sleeping on the streets. For the next few years, Bowen either slept in the streets or stayed in shelters. He began using heroin to escape from the realities of homelessness.

In Spring 2007, Bowen was enrolled on a methadone programme, busking in Covent Garden, and living in a supported housing programme in Tottenham, London. One evening he returned home to find a ginger cat in the hallway of his building. Assuming it belonged to another resident, he simply returned to his flat. When the cat was still there the following day, and the day after that, Bowen became concerned and discovered the cat was wearing no collar or ID tag, and had an infected wound on his leg. Bowen checked with other residents to see if the stray belonged to any of them, and when none of them claimed ownership of the animal Bowen decided to help the cat himself.

According to the account in A Street Cat Named Bob, Bowen took the cat to the nearby RSPCA clinic, which provided antibiotics to treat the infected wound. To make sure the cat received the full two-week course of medication, Bowen took him in for a time, while he continued to look for the stray’s owner. When he couldn’t find any information, he released the cat back on to the street, hoping he’d find his own way home. Instead, he began to follow Bowen around, even following him onto the bus when he left to go busking. Concerned that the cat had nowhere else to go, Bowen took him in permanently, naming him Bob after a character from the television drama Twin Peaks.