James Bowen pays an emotional tribute to his “best friend” Bob in a special edition of The Big Issue out now, dedicated to celebrating the life of Street Cat Bob, who sadly passed away last month.
The duo met in March 2007 – one human and one cat, two lost souls in search of love and hope and a future.
Over the next 13 years they were inseparable, with Bob joining James on his pitch in Islington selling The Big Issue, becoming local celebrities before their story reached a wider audience as an international publishing sensation and then a hit movie.
James writes: “Bob became much more than a cat or mere companion to me. He was my best friend, my soul mate. My brother, almost. Two slightly broken souls, we transformed each other’s lives.
“To say he was loved is a gigantic understatement. The outpouring of emotion that followed the news of his death was immense. Almost all of the messages talked of how deeply Bob had touched their lives, how much joy he had brought them. How he had inspired them. Some left me shaking my head in wonder.”
We were inundated with hundreds of emails from fans around the world sharing stories of how their lives were changed by Bob – it would take an entire book to print them all but the ones we have space for make clear the impact Bob had on so many.