misspelledsearch.com:humphrey air valveinformation page
If you cannot find the information you are searching for on this page, we suggest searching Google with the correct spelling "humphrey air valve":
Humphrey (c. 1988 – March 2006) was a cat employed as a mouser at 10 Downing Street from October 1989 to 13 November 1997. Arriving as a one-year old stray, he served under the premierships of Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair, but retired a few months after the Blairs moved in to Downing Street. He was the successor to Wilberforce.
Start of employmentHumphrey was found as a stray by a Cabinet Office civil servant and named in honour of Sir Humphrey Appleby, the archetypal civil servant of Yes, Minister. After the death of the previous mouser, Wilberforce, in 1988 the Cabinet Office and Number 10 were in need of a replacement and so Humphrey began his work. At a cost of around £100 a year (paid for from the Cabinet Office's budget), most of which went toward food, Humphrey was said to be of considerably better value than the Cabinet's professional pest controller, who charged £4,000 a year and is reported to have never caught a single mouse. Frequently pictured posing by the famous Number 10 front door, Humphrey's primary duties involved catching mice and rats in the maze of Downing Street buildings. The poor quality of the buildings, some of which date back to the 18th century, and the nearby St. James's Park ensure a continuous vermin problem. By the time of his retirement, Humphrey had risen to the position of Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office. Humphrey's problemsIn November 1993, an internal memo was circulated in the Cabinet Office, informing staff that Humphrey was suffering from a minor kidney complaint and had been put on a special diet. A ban on feeding him treats was instituted. Humphrey was accused on 7 June 1994, of having killed four robin chicks, which were nesting in a window box outside the office of John Major, the then Prime Minister. However, Major exonerated him the next day, declaring, "I am afraid Humphrey has been falsely accused." Files obtained by the Daily Telegraph refer to the allegation as "libellous" and "completely unfounded". In June 1995, Humphrey went missing. On 25 September 1995, the Prime Minister's press office announced his presumed death. The publicity led to his rediscovery in the nearby Royal Army Medical College, where he had been taken in as a presumed stray and named PC. Upon his return, a civil servant issued a statement, supposedly written by Humphrey, to the press: "I have had a wonderful holiday at the Royal Army Medical College, but it is nice to be back and I am looking forward to the new parliamentary session." Humphrey and the BlairsWithin a week of Tony Blair moving to 10 Downing Street following the May 1997 general election, press reports of a rift between Humphrey and Cherie Blair, the new Prime Minister's wife, emerged. Mrs. Blair was reported to either be allergic to cats or to believe them to be unhygienic[1]. However, a spokesperson insisted that Humphrey would not be moving out, stating that Number 10 "is Humphrey's home and, as far as the Blairs are concerned, it will remain his home". A photo of Humphrey and Mrs. Blair was released, though this did little to allay fears that he would be forced out. The photo was used on the cover of Private Eye with Humphrey stating 'I am going to hit the mouse running' a paraphrase of a New Labour-ism. In November 1997, Humphrey's primary carer, Jonathan Rees, who worked in the Prime Minister's Policy Unit, wrote a memo stating that the cat should retire to "stable home environment where he can be looked after properly". While his continuing kidney problems were given as the reason for his retirement, many believed that Mrs. Blair was behind the decision. Rumours of murderHumphrey was moved to his new home with an elderly couple in suburban London on 13 November 1997, though his retirement was not announced until the next day to reduce the risk of kidnap attempts.[2] The Conservatives were quick to point out that Humphrey lived happily at Number 10 for almost eight years under a Tory government but moved out within six months of Labour taking power. Conservative MP Alan Clark was suspicious about the way Humphrey's retirement was announced and demanded proof that the cat was still alive: "Humphrey is now a missing person. Unless I hear from him or he makes a public appearance, I suspect he has been shot." This led to rumours that Humphrey had been put down on the orders of Mrs. Blair.[3] The Prime Minister's office insisted that veterinary advice was behind the decision to remove Humphrey from Downing Street, and on 24 November 1997 a group of journalists were taken to a secret location in south London and shown that Humphrey was still alive and well. Pictures of the cat posing with copies of the day's newspapers were published and reports indicated that he had put on weight.[4] [5] In retirementLittle was heard about Humphrey over the next few years, leading many to assume that he had died. The Daily Telegraph made a Freedom of Information Act request for documents relating to him in early 2005, which led to more information about his time at Downing Street coming to light. In its March 2005 article about Humphrey, the Telegraph lamented "Where Humphrey is now - or even whether he is still with us - remains a mystery. 'I am not having much luck,' a Cabinet Office spokesman confessed last night. His official minder has not heard from him in seven years." [6] However, on 22 July 2005, The Independent reported that "the 17-year-old mouser is alive and well and living in south London." [7] No further details were given in the text, which was part of a larger feature about celebrity pets. In March 2006, a spokesman for Tony Blair reported that "Humphrey sadly died last week some time", at the home of the Cabinet Office worker that had been accommodating him[8]. References
External links
This humphrey air valve index site has been developed to help wayward users find the information they are looking for, no matter how they are mistakenly spelled or mistyped. This site is designed to help users find humphrey air valve information for the following query variants:
If you would like to add or correct the content of this site, or if you are interested in supporting the efforts of misspelledsearch.com by placing your product information on these humphrey air valve pages, please contact mistype@gmail.com for details. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "humphrey". |