TS Eliot cat poem unearthed after 50 years: Meet Cumberleylaude the Gourmet Cat

Cumberleylaude enjoys salmon, duck and expensive French wines and is a 'particularly fastidious eater'

Cumberleylaude would certainly enjoy, and expect, this sort of culinary experience (Rex Features)

TS Eliot had more imaginary felines in mind than those that eventually appeared in Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, judging by a new discovery of a previously unseen cat poem.

Literature lovers will already be familiar with Rum Tum Tugger the Curious Cat, Macavity the Mystery Cat and Mr Mistoffelees the Original Conjuring Cat but now they have been introduced to Cumberleylaude the Gourmet Cat, who enjoys indulging in really good food.

Eliot wrote the poem in a 1964 letter thanking his young friend Anthony Laude for dinner. It first appeared in the Sunday Times this week and will feature in a new edition of Eliot’s work published by Faber & Faber on Thursday.

Eliot based Cumberleylaude on Laude’s cat, describing him as a “particularly fastidious eater without a doubt, but a dignified and beautiful cat”, whose “character struck me so forcefully that I felt I had to write a few words in honour of him”.

The three-verse poem opens: “The gourmet cat was of course Cumberleylaude/ Who did very little to earn his dinner and board.”

“With care he chooses his place to dine/ And dresses accordingly if he has time,” it continues. “The best is only fit for the best he opines/ When he wants salmon or duck or expensive French wines.”

The letter and poem were discovered inside a book after Laude died in 2003 and sold on eBay for around £900 in 2006, while Eliot also kept a copy.

As a result of the find, Andrew Lloyd Webber has hinted that Cumberleylaude may be added to the cast of his musical Cats. “We hope that Cats will return to Broadway next year, so who knows?” he said