A ladybird books fan asked Helen Day of the website Ladybird Fly Away Home whether the cat
featured in several of my father's Ladybird books was actually our cat. I confirmed that it was
indeed our cat, named Digby after Dan Dare's batman. I also found this photograph of Digby
and myself, aged about six, in the garden of Bruce Lodge in Epsom.The photo was taken
around 1953 and obviously came in handy in 1967 when my father was illustrating this book of
nursery rhymes.