BRITAIN-HOMELESSNESS/CAT:From stray to screen, the cat putting the spotlight on homelessness in Britain
By Temesghen Debesai
LONDON, Nov 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A ginger tabby cat called Bob brought the plight of Britain's homeless to the big screen on Thursday as new figures estimated the number of children living on the streets or in temporary accommodation this Christmas would hit a nine-year high.
The film "A Street Cat Named Bob", which held its world premiere in central London, is based on the best-selling memoir of 2012 by recovering drug addict and street musician James Bowen about how his friendship with the stray changed his life.
Starring British actor Luke Treadaway as the busker, Bob was played by the real cat himself - with the help of six other lookalikes - sitting on Bowen's shoulder as he navigated London's streets or by his guitar case as he strummed away.
The pair struck up their friendship after Bob, injured, appeared in the hallway of Bowen's government-supported accommodation one night and Bowen spent the last of his money on medical treatment for the stray cat.
From then on Bob refused to leave, following Bowen when he went busking or when he started to sell The Big Issue, the UK newspaper sold by the homeless.
Praised for highlighting homelessness to a broad audience, the film came as housing charity Shelter estimated more than 120,000 children in Britain would be homeless or in temporary accommodation at Christmas, the highest number since 2007.
Reviewer Adrian Lobb writing in The Big Issue said the social realism in the film was handled in a way that made it accessible to a wide audience but without sugar-coating.
"The pain, the heartache and the struggle and that feeling of invisibility experienced by people who are homeless are palpable - as is the joy and hope brought into James's life by Bob," Lobb wrote.
Treadaway, 32, prepared for his role by sleeping rough, busking and spending hours with Bowen, now 37, before director Roger Spottiswoode - best known for the films "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "Turner and Hooch" - started filming.
Since writing the first book about Bob, Bowen has gone on to write several more books about his loyal cat and also uses his time to help various charities involving homelessness and animal welfare, according to media reports.
He has said that he was homeless for about 10 years before meeting Bob.
Government figures for 2015 estimated more than 3,500 people were sleeping rough on any one night in England, a 30 percent rise on the previous year, with a quarter of these in London.
This figure did not include people in hostels or shelters, squatters or travellers.
Shelter's analysis released on Thursday said it expected the number of homeless children this Christmas to be the highest since 2007 when 133,000 children were in temporary accommodation. It is up 12 percent from a year ago.
"Children that are homeless are more likely to be in poor health, and more likely to suffer mental health problems. Our children don't deserve this," Shelter said in a statement.
(Editing by Belinda Goldsmith.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)
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