Written for the Newsletter of The Siamese Cat Society of Scotland, June 2002
Thirty Five Years ......... A light hearted look back ....
John S Harrison
I was searching around for the address of the SCSoS Show Manager the other day when, out of the blue, an e-mail arrived from Alison Ronald asking me if I felt like "writing something amusing / incisive / controversial for the Newsletter" - several things came to mind, but 'spooky or what' certainly wasn't one of them!
I thought of writing a pithy piece on devolution, but you heathens 'North of the Border' are definitely more devolved that us lot here in Wales - you have a Parliament and we only warrant an Assembly, a bit like the rabble in the North of Ireland ……… I thought of writing a stirring piece on racial supremacy, but while the Irish mob were well beyond the pale, or is it pail, it took a wall to keep you lot out, and we poor Welsh simply sat and stared at a dyke ….. I thought about a missive on subservience and dominance but that might seem a little trite on the part of a humble subject in this the Golden Jubilee year of our noble Queen …….. then I thought, why was I looking for the Show Managers address?
Why did I want the Show Manager? Then the penny, which really ought to be one hundredth of an Ecu, dropped …… a show schedule! Having been to several SCSoS shows over the years as steward, chauffeur or spectator ……. not of course that I'm suggesting they've never asked me to judge ….. I thought this year as a complete change I'd re-join the ranks of the exhibitor. Of course this will depend on whether our entries are accepted, whether the cats get through Vetting-in, whether the cats can be handled, and whether we remember to put the right cats in the car. I've not shown a cat for many years and, I have to say, question my own sanity for wanting to do so now! I suppose I can always blame it on himself ……
Eventually the schedule arrived and I was absolutely appalled and aghast and disgusted …. do these Show Managers think we've got more money than sense? …., AND what about the prize money …….. I mean honestly there's not even a cat in hells chance of covering our entry fees, let alone our costs …….. talk about a mug's game …….. I mean do I look stupid, or what?
Of course things were different 25 years ago ……I remember showing two Foreign Whites in 1977, I took Champion Scintilla Jou-Lin and a kitten destined to be the future Gd Ch Scintilla Hsing Fu to the Midland Counties Cat Club Show, they were entered in 8 classes each, and went home with 16 red cards, 1 gold and 2 BoB between them - their prize money covered the cost of my entry and the cost of petrol getting there. Mind you in those days there was a decent class of Judge …… and you could get 4 gallons of petrol for one pound sterling ….... Something else rather strange, there were 3 adult males, 5 adult females, 11 kittens, and 4 neuters at the show ….. oh no, I don't mean in the whole Oriental Section ….. I mean just in the Foreign White classes. Things have certainly changed since I was in my late teens and went to my first cat show in 1967 - for one thing I've grown a lot older but certainly no wiser!
In the 1960's most championship cat shows were quite modest affairs with seldom more than 300 exhibits and the majority were held in scruffy old halls. I'm not quite sure when it became the order of the day to use plush halls with all mod cons. At the first shows I went to you were able to get a cup of tea from a WI type pot, but not a chance of finding alcohol ….. though there was probably drop or two in some exhibitors belongings. Mind you I think that it was the sudden demand to have alcohol on sale in show venues that started the rot ……. over excited, rowdy, argumentative, lewd behaviour … and that's just the Judges. Oh yes, and then there was the cigarette smoke ……. when I stewarded for one judge my first task of the day was always to find an ash tray and secure it to the trolley along with the bowl of water, soap and towel ……. we merrily smoked our way from cat to cat ….. so what if a few got fag ash in their coats or smoke in their eyes.
The show calendar was totally different to today and not all shows were held on a Saturday, some were still in the middle of the week ….. thus ensuring the absence of the common horde. Almost all the championship shows were held between November and March with the odd exemption and sanction shows in between …… as a family this suited us well because in the Spring and Summer we flogged around the country showing Golden Retrievers, and my Fancy Pigeons went to shows unaccompanied the year round.
In the 1960's the list of breeds and was small and kept to the basic Black, Blue, White, and Tabby with oddities like the Chinchilla, Chocolate and Lilac Point Siamese, and the Chestnut Brown Foreign. In Siamese the Tabby Points and Red, Cream, & Tortie Points were pretty new stuff ……… my Mum bred Siamese and at one show we took a Chocolate Tabby Point Male …….. the Open Judge when approached by my Mum said "I'm so sorry my dear, but he's the wrong colour, he's far too chocolate" …….when my Mum replied "But he is a Chocolate ….. he's got two CC's"……… the answer came back "Oh my dear I'm so sorry, I didn't realise chocolate was accepted, if only I'd known he'd be a champion" saying this she changed her handbag onto the other arm ……… so Mum thanked her graciously, and with the audience over we stepped back smiling and allowed her to continue on her way. There was only one Open and one CC with males and females competing ….. though if you were flush you could sponsor the prize money and have the Open split, but there was still only one gold card. When the Grand classes were introduced there had to be a minimum of seven cats entered and present for a Grand Challenge to be awarded …… and you couldn't enter them in the open as well ……. in those days a Grand Champion was a special cat indeed ….. not just something that's been hawked around the country in search of easy judges.
Then of course all this cross bred rubbish appeared, and all this foreign tat came into the country. No self-respecting breeder would ever have been seen with anything other than a proper breed in a proper colour. I suppose the problem with me is that I've never been self respecting …….. until about the last five years the majority of my cats have been registered as 'Breed 26 AOV', then Experimental, and then Reference, Preliminary or Provisional …… but the cats still look the same Shorthairs, then Foreign Shorthairs, then Shorthairs of Siamese Type and then Oriental Shorthair ….. honestly it's all a bit confusing …… or is it me?
Funny thing is when these coloured Siamese / cross-bred / Oriental jobs became recognised no end of serious self respecting Siamese breeders suddenly declared an interest and added one to their cat household … "well after all they have a certain little charm". There is one Siamese Judge who informed me that it was 'her right to judge Orientals because she was a Siamese judge' …… when I said 'Does that mean I can judge Siamese' the retort was 'Indeed not, it takes a special knowledge to judge Siamese'. What is it about so many Siamese Judges … just look how many have hopped onto Judging Lists of other breeds …….. then look at how many Judges from other lists have managed to get onto the Siamese List …… if you get made a Judge of Siamese it must be like being given the key to a candy shop!
Why is it that the majority, the vast majority, of GCCF judges come from the South East of England? Not that I'm suggesting anything of course ………. but if you happen to have a regional accent, or speak a dialect or worse another language, and if you live anywhere remotely to the north of Watford Gap your chances of becoming a judge are severely limited …….. I'm told, and have an uneasy feeling that it's probably true, that one poor dimwit has even been told that she's not sufficiently well known in the South East to even be considered as a judge ……. I wonder which Judging List she was aiming for? By my reckoning there are now four GCCF Judges in Wales, twice that in Scotland, and two whole ones in Northern Ireland ….. just goes to prove how p.c. the Cat Fancy is.
Judges have changed a bit too. The first Judges I encountered were formidable ladies, institutions even, when they approached one stepped back to allow them unimpeded progress. In recent times a lot of riff raff and young upstarts have got on to the Judging Lists, in days gone by there was an air of genteelness in the Judges room, a cosy atmosphere reminiscent of a lounge in a rest home for gentlefolk in distressed circumstances.
Fashions have changed too and by the time I became a Judge hats and handbags had gone as well, though the tight perm was still the order of the day …… I didn't mind having the perm ….. but I'm glad I didn't have to judge wearing a hat. For the first couple of years I followed the correct code of dress and wore either a suit, or dark neatly pressed trousers and a collar and tie. I got more than a few comments when I changed to jeans and tee-shirt …. but it wasn't very long before suits and ties became strange attire for a Judge. I well remember that at one show, during a very hot summer ….. we used to have those too, and they lasted for more than three days …. I took off my shirt and just wore my white coat …. of course in those days I was young and slim with an even all-over tan.
Exhibitors in the sixties were a courteous mob by and large, they seldom complained, enjoyed their day out at a show … whether their cats won or lost. Now it's a bit different. There's a pretty substantial group of exhibitors - and we've all met them - who whinge and moan and gripe about everything; they turn up at every show possible, are superior when they win and bitter and twisted when they loose ….. anyone would think they personally had been vetted-in, penned and judged! This group includes those who march up to judges and address them by their given name as if they've known them personally for years …… whilst I don't give a toss what you call me, there are some elderly Judges who do. They demand to know why their cat has not won ………. totally disagree with the Judge because they've been breeding and showing for all of two years and know what's what ………. threaten to boycott the judge at future shows …….. and generally make themselves quite obnoxious with everyone who's willing to put up with the pettiness ………. used to be called 'being a bad looser' ……
Cats have changed a bit too ….. I mean Persians used to have proper faces with cute little noses ……. and Siamese …….. well I mean to say ….. goodness me how they've changed …… and no I'm not talking about the things newcomers refer to as "Old Fashioned Siamese", these funny looking animals did exist …… but they were never show winners and were always considered of poor type! By my reckoning the Siamese Standard hasn't been radically re-written so how do the cats with Dumbo ears and long square muzzles do so well …... you can't for sure blame the breeders …… The first Siamese queen I bought was from North of the Border, this being Alexa Iona, bred by Mrs Alexander, and sired by Champion Kuala Caru who is one of my all time favourite cats.
One wonders how and why the cats have changed ……… would cats such as Marshbrook Sacha, Physalis Chulalonghorn and his brother Nai Ling, Pitapat Hiawatha, and the assembled ranks of the Chalmi, Killdown, Lymkilns, Pi-Den, Reoky, Saturn, Spotlight and Tamruat cats and have gained their titles today? …….. and what about Siepoo Storm and Winceby Valentine? Oh yes Siamese have certainly changed in the past 25 years.
When the Oriental Breed Standards were first written the description of type was "As in Siamese", however the Siamese became something we did not envisaged in Orientals, so we changed the standard and used the Siamese description as the base. As the years rolled on it became clear that some judges were leaning towards those cats, which resembled the 'new' Siamese, and so the Breed Standard was amended to include the words "avoiding exaggerated type". Some Judges still judge to their personal preference rather than the standard, but by and large the best Orientals compare favourably to the Breed Standard …… but no way, never ever should they be described as 'self coloured Siamese'! Every so often a Siamese which looks just like a pointed Oriental turns up ……. and do you know what ….. most judges put them up …….. strange how nothing really changes but goes in fads …..
Anyway enough reminiscent rambling …….. have you seen the cost of an advert, for goodness sake …. These Show Managers just can't get enough money. Well it's obvious where the money goes …… I mean after the Show Managers have taken their cut ………. have you seen how much the Judges make out of shows ……. wined, dined and feted like kings and queens ……. they're just in it for the money anyway …….. mmmh I wonder if I'm doing something wrong ……. I'll go away and think about that ……
Post script
We actually made it to the show with
one cat ...... turn left at Lymm onto the M6 just as it was getting light
....... continue driving with the sun on the right until you get hungry
........ and you're there ....... the snoring from the passanger seat ensured I
was kept awake! The cat, well yes 'Our Agnes' did OK winning her third
Challenge Certificate and Best of Breed in four weeks ....... so she gained her
title ...... oh yes and she was Best in Show. We had a thoroughly enjoyable day
...... nice people too our Celtic Cousins.
© John S Harrison 2002