Slippers

Slippers was a grey polydactyl cat — born with extra toes on his paws, the trait that gave him his name — who lived in the White House during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt in the early 1900s. The Roosevelt family were famous animal lovers, keeping a menagerie of pets, and Slippers was among the most indulged, wandering the corridors and disappearing for days at a time before reappearing to reclaim his place at the centre of things.

His moment in history came during a formal diplomatic dinner. As the President led a procession of ambassadors and dignitaries from the dining room, they came upon Slippers sprawled contentedly across the middle of the hallway carpet, in no mood to move. Rather than disturb the cat, Roosevelt and his distinguished guests simply parted and stepped around him, the grand procession bending its path to accommodate a lounging feline.

That small, charming episode has kept Slippers in the history books as one of the most memorable of the many White House cats — a reminder that even in the halls of power, a cat does exactly as it pleases.