Author James Bowen talks about his novel A Street Cat Named Bob

In 2007, he was on a methadone programme, busking in Covent Garden and living in a supported housing programme in Seven Sisters.

One day, he noticed a ginger cat kept visiting the hallway of his building and on closer inspection he discovered it had no collar. As nobody else in the building knew who the cat belonged to, James decided to keep him and named him Bob.

The 37-year-old was born in Surrey but moved to Australia following his parents’ divorce. He later moved to Haringey to live with his half-sister and her husband in 1997. The arrangement did not work out and he spent ten years sleeping rough or in shelters, using drugs as a means to escape his homelessness.

James credits Bob for motivating him and giving him a purpose in life. The pair became inseparable, as Bob followed James everywhere he went and they both started to become popular with the public, who often took videos of them while James was busking and selling The Big Issue and uploaded the footage onto Youtube.

James was approached by a literary agent, where he was offered a book deal. The 2012 publication of A Street Cat Named Bob has since sold more than a million copies, spent more than 76 weeks at the top of the Sunday Times’ bestseller list and has been turned into a Hollywood blockbuster this year.

Now his life is a whirlwind of television appearances and attending red carpet events, but he manages to find time in between interviews for Australian media to chat about his extraordinary story…

James says: “It is going global, which is overwhelming. The film is a very good adaptation of a part of my life, although obviously it has turned Hollywood to draw in the audiences, but I’m proud to have been part of the production of it, as I wasn’t supposed to be originally.

“Seeing my name on the rolling credits of the film has been unbelievable and so was walking down the red carpet for the premiere and meeting the Duchess of Cambridge, who also sent a letter last week to thank us for inviting her. It really has been an incredible experience.”

James is not the only person revelling in all the new-found attention, as he admits Bob has also been making the most of their new lifestyle.

He explains: “Last year we worked on the making of the film and Bob ended up starring as himself, which wasn’t supposed to happen.

“They originally brought over some cats from Canada, but they weren’t used to Covent Garden, but Bob just rolled right into it as it was his domain and he was a natural in front of the cameras.

“Any picture or video of him, you can tell he loves it. He gets asked for autographs and selfies everywhere and it gets to a point where we are now often late to appointments. We are happy to stop and meet people though, as we love every single one of our fans.”

James reveals that it still hasn’t fully sunk in how popular his tale is becoming.

He says: “Only a few years ago, I was a drug programme and barely existing. I had just moved into new supporting housing accommodation, when Bob came into my life and gave me a reason to get up and do something.

“Since meeting him, I stopped being invisible and I was able to actually talk to people about how I had got to be in that situation. He gave me the drive to sort my life out and a few years later, I got offered a book about it and the rest is history.

“I plan to keep travelling with Bob and telling our story, while also supporting charities like The Big Issue Foundation, The Blue Cross and funnily enough, we even recently went to the Largo di Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary in Rome, to lend our support to them.”

A Street Cat Named Bob is on general release now.