Lost T S Eliot poem to 'culinary lout' cat Cumberleylaude is unearthed after more than 50 years

• Cumberleylaude came to light when the poem was unearthed after 50 years
• Included in a private thank you letter by Eliot to his friend Anthony Laude
• Andrew Lloyd Webber has hinted it could appear in next Cats production 

By Thomas Burrows for MailOnline

Published:  2 November 2015 

A cat with a penchant for 'salmon, duck and expensive French wines' could become the next star of the West End. 

Cumberleylaude, the 'gourmet cat' who enjoys the finer things in life, has come to light after a poem by T.S. Eliot was discovered after 50 years.

The long-forgotten poem was included in a private correspondence by the poet to his friend Anthony Laude after he had invited him round for a meal.

Cumberleylaude could become the next star of the West End after the poem by T.S. Eliot was discovered after 50 years - 'Cats' is the fourth-longest running musical in the West End 

The poem has been shown to Andrew Lloyd-Webber, who devised the musical Cats (pictured) in 1981 based on Eliot's collection of feline poems

In the thank you letter, dated July 8, 1964, Eliot, then 75, thanked his younger friend for the dinner at his home in Neville Road, Cambridge.

Eliot, who had attended Oxford University, commented how Cambridge was 'just as I remember it, a very beautiful town' and joked about a debate in which Laude, 20, corrected him on the meaning of the word 'changeling'.

He then went on to say how much he had enjoyed meeting Cumberleylaude, who he described as a 'particularly fastidious eater without doubt, but a dignified and beautiful cat'.

***

CUMBERLEYLAUDE BY T.S.ELIOT

The gourmet cat was of course Cumberleylaude,

Who did very little to earn his dinner and board,

Indeed, he was always out and about,

Patronising the haunts where he would find,

People are generous and nice and kind,

Serving good food to this culinary lout!

With care he chooses his place to dine,

And dresses accordingly, if he has time,

Tasting all that Neville Road offers,

With never a thought for anyone's coffers!

The best is only fit for the best he opines,

When he wants salmon, or duck, or expensive French wines.

Until one day when he will find,

All of the doors closed and the windows blind,

Then monocle and cane he will have to discard,

And realise that hunting isn't so hard,

That mouse is tasty and starling sweet,

And that Neville Road is a bounteous street! 

 ***

Eliot, who was famed for penning 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats' on which the musical 'Cats' is based, then composed a poem on his friend's feline. 

He wrote three verses of six lines each, in which he remarked how Cumberleylaude was a 'culinary lout' who did 'very little to earn his dinner and board'.

He finished by noting how the neighbours' patience would wear thin and Cumberleylaude would be left chasing mice for his dinner.

A friend of Laude's found the letter in a book in his house after his death, and sold it on eBay in 2006 for about £900. 

It was published yesterday in The Sunday Times for the first time.

Eliot died six months after the trip to Cambridge and Laude continued living on Neville Road for the next 40 years. He died alone, aged 60, in 2003. 

The poem has been shown to Andrew Lloyd-Webber, who devised the musical cats in 1981 based on Eliot's collection of feline poems that immortalised characters such as Mr Mistoffelees, Macavity and Skimbleshanks.

Asked if Cumberleylaude might in future appear in the show, Lord Lloyd-Webber said: 'We hope that Cats will return to Broadway next year — so who knows?' 

Cats, which tells the story of a tribe of cats called the Jellicles and the night they decide which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life, is the fourth longest-running West End musical and third-longest in Broadway. 

The unearthed poem will also be published by Faber & Faber on Thursday in The Poems of T.S. Eliot.  

T.S. Eliot (pictured) wrote the poem to his friend Anthony Laude after he had invited him round for a meal

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