Yet in her five short years on the planet, Felix had certainly had an awful lot of adventures. Her biography charted her journey from confused kitten to senior pest controller, describing how the little cat had learned her trade and learned to love life on the railway. At first rather scared of the trains and the far-flung platforms, she gradually built up her courage until the entire station became her playground. More than anything, the book revealed how this very special cat had captured people’s hearts as she rose to international acclaim.
Angie and the team – who all contributed to the book by telling their stories of Felix – were delighted with the end result, believing it captured life at the station with plenty of Felix flair. But although the team enthusiastically embraced the idea of their pest controller becoming a published author, there was no guarantee that her fans would feel the same. Clicking ‘like’ for free on Facebook and checking Felix’s posts was one thing, but to dedicate money and time to buying and reading her life story? Well, it was a different kind of commitment to the station cat.
Regardless of the end result, the team at TPE wanted to celebrate the extraordinary achievement of their colleague. On the eve of publication, not yet knowing how the book would go down, an intimate launch party was held in the first-class lounge at the station. It was a bit of a thank you for everyone who had been involved in Felix’s rise to fame. The platform teams had never signed up to being Felix’s personal secretaries but, since she had become famous, communicating with her fans had become all in a day’s work. TPE wanted to say thank you for making all this possible.
Mark Allan, Felix’s Facebook manager, was one of those who came along, mingling with new team leader Dan, station manager Andy Croughan, Jack Kempf from the communications team and Andrew McClements, a former team leader at Huddersfield and the person who had promoted Felix in the first place, launching her to worldwide fame. He now worked at TPE’s head office, but he had never forgotten the cat who had helped to get him there.
Finger food from the Head of Steam was served to all the guests, along with flutes of paw-secco so that everyone could toast Felix’s new book. In keeping with all literary launch parties, copies of the book were there too, with Felix looking terribly regal and smart on the cover. There were also speeches – many speeches – to celebrate the station cat. Perhaps the most significant of these came from Leo Goodwin, TPE’s top dog, its illustrious managing director. (Felix, for once shying away from the spotlight, modestly made no comment on her own success that night.) Leo recorded a video for the team for this very special event.
‘Hello everyone, I’m sorry I can’t be with you all this evening,’ he began on film, as though the mini-movie was the acceptance speech of an absent Oscar winner. (In truth, of course, an invite to the launch party was nearly as hot a ticket as that Hollywood ceremony.) ‘I just wanted to say a few words and to thank you all for your hard work. No one expected Felix’s rise to fame and I know it hasn’t always been easy. Whether you’ve contributed to the book or press stories, posted for Felix on social media, or introduced Felix to one of her thousands of fans, you’ve all taken the time, often your own time, to help keep her story going.
‘I think all of us have at times laughed off Felix’s new celebrity status, but she has become a very important part of TPE and we’ve been able to use the publicity to help a lot of people. She’s now raised thousands of pounds for charity, and will continue to raise even more through this book for Prostate Cancer UK [all royalties from the book were being donated to this worthy cause].
‘The social-media accounts also truly brighten people’s days,’ Leo went on, ‘and hopefully by being our senior pest controller at Huddersfield she brightens yours, too. I hope you all enjoy this evening and thank you again for everything you have done to make this possible.’
The team were eagerly letting their hair down now that their shifts were over, so after a hearty round of applause it was bottoms up on the champagne flutes as they toasted Felix.
As any author soon discovers, writing a book and launching it is only the first step of the publication journey. The next day, Felix learned that lesson first-hand, as she was booked for a very important commitment. At 7.35 a.m., she was due to appear on live national TV (something she had never done before) as she kicked off the publicity campaign.
The whole idea of a live interview rather set the cat among the pigeons, so to speak, as Huddersfield was a busy working station. Its automated announcements broadcast regularly on its tannoy; its train services rolled in unstoppable as tides. The idea of Felix – feisty Felix! – participating in a live TV interview while all this hustle and bustle was going on was enough to give her PR team multiple migraines. And it wasn’t as if they were starting with a low-profile programme to ease themselves into the campaign. Oh no. Felix would be making her live TV debut on ITV’s flagship breakfast programme, Good Morning Britain, which broadcast to a million viewers each morning.
The media appearance, therefore, was weeks in the planning. The studio in London was constantly on the phone. It had been decided that Andrew McClements – who had, after all, been responsible for Felix’s rise to fame – would appear alongside Felix on national telly to help her promote her book, and he was given some top tips by the TV execs on their dos and don’ts for live interviews (these included: don’t look at the camera directly and – whatever you do – do not swear …). The interview had to be scheduled promptly and the programme makers knew that they had to stick to that schedule, despite the likely disruptions of live TV, as a minute or two either side might see Felix’s big moment rudely interrupted by a loud locomotive barrelling down the tracks. As for the unknown impact of the dozens of commuters who’d be out and about at that hour – and no doubt interested to see what was going on – well, everyone would just have to hope for the best …
Of course, at the centre of it all was Felix. The night before, as he checked on her in the back office, Andrew McClements apologised to her. For there would be no night shift for the station cat that evening, as was her usual routine: she had to be kept in overnight to ensure that she was ready to purr-mote her book to the nation the next day. Felix did not seem too impressed by the change in schedule, but in the end she gave in to the temptation of an indoor snooze.
On 24 February 2017, Felix woke to find that the station was bustling with even more activity than it usually was on a busy working day. There were a few unfamiliar black-shirted workers scurrying about with boxes of books; these were staff from the local Huddersfield Waterstones, who had come in to sell books. There was also a large film crew lugging huge, heavy cameras and a funny-looking fluffy grey microphone, plus the suited TV presenter who’d be conducting the interview. Andrew was also there, but as he no longer worked at Huddersfield even his presence was now out of the ordinary. Felix blinked around her with her big green eyes, as if to suss out why there was such a commotion.
Andrew soon picked her up for her starring role onscreen. Though he and Felix didn’t see each other much any more, his new job at HQ still required him to come to the Hub at Huddersfield fairly frequently and he always made a point of seeking Felix out for a friendly chat. Consequently, Felix had not forgotten him and now allowed him to lift her up without a squeak of protest. She soon settled down in his arms, lying horizontally in them and facing front out, so that the cameras would have a great shot of her. Though Andrew felt pretty petrified about the task that lay ahead, Felix seemed to take it all in her stride.