Barry Humphries reads a letter about a very grumpy cat

One afternoon in 1960, a balding cat named Blackie was thrust upon novelist John Cheever by Josephine (Josie) Herbst, an old friend who while visiting for lunch explained that she could no longer keep him. Cheever reluctantly homed the cat and renamed him Delmore after the poet Delmore Schwartz, the former wife of whom had once owned the cat in question. Alas, Cheever and Delmore didn’t get on; so much so that Cheever’s friendship with Herbst soon deteriorated and they ceased contact. The rift finally healed in December 1963, when Cheever sent her an update by letter.

In October 2016, at Letters Live at London's Freemasons' Hall, the late, great Barry Humphries joined us to give a hilarious reading of this brilliant letter.