Savoy Cat

Arthur C. Clarke famously stated that advanced technology is akin to magic. The Savoy Cat sculpture, inspired by an 1898 dinner hosted by Woolf Joel at The Savoy, commemorates a superstitious belief that emerged when Joel, ignoring a warning, left a table of thirteen and was later killed. To combat this superstition, The Savoy introduced Kaspar, a two-foot-high black cat sculpture designed by Basil Ionides in 1927. Kaspar serves as a fourteenth guest to ward off bad luck, complete with a napkin and place setting. This tradition, beloved by many including Winston Churchill, has been upheld at The Savoy for nearly 90 years.