Men & Dogs

A Personal History from Bogart to Bowie

by JUDITH WATT and PETER DYER

At the height of Beatlemania, Paul McCartney used to leap into a taxi with Martha, his Old English Sheepdog, to take her walking in nearby Primrose Hill. He loved the fact that fellow dog
owners would chat happily about their pets, clueless as to who he was.

Fatty Arbuckle met his co-star and constant companion Luke, a Staffordshire terrier, on the set of Lane, Speed and Thrills. The six-week-old brown-and-white puppy was promised to his wife Minta as an incentive for keeping her nerve while being dangled over the edge of a cliff.

PG Wodehouse stayed on at Le Touquet in Occupied France rather than risk subjecting his beloved Peke, Wonder, to the British quarantine laws. As a result he was interned by the Nazis and pressured into making his famously ‘treacherous’ radio broadcasts.

The young John F Kennedy, on a tour of Europe just before the outbreak of war, bought ‘a dachshund of great beauty’ in Germany. The dog became a mascot on the journey. Dogs were a continual feature of White House life through his presidency – to talk privately with Jackie the two would take their Welsh terrier and German shepherd out for a walk.

When Neil Young’s hound, King (on whom his song ‘Old King’ is based), ran off after deer during a highway stop, Young made his band and roadies wait seven hours for the dog’s return. Forced to leave without him, Young left his shirt behind, hoping King would pick up his scent.

Gregory Peck took time out from filming The Gunfighter to take care of his German Shepherd, Slip, after she had given birth to thirteen puppies. The star would rush home to help hand-feed the brood.

Men & Dogs is a personal history of dog people including: Laurence Olivier, Elvis Picasso, Alfred Hitchcock, Errol Flynn, Bob Hope, Humphrey Bogart, Peter Sellers, James Dean, Kirk Douglas, Will Smith, Mikhail Baryshniko, David Duchovny, Kevin Spacey, Buster Keaton, Kevin Costner, Sylvester Stallone, John Peel, John Huston, Craigie Aitchison, David Hockney, William Wegman, Ernest Hemingway, John Galsworthy, PG Wodehouse, Tom Wolfe, Ian Fleming, Sigmund Freud, Philip Pullman, Tito, Bill Clinton, The Red Baron, Custer, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Mark Wahlberg, Paul Robeson, Muhammed Ali, Robbie Williams .... and many more

Judith Watt is a writer and fashion historian, whose most recent book was on Ossie Clark for the V&A. She lives in London with her miniature dachshunds, Hettie and Ludwig.

Peter Dyer is an award-winning cover designer.

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