Match the animal to the musician

London Zoo, as ref'd by Jess yesterday, has a wonderful scheme that allows members of the public to 'adopt an animal'. Jess once adopted a tiger for Tom for his birthday (but he told her they have one already, :-))) ). Still, some of the little guys in those photos simply look made for certain friends and contacts of ours, so while Jess is away she suggests that I could provide you with an entertaining game.

Above is a selection of animals you can adopt. Here's a list of musical adopters for them. Which creature(s) would best suit which human(s)? No prizes, but enjoy...

Riccardo Muti
The Bekova Sisters Trio
Bryn Terfel
Angela Gheorghiu
The London Philharmonic
Kurt Masur
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Lang Lang

Born free

So who wants to live in a zoo? Today's Independent explains that there's a risk that the tigers could get out of London Zoo and into the park. Can't say I blame them. And there's an interesting history of creatures escaping from zoos around the world - we particularly enjoyed the one about the spectacled bear that tried to 'commandeer a bicycle'.

Jess couldn't find a clouded leopard. Or wouldn't: apparently some of her fellow bloggers don't like cats. Tough litter.

My new cousins in Borneo

Big mrows today to celebrate the discovery of a whole new species of big cat. Bring on the clouded leopard!

I shall dig my claws into Jess's feet until she knuckles down to finding a picture of one...watch this space...

Not a fake pianist

Nora - what a creep. I mean, she just makes it up as she goes along. miaowww!

My cousins from Argentina

Courtesy of The Daily Telegraph's Pictures of the Week, here are my three new cousins from Buenos Aires Zoo, where Jess & Tom spent a happy hour admiring their parents a year ago. White Bengal tigers. My kindred spirits. I may be orange with green eyes, but I can see in the faces of these little guys that we're soulmates. My staff may not recognise that I am simply another version of a Bengal tiger, but I know it's true, and that's good enough.

[NB: My staff request an addendum: they only read the Telegraph online and would never fork out for the thing unless there's a free giveaway of a 1940s movie with a soundtrack full of violins. Don't ask me.]

Monet's cat

So where did our favourite artist Clawed Meownet start out? Why, by doing pastel drawings of cats, of course. How else?

See Monet's early drawings in a new exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts (starts 17 March) and read all about it in today's Times.

“People discuss my art and pretend to understand it as if it were necessary to understand, he famously said, “but it is simply necessary to love.”

In my new capawcity as ballet reviewer...

...the other day we switched on The Sleeping Beauty, performed by The Royal Ballet, in the middle of the last act, not having realised that the TV broadcast started at 4pm. And not a moment too soon: we were just in time for the real star turn: the pas de deux of Puss in Boots and the White Cat.

Jess told me that usually this exquisite number is a lot funnier than those on-screen cats allowed it to be. But what do you expect? Cats have a way of putting on their best behaviour when there are cameras around. Apparently the oboes, too, usually have a high old time, camping up the score with feline yowls, but again they must have had their eye on posterity.

What puzzles me most of all, however, is the placement of the Bluebirds' pas de deux immediately after the cats. Any bluebird worth its salt would fly for its life if there were two self-respecting kitties anywhere nearby. Mr and Mrs Flutterfeet wouldn't stand a chance. Just as well we never see on TV what goes on backstage at the ballet...


BEHIND THE SCENES AT AURORA'S WEDDING - ACCORDING TO SOLTI
The Wolf would gobble up Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots and his female friend would be trying to kill and eat the Bluebirds, the Bluebirds would be flitting about avoiding certain death and scaring any ladies with Birdophobia, the two-girls-one-boy trio would be scandalising everyone by coming out as a menage-a-trois, the Queen would be having a near breakdown trying to update the court fashions by 100 years in time for the wedding, Prince Florimund would be in therapy because he didn't believe in fairies before all this happened, and Princess Aurora would find a quiet corner for a little snooze...