麻豆社

Libby Purves meets James Bowen who befriended Bob the cat; author Mary Sheepshanks; surgeon Dr Gino Strada and Ty Jeffries, also known as cabaret star Miss Hope Springs.

James Bowen is a street musician and former heroin addict who found Bob the cat in 2007. Bob was badly injured and James nursed him back to health. The pair have been inseparable ever since and Bob helped James recover from drug addiction. The World According to Bob is published by Hodder & Stoughton.

Mary Sheepshanks is a poet and author who published her first novel when she was in her sixties. She was brought up at Eton College where her father was a housemaster. At 21 she married the head of a prep school, becoming responsible for the welfare of the staff and 80 boys. Her book, Wild Writing Granny, is published by Stone Trough Books.

Dr Gino Strada is an Italian surgeon who co-founded Emergency, an NGO which provides free medical and surgical treatment to victims of war and poverty. The charity operates in a range of war-torn countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Sierra Leone and Cambodia. Dr Strada is in London to speak at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church.

Ex-Las Vegas showgirl, pianist and nightclub singer Miss Hope Springs is the creation of composer and lyricist Ty Jeffries. Ty is the son of the late actor and director Lionel Jeffries. He spent his formative years in Hollywood where his father had moved to work on the film Camelot. Family friend Fred Astaire taught Ty to tap dance down Sunset Boulevard. Miss Hope Springs performs every Sunday at The Crazy Coqs Cabaret room, Brasserie Zedel, in London's Piccadilly.

Producer: Paula McGinley.