Orlando (fictional cat)

Background

Plot

Characters

Major Characters

• Blanche - Blanche is one of the 3 kittens, and is pure white.
• Grace - The wife of Orlando, she and the kittens almost always accompany Orlando. She often wears large hats and skirts, and once wore a wedding-dress made of fish on their wedding day, and in Orlando's Home Life wore a fur coat in the pattern of a leopard's fur. She is a tabby cat, with a small, stubby nose like a ripe apricot.
• Orlando - The hero of the series, he is a marmalade-coloured cat with eyes like two green gooseberries. He sometimes keeps his watch on his tail, and later on in the series he is friends with a living magic carpet named Fatima.
• Pansy - Pansy is one of Orlando's and Grace's 3 kittens, and she is a tortoiseshell.
• Tinkle - The most mischievous of the kittens, he is a black cat and owns a pet spider. He was responsible for creating the events in Orlando and the Three Graces, and is friends with Cupid the brown foal.
• Vulcan - Vulcan is a horse who, along with his wife Venus, first appeared in Orlando : Buys a Farm. He is the creature who made the events in Orlando : A Seaside Holiday possible, as he had found a place to stay in Owlbarrow. Vulcan returned in Orlando Goes to the Moon, pulling Orlando's moon rocket with Cupid and his wife Venus.

  Minor Characters

• Cattermole - Mr. Cattermole owns a shop for cats that opens after midnight. In Orlando's Home Life, when Orlando and Grace needed money to send the kittens to school, they made several inventions and gave them to Cattermole. A glimpse of his face can be seen in Orlando : A Seaside Holiday, and he gives Orlando his moon rocket, space suits and a present for the Man in the Moon in Orlando Goes to the Moon.
• Cupid - Cupid is the foal of Vulcan and his wife Venus, and appeared in Orlando : A Seaside Holiday. In the book, he eats a cauliflower, some flowers and a hat. He reappeared in Orlando Goes to the Moon, pulling Orlando's moon rocket with Venus and Vulcan.
• Fluffy - Judge Wiggin's pet cat, he is the villain in Orlando the Judge for stealing Mr. Gorgon's cheese for his mousetraps. He eventually became a guard for the Old Mice's Home as punishment.
• Wiggins - Wiggins is a judge who owns Fluffy the cat. He appears in Orlando the Judge, with a cold.

  Books

• Orlando : A Camping Holiday
• Orlando : A Trip Abroad
• Orlando's Evening Out
• Orlando : Buys a Farm
• Orlando's Home Life - In this book, Orlando tells his wife Grace that the kittens should be sent to learn something as soon as possible, or "nobody will want them". Unfortunately, Orlando and Grace do not have enough money to send them to school, so they give Mr. Cattermole three inventions - cream to stop making cats wet, a "Puss Protector" which makes cars jump over jay-walking cats and Grace's fluffy blankets for invalid cats. Because their inventions becomes a success, they earn enough money from Mr. Cattermole and are then able to send the kittens the school. However, they hated it with a passion, and "did all they could to be expelled". Pansy was first to be expelled, then Blanche and finally Tinkle. Orlando and Grace then decide to get private tutors to educate their kittens in different subjects, and eventually Pansy learns to be an actress, Blanche to be a dancer, and Tinkle a master of the arts. However, Orlando finds Grace crying into the kitchen sink during washing the dishes, and because she feels old without her kittens Orlando dismisses all of the teachers and took Grace out, while the kittens secretly write a surprise play for her and Orlando. Orlando takes grace to a fishmongers, a luxury clothes shop and visit Mr. Cattermole, who gives them microphones as a mark of his gratefulness. The next day, when Grace's coat arrives, Orlando's family prepare to go to the cat-show, and as Grace adores a pair of Siamese cats the kittens add this to their surprise play. That night, the kittens perform their play and have 5 acts - the Scarf Dance by Blanche, the Hairy Heart, the Whiskered Meringue, a pair of "Siamese" kittens and finally a Fan Dance performed by Pansy. Afterwards, Orlando and Grace sing on the rooftops with their microphones, and finally went to bed and "dreamt of Sardines".
• Orlando : His Silver Wedding - Also known as Orlando's Silver Wedding, this book tells the story of Orlando and Grace's marriage.
• Orlando : Becomes a Doctor
• Orlando's Invisible Pyjamas
• Orlando : Keeps a Dog
• Orlando the Judge - When Mr. Gorgon suspects Mr. Zola of stealing his cheese, Orlando is in despair that his two friends are arguing. He is then called to Judge Wiggins, who has a cold and is not getting better as his arrogant pet cat named Fluffy takes everything he needs to eat. Orlando eventually takes his place while Grace boils Wiggins some milk, and the kittens investigate for the mystery of the missing cheese. At the end of the book, it is revealed that Fluffy stole the cheese for his mouse-trap, and eventually becomes a guard for the Old Mice's Home as punishment. Mr. Gorgon and Mr. Zola become friends again, and the Wiggins's cold begins to get better.
• - In A Seaside Holiday, they stay in the town of 'Owlbarrow', a thinly disguised version of Aldeburgh on the coast of Suffolk: many of the illustrations feature landmarks in the town. One hot summer's day, Orlando is disappointed that he and his family cannot go on holiday, until unexpectedly their friend Vulcan the Horse visits their house to say that Vulcan, his wife Venus and their foal Cupid are going on holiday with Orlando, in a docked boat over in Owlbarrow. There, they meet a lady named Salubrious and a dachshund named Daisy. They spend the rest of their stay there flying a kite, discovering a "mermaid", rescuing people from a shipwreck and cheering up the grumpy Mr. Curmudgeon. The book ends with Catalpa living with the now-jolly Curmudgeon, the rescued people gaining a new ship looking like Orlando and both Orlando and Vulcan's family going back home. Along with the reprint of Orlando : A Camping Holiday by Puffin, this is the book that is the most easiest to buy, and is published by the Penguin Group.
• Orlando's Zoo
• Orlando : The Frisky Housewife
• Orlando's Magic Carpet
• Orlando's Country Peepshow - this was a "novelty" or "gimmick" book. It consisted of four sections that were joined, and opened to the shape of a merry-go-round, or carousel. Each section contained a cut-out scene with layers like a theatre stage's "flats", or like decoupage. Each section showed a theatre scene, or tableau, of one of the four seasons of Orlando's farm, with the scenes showing spring planting, summer growing, autumn harvesting, and winter relaxing at Christmas.
• Orlando, the Marmalade Cat, Buys a Cottage
• Orlando and the Three Graces - On Christmas, Tinkle receives a magic kit, which has two sprays. As he wants to give his parents a present, he gives Orlando a box, Pansy and Blanche his pet spider and gives Grace one of the sprays from his magic kit. To do this, he scratches out the word on one of the sprays and replaces it with "TINKLE". When Grace sprays it on herself, however, two other Graces appear, and do exactly the same thing that she does. When Orlando sees her, he hisses and refuses to believe her as he knows he has only one wife, Grace spends the rest of the day crying and the kittens hide in fear. They all eventually go to see Father Christmas for help, and on their way they meet the Dog Star, who gives the cats warm haddock milk except for Tinkle. As soon as they find Father Christmas, he undoes the spell on Grace and tells Tinkle that he should have read the label. They go back home safely, and have a wonderful Christmas.
• Orlando Goes to the Moon
• Orlando and the Water Cats

  Legacy