Kaspar

Kaspar is not a living cat but a sleek, Art-Deco sculpture of a black cat — and one of the most charming characters in London hospitality. He was carved in 1927 by the architect and designer Basil Ionides, and for nearly a century he has had a very particular job at the Savoy Hotel: to break the superstition that a dinner party of thirteen guests brings bad luck, with the first to leave the table destined to die.

The tradition began with a real tragedy. In 1898 a South African diamond magnate named Woolf Joel hosted a party at the Savoy that ended up thirteen strong after a guest dropped out. Joel laughed off warnings about the unlucky number, and was the first to rise from the table — and weeks later he was shot dead. To reassure superstitious diners ever after, the Savoy first sat a member of staff at any table of thirteen, then commissioned Kaspar as a more elegant solution.

Whenever a party of thirteen dines at the Savoy, Kaspar is brought to the table as the fourteenth guest. He is seated in his own chair, a napkin tied around his neck, and served every course — plate, glass and all — exactly as though he were a living diner. Winston Churchill was said to be so fond of the ritual that he insisted Kaspar join meetings of his dining society. Nearly a hundred years on, the little black cat still stands ready to make any thirteen into a safe and lucky fourteen.