Man's Best Friend

In tribute to 19th century Highbury resident Charles Alfred Cruft (1852 – 1938) who created the first dog show of many breeds namely “Cruft’s Greatest Dog Show”, a show so much a part of our fabric of British institution that we now refer to it as merely ‘Crufts’, first held in 1891 at the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington (we know that better as the Business Design Centre). Some would say that Charles Cruft can be held partly responsible for changing the British public’s perception of man’s best friend, noting that until shortly before this time, it was generally believed that dogs were kept only for hunting and defence and not as pets, with the exception of lap-dogs, which were considered to be a dog fit only for ladies, but even he would be staggered to know that there are over 9 million registered dogs in the UK today. Bizarrely, although Mr Cruft purported to be a dog lover he never actually owned a dog himself! Show Less