Eliot wrote the poems in the 1930s and included them, under his assumed name "Old Possum", in letters to his godchildren.

It became the longest-running Broadway show in history until it was overtaken by another musical by Lloyd Webber, The Phantom of the Opera.

The British rock band Mungo Jerry derived their name from the book's poem "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer".

[7] The Tombs, a bar and restaurant in Washington, D.C., is named after the fictional establishment mentioned in the poem "Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town".

[9] Morley's daughter, Susanna Smithson, uncovered the poem as part of the BBC Two programme Arena: T.S.