Skimbleshanks would later become the title of Lloyd-Webber's next musical. "Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat" (poem) Skimbleshanks Skimbleshanks is a cat character in T. S. Eliot's book of poetry "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" and in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "Cats". The T. S Eliot poem begins as a parody of Rudyard Kipling's poem "l'Envoi" (also known as "The Long Trail") from "Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses". Compare the first few lines of Kipling's Skimbleshanks is described as living on the Night Mail overnight express train that travels on the British West Coast Main Line (WCML) between London Euston and Glasgow
Carbonel: The King of the Cats Cantrip to obtain her, at best ambivalent, help. "Carbonel" (the first book) is currently () in print in hardback in the US as part of the "New York Review" Children's Collection. The UK paperback was reprinted in August 2005 by Puffin. Carbonel: The King of the Cats Carbonel: the King of the Cats is a children's book by Barbara Sleigh, first published by Max Parrish in 1955, and in the US by Bobbs-Merrill, 1955. It is based on an old folk tale from the British Isles "The King of the Cats" and has two sequels, "The Kingdom of Carbonel" (Puffin,