Short Stuff: Camberley Kate | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Hey and welcome to the short stuff. I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and it's us. But. we're joined by a third person today uh. in spirit. Her [laughter] name is. Kimberly Kate and she seems like a. pretty boss person. >> Yeah, she sure was. Uh if you found. yourself in Kberly, England, uh which is. about uh 35 miles southwest of London. >> in Siri. >> That's right. Uh if if you found.

yourself there in in let's say the mid1. 1970s, you might have seen uh causing a. traffic jam in town, a beret uh wearing. gay-haired senior citizen uh with a a. handmade push cart uh with ward stray. dogs painted on the side of it. And then. some dogs in that cart riding along and. maybe another I don't know 15 or 20. dogs, some on leashes, some not on. leashes, but very good boys and girls. Uh walking along with this uh you know,

for lack of a better word, crazy dog. lady in the best way. >> Yeah, crazy dog lady. Her name was Kate. Ward. And the reason she was a crazy dog. lady in addition to walking all these. dogs around is that all of these dogs. were hers. She wasn't like helping out a. friend by taking these dogs on a walk. She had taken in all these dogs because. they were all strays. They were about to. be put down. They had been abandoned and. she took them in as her own. And what. what's really cool about this too is she.

>> took really good care of them. This. wasn't like a situation where she was. just collecting dogs and you know, yeah, whatever happened to them happened to. them. like she took excellent care of. each one of these dogs and over the. course of her lifetime actually over the. course of just something like 50 years I. think she rescued hundreds of dogs and. kept them in great health and gave them. great lives. >> Yeah, it's amazing. Uh it was more like. like 30 something years. >> Yeah. And that's a lot of dogs. And.

apparently here's the you know the. little secret is apparently there were. hundreds of cats. I couldn't find a lot. of evidence of that, but I did read a. couple of articles where they said, you. know, that no one ever talks about the. cats, but there were just as many cats. over the years. Uh, so, you know, one of. England's first um probably the first. onmass dog rescue person. Um, you know, from what I read, people would of course. take in a a stray here and there and. that kind of thing, but there weren't. these big dog rescue organizations.

people would like either abandon a pet. very sadly or just drop it off at the. vet or drop it off on at the front door. of the police station and that's where. she sourced them. She got dogs and cats. from uh from police stations, from. veterinarians um out on the streets just. randomly and uh it all started with this. greyhound at the very beginning. I think. in 1943. >> um she had bought a cottage. It was her. first house. And then uh she said went. up the road and on the doorstep of the.

vet, someone had abandoned this little. lame uh skinny greyhound that was set to. be put to sleep. And she was like, "No, no, no. That's coming with me.". >> Yeah. The the vet I heard is very. dramatic. The vet had the axe in the air. in mid swing when she stopped him and. said, "No, no, I'll take this little. greyhound in.". >> Uh that became, from what I can tell, her first dog uh at the very least of. her adult life. And she and the dog I. did you see the little doggy's name? I. couldn't find it anywhere.

>> No, I couldn't find the greyhound's. name. >> Okay. But this is her first dog. We'll. call him Primo. Um and she and Primo. were like inseparable for eight over. eight years. Like they were just the. best of friends. And then. >> sadly as things happened, Primo died. She gave him an extra eight plus years. of great life. He had a new best friend. So, his passing was sad in and of. itself, but it wasn't as sad as if he. had been put down for being lame eight. years earlier. >> Yeah, for sure. And uh she said, and you. know, a lot of this comes from this.

great BBC interview from the mid70s that. you can watch on YouTube if you want to. uh hear Kate in her canankerous ways. kind of spill the story out. But she. said that um at the time everyone kind. of thought like, well, that's it. You. know, no one's going to like this woman. isn't going to get another dog. And she. was like, that was just the start. And. at this point, it was 500 dogs by the. time of this interview. And then I think. four years later, that had grown to 600. by the end. >> It's nuts, man. It's so great, too.

>> Um, I say we take a little break and. come back and talk a little more about. Kimberly Kate and her saga. >> Let's do it. [music]. Oh, the stuff we learned from Josh and. Chuck. [music]. Stuff you should know. [music]. [music].

Okay, Chucks. At some point back there, you had said that she sourced her dogs. from different places. And I couldn't. help in my mind think that it sounded. like she was running a farmtotable. operation out of her house. >> Yeah, >> that's not at all what she was doing. She was doing the opposite of that. She. was not eating dogs. She was taking. really good care of them, as we said. And one of the really crazy things about. this or neat things about this is she.

could rattle off the names of all the. dogs she'd ever taken care of. >> Yeah. >> She's being interviewed at age 80. And. she's not only rattling off their names. like Patch and Daddy, she's also talking. about where she got each one or how she. found each one, too. So, it's quite. obvious that each one of these dogs that. she took in and had would have dozens at. a time um meant something very important. to her. Each one. >> Yeah, for sure. Um I mean, just to be. able to remember 600 things at that age.

is pretty remarkable. >> Yeah, for sure. >> You know, uh and you know, she couldn't. do this without help. It seems like. there were towns people who would donate. um money for food. Uh although one of. them was keen to point out that like she. never took anything for herself even. when people tried to help her out. >> Yeah. >> Uh she didn't have a whole lot of money, but she um did have the help of a local. vet, a guy named uh Jeffrey Katic, who. did proono care for her dogs, and he's. interviewed um and basically was like, "These are some of the healthiest dogs. I've come across." He said they seem to.

live a little longer than most, an. average of about 16 years and they're in. better shape than the average dog. She. feeds them well, he said, but like not. too much. He said none of them are. overweight and they're all very well. behaved cuz you know, as you see on on. these dog walks, like a lot of them even. aren't aren't on leash. >> Uh, and in fact, she battled a leash law. that came around at one point that I. don't think was necessarily targeting. her, but would have affected her. No, that's the other reason why people. remember her. In addition to um being. mentioned in Sir Arthur Bryant's.

personal history of 20th century England. called the the lion and the unicorn, he. gave her that nickname in the book. Um. one of the reasons she became kind of a. legend in addition to being the first. like basically solo animal rescue. person. >> Yeah. >> Um was that she had quite a personality. in and of itself. like she was known to. be rather vocal and defensive and and. anytime somebody threatened her dogs. with putting them on a leash or taking. them away from her or something, she'd.

let them know in no uncertain terms that. they were not going to do that. >> Yeah. I think it's interesting like she. didn't seem personality plus but kind of. in a lovable way cuz she's like don't. screw with my dogs. Um, apparently she. would, you know, the cars would honk at. her and stuff cuz she would cause like, you know, a bit of a traffic jam at. times when she has all these dogs on. these walks and she would ram that card. into the cars and uh not be too nice. sometimes and was not nice to the city. council like I said with that leash law. It's not like she went in there with hat. in hand. Um, she even petitioned the the.

the royal family at times, right? >> Yeah. Apparently, they she would. regularly write to them and uh I don't. know that they ever wrote back, but. there was an incident where a teacher. said publicly that they saw Kate beating. one of her dogs with a stick and she got. so incensed about this and was so. concerned, I guess, about what people. thought of how she was taking care of. her dogs, she wrote to King George V 6, Queen Elizabeth's father, and said like.

that did not happen. Unequivocally, that. didn't happen, nor would it ever happen. So, she she would appeal to them, too, if the city council wasn't behaving. And. I don't know what effect it has, but. it's definitely worth mentioning. >> Yeah. Apparently, she even sent Queen. Elizabeth when she got married um well, before she was queen, I guess, in uh. November 1947. Uh and it says that one. of the dogs sent a wedding gift, a dog. leash, uh to those corgis that Queen. Elizabeth loved. So, that's pretty cute. Um you know, she she lived on a pension.

uh not a lot is known about her early. life. I I think I found that she was um. sadly both of her parents had died at. when she was a young age and was raised. by her aunt. >> and kind of worked as a when she became. a teenager worked as a housemaid at. various places in institutions and uh. apparently was pretty religious because. she did say that you know uh capital HM. these these animals belong to him. >> and that I'm I'm just sort of caring for. them you know the best I can. I'm just.

cleaning up their poop. >> Yeah, exactly. >> She um Yeah, you mentioned that and I. think it's worth worth pointing out. again. She was not wealthy. She was. living off a pension from the the. government from what I can tell. Um like. you said, she'd been a housemmaid here. or there. And I don't know that she was. occupied much after that once she bought. her house for 600 pounds, by the way. But there's a this is from a house of. works article and there is a um a person. named Heather Driscoll Woodford who uh.

curates a Facebook page to Kate uh. Kimberly Kate and has a lot of. information about her but basically. points out um that Kate was like the. forerunner to the people who are. rescuing dogs today and like you said. before like this just did not happen. Um. people just abandoned dogs. maybe you. would take a stray in like you said. I. think but uh she just came out of. nowhere and made such an impact and. became so memorable that she inspired. other people to do the same. Not nearly.

to the degree that she did. Like there's. very few animal rescue people with a. couple dozen dogs at any given time, but. um or let alone not just fostering them, keeping them for the rest of their. lives. Uh but she definitely inspired. people in that respect for sure. >> Yeah. uh very sadly she passed uh I. guess she was about 84 because this was. in 1979. She had a series of strokes in. the BBC. Uh she was 80 and 75. So a nice. full life saved a lot of dogs and cats.

So [music] we salute Kimberly Kate. >> Yes, we take our berets off to her. >> and [music] short stuff is out. >> Stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart Radio. [music] For more podcasts, iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio. app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. listen to your favorite shows.