Garfield, the title character of the world's most widely syndicated comic strip, has been shipping the kitten Nermal here for nearly 25 years. John Mather speaks to the cartoon's creator and asks him why he chose the capital.
Garfield, the obese cat who believes "lethargy takes real discipline", stands in front of a mirror admiring his physique while Nermal, the self-proclaimed cutest kitten in the world, sits beside him. "How do you think I look?" Garfield asks.
"Like a million, give or take a year," Nermal responds.
"I think I carry my weight rather well," Garfield continues.
Nermal shoots back: "You should. You've had the practice."
Finally, Garfield says: "Do you think I have a strong chin?"
"Which one?"
With that, Garfield pats Nermal on the head, stuffs the kitten in a box and places him on the doorstep with the address: "Anyone, Abu Dhabi".
It is not the first time the lasagne-loving feline has tried to ship his nemesis to the capital. The joke began in 1984, when Jim Davis, Garfield's creator, picked the UAE as the last stop on the Annoying Kitten Express. Since then, the gag has been syndicated in more than 2,000 newspapers worldwide, and has put Abu Dhabi on the map for many people contemplating a move to the Arab world. But few know why Davis chose Abu Dhabi as the place where all the cute kittens go.
"I wanted to pick something that sounded like nothing in the United States," he says from his office in Albany, Indiana, where he runs the all-things-Garfield company Paws Inc. "I didn't want to send him to Middleton or Springfield."
The cartoonist remembers liking the ring of Abu Dhabi - "it sounds like a song" - but his assistant was pushing him to send Nermal to Tierra del Fuego, the archipelago on the southernmost tip of South America.
So Davis began researching his choices. He discovered the UAE, then an adolescent nation, is a friend of the United States and predicted the two countries would remain peaceful. "I was careful to pick a location that we were not going to be at war with in 10 years," he says. "And I just love that name. It was a perfect fit."
Davis is keen to emphasise that his choice is in no way a reflection on the UAE. "I don't think of it as a place of banishment." Instead, he says, Abu Dhabi, with its lyrical name, holds a metaphorical position in Garfield's life. "Nermal represents all Garfield's insecurities. He's young, very cute and rather slender compared to Garfield.
"Nermal is the exact opposite of Garfield. When he sends Nermal to Abu Dhabi it's like any of us when we're in denial about our own state in life - we'll pack up all those insecurities and send them far away."
Perhaps surprisingly, Davis has never visited Abu Dhabi or the UAE. "Nermal goes there often. He may have developed some friendships there. But I have no desire to go."
Since becoming a grandfather, Davis, like Garfield, has become a homebody and he doesn't travel much any more (in 2002, he sold his paw-print-covered private jet). He has two sons and a daughter and three grandchildren. His son James recently returned from a tour in Afghanistan.
Born on July 28 1945 in Marion, Indiana, Davis now works an hour's drive away in Albany. Growing up, he was surrounded by 25 cats on his family's farm. He credits his childhood asthma, which kept him indoors and away from farm chores, for developing his artistic abilities and his family for his sense of humour.
After university, he began working as an assistant for Tom K Ryan, the creator of the Tumbleweeds comic. His own first comic strip, about a bug named Gnorm Gnat, struggled to impress newspapers and ended its unsuccessful run when a giant foot crushed the main character. He then turned to the comic pages for inspiration and noticed there weren't any cats. Cats, he says, are allowed to get away with anything and so Garfield can take "our guilt away for being essentially lazy slobs".
At his office there are two cats: a fat tiger cat and another originally called Charlie Brown, now renamed Nermal. Garfield the cartoon is a composite of the imagined personalities of the cats on Davis's parents' farm and his grandfather, the original Garfield, who died in 1951. "My grandfather was a big man with a grumpy, crusty wit but a heart of gold," he told a newspaper in 2006. "He seemed gruff, but his eyes gave him away. He had the world's largest laugh."
On June 19 1978, Garfield made his first appearance in 41 newspapers. Thirty years later, the wisecracking layabout, who maintains a strict regime of sleep, eat, watch TV and repeat, is the most widely syndicated cartoon in the world, according to Guinness World Records. An estimated 263 million people follow his exploits in newspapers and he has starred on TV and in film.
Davis has estimated Garfield, whose face has been slapped on everything from bumper stickers to underwear, earns Dh2,755,500 million annually. A new edition to the Garfield brand could be a UAE-based Garfield theme park. Davis says he has been following the country's development with interest but as it stands, there is "nothing we can announce yet and nothing concrete".
Until there is a plan, Garfield will continue shipping Nermal to the UAE "for as long as he can. Absolutely. I think in these changing times some of the constants are reassuring. I see no reason not to send Nermal to Abu Dhabi for the next 100 years."
In fact, a permanent move to Abu Dhabi for Nermal might suit both characters. Garfield, who describes Nermal as a "wide-eyed mindless little piece of fluff", "the Shirley Temple of the feline set", and "so cute it's disgusting", would rid himself of one of many annoyances. And Nermal, who revels in rubbing his cuteness in the face of others, would find a land filled with thousands of cats, both cute and otherwise.
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
The specs: 2019 BMW i8 Roadster
Price, base: Dh708,750
Engine: 1.5L three-cylinder petrol, plus 11.6 kWh lithium-ion battery
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power: 374hp (total)
Torque: 570Nm (total)
Fuel economy, combined: 2.0L / 100km
The specs
Engine: 8.0-litre, quad-turbo 16-cylinder
Transmission: 7-speed auto
0-100kmh 2.3 seconds
0-200kmh 5.5 seconds
0-300kmh 11.6 seconds
Power: 1500hp
Torque: 1600Nm
Price: Dh13,400,000
On sale: now
At a glance
- 20,000 new jobs for Emiratis over three years
- Dh300 million set aside to train 18,000 jobseekers in new skills
- Managerial jobs in government restricted to Emiratis
- Emiratis to get priority for 160 types of job in private sector
- Portion of VAT revenues will fund more graduate programmes
- 8,000 Emirati graduates to do 6-12 month replacements in public or private sector on a Dh10,000 monthly wage - 40 per cent of which will be paid by government
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES
September 30
South Africa v Australia
Argentina v New Zealand
October 7
South Africa v New Zealand
Argentina v Australia
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Four-day collections of TOH
Day Indian Rs (Dh)
Thursday 500.75 million (25.23m)
Friday 280.25m (14.12m)
Saturday 220.75m (11.21m)
Sunday 170.25m (8.58m)
Total 1.19bn (59.15m)
(Figures in millions, approximate)
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Pathaan
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The 15 players selected
Muzzamil Afridi, Rahman Gul, Rizwan Haider (Dezo Devils); Shahbaz Ahmed, Suneth Sampath (Glory Gladiators); Waqas Gohar, Jamshaid Butt, Shadab Ahamed (Ganga Fighters); Ali Abid, Ayaz Butt, Ghulam Farid, JD Mahesh Kumara (Hiranni Heros); Inam Faried, Mausif Khan, Ashok Kumar (Texas Titans
US PGA Championship in numbers
1 Joost Luiten produced a memorable hole in one at the par-three fourth in the first round.
2 To date, the only two players to win the PGA Championship after winning the week before are Rory McIlroy (2014 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) and Tiger Woods (2007, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational). Hideki Matsuyama or Chris Stroud could have made it three.
3 Number of seasons without a major for McIlroy, who finished in a tie for 22nd.
4 Louis Oosthuizen has now finished second in all four of the game's major championships.
5 In the fifth hole of the final round, McIlroy holed his longest putt of the week - from 16ft 8in - for birdie.
6 For the sixth successive year, play was disrupted by bad weather with a delay of one hour and 43 minutes on Friday.
7 Seven under par (64) was the best round of the week, shot by Matsuyama and Francesco Molinari on Day 2.
8 Number of shots taken by Jason Day on the 18th hole in round three after a risky recovery shot backfired.
9 Jon Rahm's age in months the last time Phil Mickelson missed the cut in the US PGA, in 1995.
10 Jimmy Walker's opening round as defending champion was a 10-over-par 81.
11 The par-four 11th coincidentally ranked as the 11th hardest hole overall with a scoring average of 4.192.
12 Paul Casey was a combined 12 under par for his first round in this year's majors.
13 The average world ranking of the last 13 PGA winners before this week was 25. Kevin Kisner began the week ranked 25th.
14 The world ranking of Justin Thomas before his victory.
15 Of the top 15 players after 54 holes, only Oosthuizen had previously won a major.
16 The par-four 16th marks the start of Quail Hollow's so-called "Green Mile" of finishing holes, some of the toughest in golf.
17 The first round scoring average of the last 17 major champions was 67.2. Kisner and Thorbjorn Olesen shot 67 on day one at Quail Hollow.
18 For the first time in 18 majors, the eventual winner was over par after round one (Thomas shot 73).
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Notable Yas events in 2017/18
October 13-14 KartZone (complimentary trials)
December 14-16 The Gulf 12 Hours Endurance race
March 5 Yas Marina Circuit Karting Enduro event
March 8-9 UAE Rotax Max Challenge
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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RESULT
Al Hilal 4 Persepolis 0
Khribin (31', 54', 89'), Al Shahrani 40'
Red card: Otayf (Al Hilal, 49')
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
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Company%20Profile
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Keane on …
Liverpool’s Uefa Champions League bid: “They’re great. With the attacking force they have, for me, they’re certainly one of the favourites. You look at the teams left in it - they’re capable of scoring against anybody at any given time. Defensively they’ve been good, so I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t go on and win it.”
Mohamed Salah’s debut campaign at Anfield: “Unbelievable. He’s been phenomenal. You can name the front three, but for him on a personal level, he’s been unreal. He’s been great to watch and hopefully he can continue now until the end of the season - which I’m sure he will, because he’s been in fine form. He’s been incredible this season.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s instant impact at former club LA Galaxy: “Brilliant. It’s been a great start for him and for the club. They were crying out for another big name there. They were lacking that, for the prestige of LA Galaxy. And now they have one of the finest stars. I hope they can go win something this year.”
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Kathryn Hawkes of House of Hawkes on being a good guest (because we’ve all had bad ones)
- Arrive with a thank you gift, or make sure you have one for your host by the time you leave.
- Offer to buy groceries, cook them a meal or take your hosts out for dinner.
- Help out around the house.
- Entertain yourself so that your hosts don’t feel that they constantly need to.
- Leave no trace of your stay – if you’ve borrowed a book, return it to where you found it.
- Offer to strip the bed before you go.
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 290hp
Torque: 340Nm
Price: Dh155,800
On sale: now
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft Toronto
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
Release Date: April 10
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
