Tabby Colourpoints came into existence in the UK in 1973 with the unexpected arrival of a seal tabbypoint in my first litter of seal and blue Colourpoints.

This kitten, Samoto Tigali (13a), caused a lot of interest, being beautifully marked and very pretty with lovely blue eyes but poor type. She was shown on several occasions in AOC classes and I was approached by several breeders, who expressed an interest.

When she was ready for mating, I was turned away however by several stud owners not allowing me to use their precious Colourpoint studs. This made me more determined than ever to find a proper stud.

Mrs Harding’s book ‘Colourpoint and Himalayan cats’ became my treasured guide and to improve type, outcrosses to the best self cats were proposed. I found a beautiful pure blue Persian Wynterburne Nicklaus (3), whose owner was happy to let my girl be mated and resulted in a litter of 6 kittens, brown tabbies, blacks and blues.

A big brown tabby girl, Samoto Chevronne (8), was kept for further breeding and was behind a number of top winning tabbypoint lines in the past.

A separate breeding line was started with the purchase of a beautiful brown tabby girl Ch Brownwillows Georgie May (8)

It took 11 years, 20 dedicated breeders, a mountain of show records and a lot of hard slog to get full recognition. Championship status was granted in 1984, the same year the Tabby Colourpoint Cat Club was founded.

From the very modest beginnings with lots of prejudice by the established breeders to overcome, the tabbypoints are now among the very best Persians, having also been helped with imports. At a recent all breed show Best in Show Adult, Kitten and Neuter were all Tabbypoints.