Leaping cat

Any self-respecting Englishman has a fondness for Jaguar cars. They may no longer be the epitome of England -- it hasn't really been a British firm for more than 20 years -- but they still represent understated elegance combined with performance.

When working on The Birmingham Post, the Jaguar factory was within our circulation area and the company figured prominently in the business section of the newspaper.

One of the joys of watching Inspector Morse on DVD is to see his vintage Jaguar Mark II being driven along the roads of Oxford and through the Oxfordshire countryside.

The "leaping cat", which has featured on Jaguar cars since 1937, was designed by F Gordon Crosby. I saw it on a Jaguar parked in a driveway and could not resist taking a photograph. At the time, I had a feeling it would end up as my photo for the day.

Zeiss Planar T* ZE 1,4/50.