Which poet wrote Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, the basis for Cats?

T. S. Eliot wrote Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, the poetry collection that provided the basis for Cats.

Eliot published the book in 1939 as a set of playful poems about distinctive feline characters, including Macavity, Mr. Mistoffelees and Old Deuteronomy. The poems were written in a light, comic style quite different from Eliot’s more serious modernist works such as The Waste Land.

Andrew Lloyd Webber adapted Eliot’s verses into songs for Cats, preserving many of the original character names and much of the language. Eliot’s poem “The Song of the Jellicles” supplied the idea of the Jellicle Cats and their gathering, while the musical expanded those sketches into a stage production.

A common mix-up is crediting Webber with creating the entire story. He composed the music, but the show’s literary foundation is Eliot’s poetry; additional lyrics were supplied by collaborators where the poems were incomplete or needed theatrical expansion.