Before LOL cats there was this guy

Harrison Weir was the original crazy cat lady. In the late 19th century he founded the National Cat Club, wrote a book entitled Our Cats and All About Them, and created the first cat show. In other words, Weir earned his nickname of "The Father of the Cat Fancy." Weir was a member of Victorian-era London high society. At the time, most people saw cats only as rodent deterrents, not house pets. But Weir identified in cats "an elegance and wit that useless dogs lacked." In 1873, he founded the Crystal Palace Cat Show. Cats were graded on fur, color, shape, and build using Weir's "Standards of Excellence." Over 170 cats entered the competition. The event was a smash hit. Crowds were so massive that Weir scheduled a second event later that year. In between, four other competitions cropped up across London to cash in on the trend. Cat historians believe Weir's competition was pivotal in shifting Western opinion about keeping cats as pets. It certainly didn't hurt that around the same time Queen Victoria began caring for two cats of her own. Weir remained ambivalent about his impact on cats and society near the end of this life. He wrote that cat owners, especially those who were members of his National Cat Club, were becoming too exclusive. Weir will be happy to know that cat loving has gone massively mainstream thanks to the internet. I'm guessing he would spend all day on YouTube if he were alive today. That and creating funny cat memes—known as LOL cats. LOL indeed.