LET Rufus, the big beast of Baker Street, be the first animal to be inducted into our Character series.

Six foot and weighing in at 55 kilos, he could’ve been perfectly cast in any oversized pet-themed romcom. Instead, the Pyrenean Mountain Dog was a local celebrity in Marylebone.

It’s almost 10 years since he passed away, but Harrington remembers fondly the stares and more importantly the smiles whenever people saw him on the tube. Maybe they were wondering if there was a human inside, wearing the most realistic onesie ever.

When he died, his owner Michael Stavrides, who runs the Marylebone Art Gallery, said it was a loss to “mankind”.

That might sound a little over the top and fuelled by the emotion of grief, but its sentiment is true.

People stopped to pat and chat outside the gallery or on the train when Rufus was about, the kind of friendly thing which only happens in Richard Curtis films and not in the real world where we are all buried in our phones.

All very twee maybe, but nothing unites us more than collectively deciding what pets must be thinking from their goofy expressions and adoring eyes.