The most famous Borzoi today is probably the one who is the ancestor of almost all of the Borzoi bred in the United Kingdom. The majority of the British Borzoi bloodlines alive today are from the same female Borzoi named Tasha. Tasha was born during World War II in the UK and she belonged to the founder of Denes Natural Pet Foods, Buster Lloyd Jones. Another famous Borzoi is the one who graces the covers of all books from Alfred A. Knopf publishing. The logo for Knopf publishing is a Borzoi in silhouette.
In the music industry, there is an interesting Borzoi who once took the stage with Pink Floyd. When they performed their song "Seamus" live in Pompeii in the 1970s, Pink Floyd decided to recreate the song in a different key. They called the new version "Mademoiselle Nobs" after the Borzoi, Nobs, whose howl they used to simulate the howling of the dog Seamus on the recorded version of the song with the same name.
There is also one famous reference to Borzoi in general and their importance as hunting dogs in Tsarist Russia in the book War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy's novel, published in the 1860s, has a fantastic hunting trial scene depicted at the opening of the sixth chapter of the seventh book of the novel. This part of the book highlights the importance of the Borzoi in Russian hunting trials during the Napoleonic era in Russia.
There are numerous references and appearances by Borzoi all throughout the history of film, starting with The Bride of Frankenstein in 1935; brief appearances of the Borzoi also occurred in 1946's Ziegfield Follies, 1948's Easter Parade, 1969's Hello Dolly, 1979's Love at First Bite, Excalibur and Wolfen in 1981, 1993's Last Action Hero, Legends of the Fall and Maverick in 1994, 1999's Sleepy Hollow, and 2001's A Knight's Tale.
There are also several major characters that are played by Borzoi in the cinema. These characters are usually representative of Russia or are placed in Russia. The movie version of Tolstoy's novel, War and Peace, was made in 1968 and showed the extensive Borzoi hunting scene. The Borzoi used for the film were from a breeder kennel in Ekhaga, Sweden. Disney's 1955 masterpiece Lady and the Tramp had a character named Boris who was a Russian Borzoi; he was an "inmate" at the dog pound when Tramp was captured by the dog catchers. Likewise, Disney brought a similar character to screen in 2000 in 102 Dalmatians with the Borzoi "Digger". There are also a few notable Borzoi appearances on television. TV shows like Wings, The Avengers, and JAG have all had the occasional Borzoi co-star on set.
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