Whit ‧ ting ‧ ton, Dick /ˈwɪtɪŋtən/ BrE AmE
(?1385–1423) an English businessman who was Lord Mayor of London. Although he was a real person, there are also many stories about his life. According to old stories, he went to London with his cat when he was a young man because he believed ‘the streets were paved with gold’ (=he thought it was easy to become rich there) . At first he was very unsuccessful and decided to leave London. But as he was leaving, he thought he heard the words ‘Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London’ in the sound of the church bells. So he went back, and later became Lord Mayor of London three times. His story is often performed in ↑ pantomime s in the UK, and in these stories the cat is always shown to be very intelligent.