The pet I’ll never forget: Caesar the goldfish, who meant as much to me as any dog

‘Caesar propelled himself out of the water and on to the carpet, his orange colouring fading into the 70s brown pattern’ (posed by model). Photograph: Imagebroker/Alamy

To anyone else, Caesar would have seemed an ordinary goldfish, swimming in his orange, bug-eyed way around his tank. To me, though, he was immortal, thanks to one of those family stories that mean so much when you’re a child.

Dad, a Methodist minister in Bradford, was about to leave for a church meeting when he realised that Caesar had propelled himself out of his water and on to the carpet, his orange colouring fading into the 70s brown pattern. Assuming that Caesar had swum to the great aquarium in the sky, my reverend father conducted the traditional fish funeral by chucking him in the toilet, but on contact with the water, the fish began to move.