The Headington Shark

Coordinates: 51°45′32″N 1°12′48″W / 51.75882°N 1.213238°W / 51.75882; -1.213238

The Headington Shark, before 2007 refurbishment.

The Headington Shark is a sculpture situated at 2 New High Street, Headington, Oxford, England, depicting a shark embedded head-first in the roof of the house.

Appearance

The shark first appeared on 9 August 1986.^[1] Bill Heine, a local radio presenter who still owns the house, has said "The shark was to express someone feeling totally impotent and ripping a hole in their roof out of a sense of impotence and anger and desperation... It is saying something about CND, nuclear power, Chernobyl and Nagasaki".^[2] The sculpture, which is reported to weigh 4 long hundredweights (200 kg)^[2] and is 25 feet (7.6 m) long,^[3] and is made of painted fibreglass, is named Untitled 1986 (written on the gate of the house). The sculpture was erected on the 41st anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki.^[3] For the occasion of the shark's 21st anniversary in August 2007, it was renovated by the sculptor,^[1] following earlier complaints about the condition of the sculpture and the house.^[4]

Controversy

Created by sculptor John Buckley, the shark was controversial when it first appeared. Oxford City Council tried to have it taken down on grounds of safety, and then on the ground that it had not given planning permission for the shark, offering to host it at the local swimming pool instead, but there was much local support for the shark.^[5] Eventually the matter was taken to the central government, where Tony Baldry, a minister in the Department of the Environment, who assessed the case on planning grounds, ruled in 1992 that the shark would be allowed to remain as it did not result in harm to the visual amenity.^[1][6]

See also

• Cardiff Kook

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Shark comes of age". Oxford Mail. 8 August 2007. http://archive.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/2007/8/8/178718.html. Retrieved 17 January 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "The Headington Shark". Oxford History. 10 October 2009. http://www.headington.org.uk/shark/. Retrieved 18 January 2010. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "In praise of... the Headington shark". The Guardian. 9 August 2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/aug/09/comment.comment. Retrieved 17 January 2010. 
4. ^ "Shabby shark house angers residents". Oxford Times. 12 December 2003. http://archive.theoxfordtimes.net/2003/12/12/16187.html. Retrieved 17 January 2010. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ Purves, Libby (9 August 2007). "Let's salute fibreglass fish and wacky artists". The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/libby_purves/article2224633.ece. Retrieved 17 January 2010. 
6. ^ MacKinnon, Ian (22 May 1992). "Officials reprieve shark for Art's sake". The Independent: p. 2. 

Further reading

• Heine, Bill (2011). The Hunting of the Shark. Oxford: Oxfordfolio. ISBN 978-0-9567405-2-6

External links

• Headington Shark web page
• John Buckley sculptor website
• Bill Heine's book (August 2011) revealing why and how a shark landed on his roof
• Headington Shark, 360° panorama (Quicktime)