The Headington Shark
Encyclopedia
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
situated at 2 New High Street, Headington
Headington
Headington is a suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames Valley below. The life of the large residential area is centred upon London Road, the main road between London and Oxford.-History:...
, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, depicting a shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
embedded head-first in the roof of the house.
Appearance
The shark first appeared on 9 August 1986. Bill HeineBill Heine
Bill Heine is the Sunday Morning presenter on BBC Radio Oxford 95.2 FM . He has worked for BBC Radio Oxford since 1983, and is considered by many to be very opinionated and perhaps somewhat controversial in the field of radio presenting...
, a local radio
Local radio
Local radio can refer to:In the UK:*BBC Local Radio*Independent Local RadioIn Australia:*ABC Local Radio by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
presenter who still owns the house, has said "The shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
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
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
, Chernobyl
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
and Nagasaki
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
". The sculpture, which is reported to weigh 4 long hundredweights (203.2 kg) and is 25 feet (7.6 m) long, 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. For the occasion of the shark's 21st anniversary in August 2007, it was renovated by the sculptor, following earlier complaints about the condition of the sculpture and the house.
Controversy
Created by sculptor John BuckleyJohn Buckley (sculptor)
John Buckley, born in Leeds in 1945, is a sculptor whose best known work is the sculpture "Untitled 1986", better known as "the Shark House" or the "Headington Shark" in Headington, Oxford....
, the shark was controversial when it first appeared. Oxford City Council
Oxford City Council
The Oxford City Council provides local government for the city of Oxford in England.- Overview :Between the 2004 local elections, and 2010 the council was in minority administration, first by councillors from the Labour Party, with the Liberal Democrats being the official opposition...
tried to have it taken down on grounds of safety, and then on the ground that it had not given planning permission
Planning permission
Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in the United Kingdom in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. Within the UK the occupier of any land or building will need title to that land or building , but will also need "planning...
for the shark, offering to host it at the local swimming pool instead, but there was much local support for the shark. Eventually the matter was taken to the central government, where Tony Baldry
Tony Baldry
Anthony Brian 'Tony' Baldry is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Banbury.-Early life:...
, a minister in the Department of the Environment
Secretary of State for the Environment
The Secretary of State for the Environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment . This was created by Edward Heath as a combination of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Building and Works on 15...
, 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.
Further reading
- Heine, Bill (2011). The Hunting of the Shark. Oxford: Oxfordfolio. ISBN 978-0-9567405-2-6