Saturday 3 March 2007

Guess who I bumped into in the village today...



...None other than Harold Wilson, erstwhile Right Honourable Member for Huyton and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. I can remember when I was a kid and I saw him in the village. It was obviously just prior to a General Election and I was given an orange sticker by one of the party faithful with "Vote Labour" printed on it. This was, of course, before the days of the spin doctors and so there were no snappy slogans. It was quite a bizarre experience for me as it was the first time I had seen someone "off the telly" in real life. I recall thinking that he looked just the same. This sculpture looks vaguely similar - and yet not.
I think it is nice that Mr Wilson is remembered in this way by his former constituents. He wasn't a bad sort. It is just a shame that the artist has made him look so camp. Phil, Lol, Mum and myself all agreed that he looks a bit of a 'Jesse go for the liver and the lightcake basket'. The hand on the hip look just doesn't go. And his legs look like rag doll legs, skinny and swinging in opposite directions. I have a theory that it was commissioned as a statue of Larry Grayson but the deal fell through. Knowsley Council managed to get it cut-price with Harold's head grafted on. Still, it beats a cow in formaldehyde!

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