You happened to be in Headington, and on your way to a friend’s place passing through a neat and clean New HighStreet; your way is cut short by a sight. Exactly as a black cat cutting your way, would have made you come out of the reverie of thoughts. Albeit the sight is much more of a shock than a black cat would have been. The sight is Headington Shark, pivoted in the roof of a house headlong with its tail poignantly pointed towards the skies. As much as it would have disturbed the chain of thoughts the structure itself is not new. It has been at the roof of Bill Heine’s house since 1986. The structure at the length of 25ft and made of fiber glass was renovated in 2007 for its 21stbirthday celebrations which happens to be on 9th August.
Bill Heine was a BBC presenter and freshly moved to the area from America. Headington was a quiet and boring town. The presenter fed up with Cold War era and powerless against the destruction of atom bomb dropped at Nagasaki or nuclear disaster at Chernobyl decided to build the monument. The structure was erected only to learn that authorities are dead against it and a legal battle followed. By now the residents of Headington had started owning the structure as a symbol of their identity. The authorities had to bow down and the shark remained there.
The Shark has been on the list of 1160 structures as a nominee to be an “English Icon”.
Headington Shark
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