THE HEADINGTON SHARK - OXFORD ENGLAND

There must be very few towns in the world that can claim to have their own giant fiberglass shark protruding from the roof of an otherwise normal residential home. Headington, near Oxford in England, may actually be the only one.  It first appeared on the 9th of August 1986 and looked as if it had fallen from the sky to pierce the roof of number 2 New High Street. Naturally it quickly became a press sensation that was covered by media from around the world.  And ... although nearly two and a half decades have passed it is still photographed daily by curious passersby. The shark was originally custom-built for Mr Bill Heine, the owner of the house.

Called "Untitled 1986" it was  put in place to mark the 41st anniversary of use of an atomic weapon on  Nagasaki. It also symbolically had a direct link to the Chernobyl disaster and is said to have demonstrated that danger could fall from the sky at any time anywhere.

it is made of fibreglass and was created by the sculptor John Buckley, It was considered highly contentious and divisive when it first appeared and the city council of Oxford made significant efforts to have it removed based on grounds of health and safety.  The main premise of their argument was that planning permission had not been granted for sculpture. Fortunately for this landmark there was considerable local support for the project which allowed it to become a subject debated at central government level. The then minister for the Environment Tony Baldwin ruled in 1992 that the headless shark could remain in place after a study of the supporting girders demonstrated that there was enough strength in the structure for it to remain safely fixed to the building.

There is no question that the Headington Shark is out of place or that it was created and installed without the planned and appropriate permissions.  Equally, it is fair to say that not every construction randomly  attached to the roof of a building deserves to stay but in the case of the Headington Shark it caught the imagination of the public and in the true spirit of democracy the people voiced their opinion and the Shark remained in place.  A major concern of the time was that the decision to allow the Shark to remain in situ would lead to an outbreak of even more outrageous roof sculptures spreading like a rash across the town of Headington and maybe even the City of Oxford.  Not surprisingly this epidemic failed to materialise.

When photographing the shark for this article it was surprising to notice that most of the people walking past this remarkable structure failed to even give it a glance.  For most it has simply become part of the street.  In fact, only one casual student bothered to take a single snapshot and then only with her pocket camera.

But .... What the Headington Shark really represents is something hard to define about the British culture.  Perhaps it's a desire to be different or an innate sense of eccentricity but it is really no different from the thousands of other less recent follies that litter the UK landscape.

After many years of silence, Bill Heine has finally published a book entitled "Hunting the Shark" which tells the full story behind the project.

A very close up image of Shark & Roof

The Street and the Shark