A list naming the best things to do in Oxford has included the city’s infamous Headington Shark.
The Times has compiled a guide to the best things to do in Oxford on a weekend break ranging from sightseeing to eating.
Amongst the entries was a special mention for the seven-metre shark lodged in a house’s roof on a residential street.
The Headington Shark is a fibreglass sculpture that first appeared in the 1980s and was designed by John Buckley.
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The Headington Shark is a popular tourist spot.
It stands as a metaphor for helplessness and desperation amongst nuclear threat, having been inspired by the moment when the house owner, Bill Heine, heard American warplanes flying over Oxford on their way to bomb Libya.
Built without planning permission in the early hours of the morning, Oxford City Council sought to have the sculpture removed on the grounds of public safety.
In 1992, following a six year legal battle, Tony Baldry from the Department of the Environment ruled that the shark was officially allowed to stay.
“Surely Oxford’s most peculiar piece of public art, this 26-foot shark appears to have crashed through the roof of an otherwise unremarkable terraced house in the suburb of Headington,” said The Times.
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“The subject of controversy for decades, the sculpture has become a local landmark, and it now looks like it’s here for good; even more extraordinarily, the house is now up for rent on Airbnb.”
Other attractions in Oxford according to The Times include going punting on the Cherwell and visiting the University of Oxford Botanic Garden.
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