Stand By Your Statue

Stand By Your Santa

2008-12-22T20:06:00.006Z

Seasons' Greetings to you all! I've been holding out for just the right time to post this partcular statue y'see. This is St. Nicholas (that's a Mr Santa Claus to most of us) stood outside the church of St. Nicholas in Myra, Turkey. Mr Poll, who has been seen in these parts before, performs most admirable santa duties.

This means we add another country to that list making a grand total of 50 visited in this statue odyssey so far. I'll be the first to admit of been a little poor at updating the site this year, but shall be returning with renewed vigour in the New Year...

Thanks for all the kind words, comments and photos. Have a great festive period and all the best for 2009.

Chan Chan Man...

2008-10-09T21:31:00.002+01:00

Sticking around Peru this evening, Mr Poll managed to entice another travelling companion Richard to produce this fine pose in imitating, I quote, ‘an old bloke thingy’ in the delightfully named Chan Chan museum. The Chan Chan is an archaeological site, with World Heritage status, featuring the remains of a vast mud city built a few years ago between 850 and 1470. One can only imagine how spectacular the city must have been, given the beauty of some of the remains.

An Ornament in Ollantaytambo…

2008-10-08T19:53:00.002+01:00

I thought I’d pay a visit to Peru this evening. A friend, who’s been on this site a few times before, Mr Poll, was travelling around the Sacred Valley area of the country over a year ago, and he managed to persuade some of his travelling companions to get in on the statue imitation act. So tonight we pay homage to fellow travelling companion Lorna. I’m sure Mr Poll mentioned this at the time, but just thought I’d let you know that through being posted on this site international fame and fortune will beckon shortly!…

Anyway, Lorna is stood by her statue in the marvellously named Ollantaytambo! At some 2,800 metres above sea level this could well be one of the highest monuments we’ve featured to date. Sadly, the fading light at the time the pic was taken doesn’t quite do the statue justice, but I have a feeling this is what it looks like in daylight. I believe he is an Inca chief of some sort.

It looks like a pretty damn cool place to visit. Indeed, Peru in general would be a pretty damn cool place to visit.

Strumming Statue Stop-off…

2008-10-07T20:33:00.002+01:00

I stumbled upon this fine photo when taking a look around the Stand By Your Statue Facebook group earlier on today. It features A Mr David Sachs stood by a weird guitarist fellow at a tuck stop between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in Israel! It’s these types of monuments that would otherwise never be bought to the world’s attention if it wasn’t for this silly site.

(It also means adding another county to the big list over there and updating the stats box, which is probably the most exciting thing I’ve achieved today! Expect a few more new countries to be added during the week)

Victor Avec Vics…

2008-10-01T19:06:00.002+01:00

Here’s a fantastic monument of the moustachioed Victor Adler in downtown Vienna, featuring an equally fantastic Pollster on imitation duties, using a Vics nasal inhaler in place of facial hair! Some quality ‘tache work all round.

The Lueger Three …

2008-09-30T19:21:00.003+01:00

When you’ve got a half-day to spare in a foreign city, what better way to pass the time than wandering around in search of statues? We found this monument whilst meandering around the centre of Vienna. Up top, it features a Mr Karl Lueger, who was mayor of the city at the turn of the twentieth century. I’m not too sure who the other two chaps are to be honest, although I am guessing they are part of his workforce, as he was famous for creating the public transport system in the city, on which we travelled on to find the statue!

I do love a good spot of teamwork when it comes to statue imitation. This team is yours truly on the right, Pollster on the left and SwissToni in the middle, just two days after he became a married man. Good on you team. I think we’ve done good!

Potosi Poll...

2008-09-25T20:00:00.004+01:00

Tonight, I have decided to add to the statue tally of Bolivia! This one features a mini statue of liberty in the city of Potosi, which is claimed to be the highest city in the world. It also features (once again!) a good mate in Mr Wondering Pollstar, who was travelling around South America around a year ago, but is not travelling quite so much currently. Keen statue observers will have already taken note that this is the second consecutive statue imitation we’ve featured using props.

This all conveniently allows me to present to you the latest feature of this website. Oh yes, if you look over on the right hand side, you will eventually stumble across something called the Stats Box. This will keep a running update of the latest country total, alongside a percentage. Wuhoo! Who knows, one of these days I may add some further statue stats for all you stats fans out there…

......

In other statue news, I have to doff my cap to another superb website about statues. Take a bow
Statues with Sideburns! Another quality collection.

Finally, one last bit of travel news for you. There was disappointment for FusionMan today. But the good news is that he’s going to have another try tomorrow. To Dover and beyond!

Sit By Your Mascot?

2008-09-24T21:40:00.003+01:00

Should have posted this a few weeks back when the Olympics and Paralympics were actually on eh?! Apologies to friend Sarah for the tardiness this time…

Although technically not an imitation (and, indeed, not a statue come to think of it), her marvellous photo caught a Chinese guard at just the right moment sat by his weightlifting mascot! He was on guard at the edge of Tiananmen Square nearly, ahem, two years ago now!

The Olympic Games in Beijing, 2008. Another reason for me not posting any statues for a while!

Schubert Dip…

2008-09-23T20:34:00.003+01:00

Greetings all. Hope you had delightful weekends. Whilst it’s still fresh, I’m going take a quick hike back to the Viennese City Park this evening for this statue of Franz Schubert, a famed Austrian composer.

Stood by his Schu is a fair old regular to these parts, Mr SwissToni. Fantastic work with the props there – a book and a pen and a pair of shades! We do love a good bit of bookwork here at statue towers.

Admiration for Albania …

2008-09-17T21:10:00.002+01:00

It’s nigh on time I added another country to that big list over there on the right. And what a cracker it is, as tonight we feature the first statue from the mighty country that is Albania!

*does a little dance*

Huge thanks to workmate Andy for sending this one in…..taken earlier on this year whilst travelling around Tirana, the capital city of Albania. It is a monument dedicated to the people of the city who fought in the Second World War.

For those unaware, I am excited to feature a new country as the long (ish) term aim of this site is to feature a statue from every country in the world! This makes it country number 48 out of a total of 195, or a WHOPPING 25%. One whole quarter of the way to achieving this ridiculous challenge.....fine work everyone out there!

The Only Way Is Up...

2008-09-15T20:29:00.002+01:00

(Capitoline Museums, Rome. Part three of an occasional series featuring big hands. Links to parts One and Two)

Stood By Strauss…

2008-09-11T21:34:00.002+01:00

Continuing our stroll around the decorative Viennese City Park (known locally as the Stadtpark), quite possibly the main event is this golden statue of Johann Strauss. Indeed, it is alleged to be the most photographed monument in the whole of Austria…

I mean, there aren’t too many statues of the world that have a dedicated webcam pointed in its direction eh?!

Johann Strauss II was an Austrian composer famous for his waltzes. During his time he was known as the Waltz King, and he revolutionised the waltz in the dancefloors of Vienna in the 19th century. Statue standing superstar Mr Poll took on fiddling duties in Vienna just over a year ago…

Viennese Twirl...

2008-09-09T21:41:00.003+01:00

Just a quick post tonight, continuing the Vienna theme…

This one features friend Caitlin alongside one of the many statues that are scattered around the Viennese City Park. And what a fine imitation it is…..right down to the quality axe-work and angle of the head. This is the work of a statue connoisseur.

Been a While…

2008-09-07T17:41:00.004+01:00

Hello!

Ahem, not been round these parts for quite some time. Although I have yet to see said article, rumour has it that this website was mentioned in the UK Guardian Guide on Saturday. Indeed, I’ve just found it! Thanks to whoever compiled that list. (Don’t know about you, but there is one site on the list that particularly stands out for me!)

Some fine timing as well, as…well, you know…I’ve not quite managed to update the site for a bit, and this should kind of inspire me to post some more statues! There’s still a great big bunch in the archives. Feel free to email me in any form of statue imitation pics to the email address over there if you want, and they will get published eventually. I’ll try not to take another five months off like…

So, by way of reintroduction, this is Statue John, reporting back for duty! In the photo above I am stood next to…..

...well, it’s Robert Stolz actually, a famous Austrian conductor and composer. This monument resides in the beautiful Viennese City Park in Vienna. Not the first time I’ve stood next to a bald headed statue. (Many thanks to SwissToni for the pics).

Cardboard? Crikey…

2008-04-09T19:48:00.002+01:00

Apologies as have been a bit busy this week to keep the blog updated…gonna be hectic over the next couple of days also so sadly this is your lot for the week. It’s quite a good one though ‘cos it features another cardboard cut-out (see here, here, here and here).

This is the not-so much wondering Pollster stood by his cardboard cut-out of none other than the legend that is Steve Irwin! I’m guessing quite a few of you have heard of our Steve, aka the ‘Crocodile Hunter’, wildlife documentary presenter extraordinaire who during his lifetime did a grand job of spreading word of Australia’s special wildlife around the world. His legacy is the Australia Zoo, located north of Brisbane in Queensland, where this cardboard cut-out can be found.

I’m sure Steve would be the first to say good on ya to the Wondering Poll for the myriad of statue photos that he has provided this website during the last year and a half while he’s been travelling around the world…I do believe he arrives back here in the UK later on this evening. So, yeah, good on ya mate, I’m gonna be publishing your pics for a good while yet…

An Oversized Old Man…

2008-04-02T19:09:00.002+01:00

Many thanks to Kya for tonight’s stunning statue. A pretty darn fine spot of imitation as well! This is ‘Old Man River’, an 18-foot 17 stone marble statue, which resides beside the Mississippi river near the French Quarter in New Orleans, and was created by Robert Schoen. It’s great to feature a monument from the Big Easy as well, one of my most favourite cities in the world…

I do love receiving your statue imitation photos, as they tend to be loads more exciting than any of the efforts we come up with. Please feel free to email any suitable photos you have by clicking on the email link or my profile just to the right there, and I’ll get them on the site as soon as. Thansk again Kya...

Aboriginal Antics…

2008-04-01T21:03:00.008+01:00

Tonight’s statue offerings come from the William Ricketts Sanctuary, which is located near the Dandenong Ranges, a gorgeous mountainous tree and fern filled area an hour east of Melbourne, Victoria.

Nestled within all the trees and ferns at the Sanctuary is this slightly bizarre collection of aboriginal sculptures, the results of a lifetimes work by the Australian artist William Ricketts.

Bill Ricketts was inspired by the traditions and culture of the aboriginal people, and he made frequent trips to stay with various tribes.

It was an interesting walk around to see his work anyway, and for a pair of statue connoisseurs by the name of John, there were plenty of imitation opportunities. I’ve added a few more regular photos below, as it really was quite strange seeing all these artifacts nestled in among the trees …

Roma Recollections…

2008-03-31T18:55:00.002+01:00

Around this time last year, I was sat on this bench in sunny Adelaide, attempting to imitate (not very well I have to add) the honourable Dame Roma Mitchell!

*sigh*

Once again, Uncle Wiki describes her feats far better than I ever could, but, in short, she is famous for being the first woman governor of an Australian state, that of South Australia, where Adelaide is situates.

Digging the Duke…

2008-03-26T19:16:00.002Z

A long overdue thank you to Karen (whom I’m guessing is on the left up there!) for sending tonight’s statue in. This man is Duke Kahanamoku, and he’s one of the most famous athletes from the islands of Hawaii.

He made his name first of all by winning a load of medals in the swimming pool at the 1920 and 1924* Olympic Games. He also took a gold in the 1932 Olympics as part of the US water polo team. He is generally regarded as the person who popularised the modern sport of surfing, such was his prowess with a board as he travelled around Australia and the United States performing swimming and surfing exhibitions. He starred as an extra and character actor in a number of Hollywood films (starring alongside John Wayne amongst others). He moved back to his homeland of Honolulu, where he was elected the county sheriff and continued to fulfil this role for a further 13 terms. He’s also been inducted in to the US Olympic Hall of Fame and has featured on a US postal stamp, amongst other achievements.

That’s quite some resume right there eh?! What a dude, and indeed a complete legend. Very much worthy of this fine statue, which is found on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. Thanks again Karen for bringing the Duke to our attention.

* Funnily enough, he was pipped to second place in the 1924 Olympic 100 metres freestyle by Johnny Weissmuller, another multi-talented sporting and acting dude. Must have been some race that one!

Props to Philip…

2008-03-25T20:29:00.001Z

Ahem, sorry for going AWOL again. Combination of a few internet problems here, a few days off on holiday and Easter. Anyways, thank you for your patience, and I shall continue to get back on the statue case this week and beyond…

Anyway, this chap is Phillipo IV, who stands at the entrance to one of the many churches in Rome. Indeed, good old Uncle Wikipedia reveals that the church is the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, and the statue is a Mr Philip IV of Spain, who was king of in the 1600s and a benefactor to the church. As ever, it’s much fun to imitate a statue with props.

Elephant Antics…

2008-03-11T21:54:00.000Z

Not much time tonight so just thought I’d post a quick elephant! This creature resides just outside the natural history museum in Vienna. First elephant statue we’ve had on the site actually…..we need more!

Oodnadatta Oddness...

2008-03-10T19:12:00.006Z

If you take a journey down the Oodnadatta Track, which is a very long dirt track that passes through the barren deserts of South Australia, then somewhere along the way you will encounter this bizarre selection of bush sculpture. There were a couple of upturned planes above, and, my favourite, this big dog below.

Big dog was a bit tricky to imitate (damn that sand was hot!) but you can just about make it out in the distance there.

Having travelled for hours and hours on the bumpy dirt track to suddenly encounter these things, in fifty-degree heat, it was all a little on the surreal side really!

Trevi Take Two…

2008-03-05T19:20:00.002Z

Having posted about the Trevi Fountains a few days back, I’ve just discovered another picture in the statue archives of said monument. Given that I received this one in January 2005 when I started this site, it only seems reasonable to publish it now! Ahem.

Much kudos and thanks, with a side helping of apologies to a Mr David Wood who sent it in (although I wasn't completely rude as I did publish one of his pics in February 2005, and then another one in September 2006). This one features his friend Chris.

Like I have always said, keep sending me your lovely statue imitation photos and I promise they will get published eventually (some time this century)!

Headless Hombre...

2008-03-04T19:17:00.001Z

In the nineteen posts that I’ve made so far this year, travelling hobo Mr Poll has featured in ten of them, and so it only seems fair to post another given that it’s his birthday today…

The Roman Forum is a pretty stunning mix of ancient buildings near the Coliseum in the centre of Rome. Overlooking it is Palatine Hill, where you may well stumble upon this monument. Not quite sure who it is sadly, but I can tell you that he’s got no head!

Bringing back beautiful memories of Parnu, this is one Pollster’s better imitations it has to be said. Happy birthday out there old chap…I believe he’s just arrived in Egypt. Plenty of statues there dontcha know!

Stand By Your Sign?

2008-03-03T19:04:00.001Z

Given that we’re in Australia, I may as well stick around this evening. This picture is about as Australian as you can get, what with it featuring Uluru and a kangaroo. It also features a pair of halfwits by the name of John.

A Flinders Fable…

2008-02-28T19:42:00.002Z

Given that we’ve travelled from Rome to Hong Kong this week lets continue this mission onwards to Australia once again. Circumnavigating the globe in a week to bring you the statues of the world, oh yes.

Anyway, this is Matthew Flinders, and this statue can be found in Adelaide, South Australia. He is from the Captain Cook School of exploration, and was famous for being the first person to circumnavigate and map the coastline of Australia, including the Southern coast, on which Adelaide is located, for the first time. To say that there are a few things in Australia are named after Flinders would be quite a heroic understatement, to say the least, so he must be fairly well thought of for his achievements, which included being taken prisoner for six years on his journey back to the UK. He must have undertaken some pretty interesting expeditions that’s for sure.

Captain Poll, who has been doing a pretty fine job himself of circumnavigating the globe and currently resides in Petra, once again performs admirable imitation duties.

Odd Animals In Ocean Park…

2008-02-27T19:17:00.002Z

As last night’s Hong Kong statues were taken way back at the back-end of 2006, it only seems good, albeit somewhat belated, manners to post a couple of more from that particular trip! These animals reside at Ocean Park, which is Hong Kong’s version of a huge great swimming pool and water rides complex. Muchos thanks to Sarah for sending the pix in, and thanks loads to her travelling friend Sue, for a particularly impressive hippo, above, and for tackling a pair of zebras below.

This continues a random series of posting slightly bizarre plastic animal statues from the Far East…

The Tian Tan Buddha…

2008-02-26T19:37:00.003Z

I’m going to take a break from posting pictures of statues and blokes called John this evening, and travel to the Far East to an island just off Hong Kong. You can take a ferry from HK to Lantau Island, where you will stumble upon the Po Lin Monastery.

The biggest Buddha statue in the world resides here, the Tian Tan Buddha, featuring friend Sarah, below. Commendable imitation plaudits must be attributed to her travelling companion Sue, above, on one of the (more manageable) statues at the foot of the Buddha. This is a statue offering praise and gifts to the giant Tian Tan herself.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited the island myself, and the whole monastery area was a very peaceful one to walk around. For all travelling (VdP?!) and, indeed, non-travelling people out there, I have it on good authority that this Traveller IQ Challenge is quite a useful time waster….you have been warned.

Emulating Emperors…

2008-02-25T19:27:00.006Z

I seem to recall talking about the veritable statue bounty that you encounter on a trip to the Vatican Museums. Well, here’s some more. This is a pair of Roman Emperors. Sadly I was unable to jot the name down of the above, but below we find Emperor Titus.

Just to wrap up my photos, and so, until someone next sends in pictures from the Vatican, here are a few other random sculptures from the museum.

And this one best describes the look on your face having spent a few hours here facing a monumental (over) load of ancient artefacts, paintings, maps, sculptures, busts, statues, ornaments, ceiling art…

A Fountain Interlude…

2008-02-21T20:31:00.001Z

Rome is just littered with glorious statues eh?! These particular ones adorn the Fontana di Trevi, or Trevi Fountains, in the centre of Rome. Your main character is none other than Neptune, god of the sea.

One Of The Smaller Countries On The List…

2008-02-20T19:35:00.007Z

The Vatican Museums. It’s quite difficult where to start really with regards to statues, busts, sculptures etc… There really is quite an extensive collection of all housed in the museum here. You have corridors of this…

Followed by more of these round each corner…

Interspersed with plenty of heads (see above, also)…

And the occasional beautiful statue…

Before you stumble around another corner, to be greeted by this…

Captain Cook, Continued…

2008-02-19T19:19:00.005Z

So, as I was saying a couple of weeks back, in the New Zealand town of Gisborne stands what has since been uncovered as fake statue of Captain James Cook. What I indeed failed to mention at the time, was that, just down the road, there is in fact a ‘proper’ statue of him! Ahem, here it is…

Gisborne, on the north island of New Zealand was the site of Cook’s first landing at New Zealand, back in 1769! He later went on to become the first person to navigate and map around the islands. Some quality Captain Cook statue coverage once again, from Mr Wondering Poll…

Down At The Cocha…

2008-02-14T20:28:00.003Z

Am feeling the urge to add another country to that big list on the right over there this evening, so let’s have a huge round of applause for our first statue from Bolivia!

This is the Cristo de la Concordia (Christ of Peace) statue. Apparently it is the biggest Jesus monument in the world, a whopping 4cm taller than the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio, Brazil. Both statues are apparently 33 metres tall, equating to his age, but the Cristo is that more accurate as he actually lived to 33 and a few days...

It is overlooks the city of Cochabamba, in central Bolivia, which was visited by that wandering hobo old housemate of mine, Mr Pollstar, in September last year. It appears that he actually roped in his travelling companion Brett above to imitate it when loads of folk were standing around (good on you, and welcome to the site, in case you are reading this for some bizarre reason), before nipping along and getting his imitation in (below) when no one was around!

This all brings me along conveniently to the news that the Christ the Redeemer was struck by lightening last Sunday. Thanks to the anonymous tip-off for this news. Some stunning photos of the occasion can be found on this photographer’s blog, who was travelling in Rio at the time. I hope he doesn’t mind me republishing his work below. Wow!

Warning Signs...

2008-02-13T21:06:00.008Z

I was all ready to compose a fine post this evening - had the story in my head and everything - only for the virus protection on my poota to stuff up, and so I've had a cracking evening trying to fix that and my internet connection all night! Why are these things always so darn time consuming and painful?! Grrrr.

Anyway, the feeling of attempting all this techy IT stuff for so long is probably not dissimilar to that of falling backwards down a mineshaft whilst taking a photo, as this warning sign in the Australian mining outpost of Coober Peedy cautioned us! It's a truly bizarre town as discussed in these parts before...

I'd imagine it's fairly similar to falling down a flight of stairs n all! (Vatican Museum)

More proper statues tomorrow. For now, I'm turning this darn machine off...

Lets All Have A Dioscuri…

2008-02-12T19:46:00.000Z

Only got time for a quick post this evening, but it does feature a whopper. This statue greets you as you walk up a long set of stairs to enter the Piazza del Campidoglio, one of the finest squares in the city of Rome. The whole area was designed by Michelangelo, which I was unaware of at the time. The statue himself is one of the Dioscuri, or the Gemini twins, as Uncle Wikipedia explains far more expertly than I ever could.

Once you walk past the monument you enter the Piazza, where our stunning steed and big bearded man are both located. It really is gorgeous. Once again, Mr Wandering Poll performs commendable imitation duties.

A Carbonite Copy…

2008-02-11T19:52:00.000Z

A bit shocking this, in that I received this photo way back in August last year, and it kind of got lost on my computer and have only just found it. So, first off, humble apologies to Mr Mark Reed for the delay. Secondly, huge thanks to Mark for a most excellent submission!

Okay, so technically he’s not stood by a statue, but he is stood by a legend who’s been frozen in carbonite, so that’s okay! Oh yes.

To those few who are unfamiliar this is Han Solo. In short, following a tip off from the infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett, Hans and his mate’s location (in a galaxy far far away) was passed on to Darth Vader, an evil type of guy, who caught Han and tortured him somewhat. After that, he froze him in carbonite and returned him to Boba Fett as a reward. Boba wanted to return Han to Jabba the Hutt you see, as he owed him loads of cash and there was a significant bounty on his head.

Anyway, this picture was taken at the Star Wars Exhibition in London in August last year, and what a quality picture it is. Cheers Mark! Apparently this is the 300th blog entry I’ve made on this site…a fine way to bring up the triple century I reckon.

Beethoven’s Second…

2008-02-07T19:18:00.000Z

It’s a welcome return to statue-land from long time friend Des this evening (who’s been a little crabby on the site before). Now I’m not 100% certain, but I think that these pics were taken on a visit to Sapporo in Japan, all in front of many bemused spectators, some of whom fancied the chairs for a bit of a sit down, so much respect to you Des for your devotion to the cause! Above we see Des sat by his Beethoven, in a remarkable re-enactment, right down to the perfect feet positioning…

Here Des dons, if I don’t say so myself, a lovely dress in becoming a laydee!

And finally, off with the dress and on with the shorts, hat and gloves to become a picture perfect Pinocchio. Don’t they both look happy! All I can say with regards to this fine collection of pictures is good on you Des, some brilliant imitation work.

Before I log out, I thought I’d just pass on this latest statue news, featuring a couple of hundred statues in Central Station, New York. Some more great work!

A Stunning Steed...

2008-02-06T19:37:00.000Z

In honour of the Fabio Capello’s first match in charge of the English football team this evening, I’m going to talk about one of the more famous statues in his homeland of Italy. Well I’m not going to talk that much about this fine equestrian monument actually, as here is the story here (click on the pictures to read):

So, in short, contained within the walls of the fantastic Capitoline museums in the centre of Rome, is this statue of a mounted rider, the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The museum itself apparently dates back to 1471, while the original statue dates back to the year 176! That is one old statue, and you can see why it has been moved to a specially ventilated room inside the museum for its protection. Here it is again in all its glory…

A replica of this fine monument now stands in its original place outside the museum, as imitated below.

Spot The Difference...

2008-02-05T20:15:00.000Z

It’s always a pleasure to find a statue of a fellow balding man! Not quite sure who this chap was sadly, but he was stationed in the Vatican Museums, along with, quite literally, thousands of other statues and monuments. We stood by a fair few of them, so expect to see them on the site soon (ish). This isn’t the only statue look-alike of yours truly either, I’m happy to report.

Cained...

2008-02-04T21:24:00.000Z

Bit late back from work this eve, so am just posting this quickie, featuring a Mr William Cain, or Bill Cain as I’m sure he was known to his mates. He’s stood here in a park in Central Melbourne, which is where he spent the majority of his life involved in the construction of some of the city’s buildings.

As per usual, a quality pose struck there by the Wondering Pollster.

A Hunger For Harbin...

2008-01-30T21:00:00.000Z

And so every once in a while I like to go off on a slight tangent, and feature some sort of monument that I’d like to stand by. Tonight’s offering is in fact a whole bunch of monuments, all housed at the Harbin Snow and Ice festival.

Doesn’t it look ace! It’s a winter wonderland featuring a whole heap of ice sculptures just crying out to be imitated. As far as I can make out it is an annual festival held during January in Harbin, which is located in the Heilongjiang province of China, in the north of the country on the border with Russia. Okay, so it’s fairly cold up in those parts at that time of year, with an average temperature of minus twenty degrees Celsius, but hey, I think the discomfort would be worth it. I’d love to visit that’s for sure…

Have found some more amazing looking pictures here.

Couple Of Cooks...

2008-01-29T20:21:00.000Z

When wandering around Sydney earlier on this year, I stumbled upon this statue of Captain James Cook. He’s fairly renown for being an intrepid explorer type, and was the first European to discover the east coast of Australia. Rather impressively, the statue has stood there for almost 130 years…

Another intrepid explorer type, Wondering Pollstar, was wandering around Gisbourne on the northern island of New Zealand last year when he stumbled upon what he thought was a statue of Captain Cook as well. Turns out that this statue, which stands on Kaiti Hill and was gifted to the city in the belief that it was Cook, was in fact an Italian admiral of some sort!

There seem to be quite a few monuments and statues dedicated to Cook. If I had a few more pictures of his statues I’d post them up here as well, but you know what they say about too many cooks…

Returning With Rafter...

2008-01-28T19:37:00.000Z

So there I was reading about where statues go when they die, and it struck me that Stand By Your Statue was in the process of joining them! We can’t have that, I thought to myself, so, better late than never, here I am back on the case…

Greetings all, and happy New Year! Here I am getting this statue show on the road for year number four! As I have said on countless occasions before, I was only supposed to be doing this for six months or so. Please, please, please continue to send in your statue imitations pictures from all around this glorious world, either by sending me an email to the address on the right there, or by adding them to the Facebook group, and we’ll see if I can continue for a good few more years…

It was around a year ago that I arrived in Australia, and we were fortunate enough to watch some of the Australian Open tennis. As I’ve discussed before on the site, each year a famous Aussie tennis player is inducted to their tennis hall of fame. Last year, it was a fellow named Mark Edmonson, and we also took time out to imitate a couple of other legends while we were there. This year a more recent player was inducted, Mr Patrick Rafter, so here is a picture of Pat Rafter stood by himself. Good on ya Pat.

Anyways, it’s nice to be back. You have my word that it won’t take me another couple of months before the next episode. Indeed, I’ve still got a fair few more pictures from that Oz trip, so hang in there folks…

In The Business Of Doing Business…

2007-12-06T20:41:00.001Z

Great statue this one in my birthplace of Perth, Western Australia. It is basically a set of statues featuring businessmen over the ages. You can just about spot the chap with a top hat in the background, and it ends with the more modern day city worker. Loads of people congregating round these, so it took quite a bit of time to imitate. I was on my own at the time and still find it difficult to find some poor suspect to take a quick photo….really must get those, ahem, stand by your statue business cards to make the task a bit easier!

A Lion In Lucca…

2007-12-05T19:15:00.000Z

Having resurrected and old genre in celebrity stand by your statue on Monday, let’s restore another one this evening, namely standing by a lion statue and giving it some serious roar! Other examples of such (random) behaviour can be found here and here.

Still based in Lucca earlier on this year, whilst we were taking a wander around this lovely walled city in the pouring rain, Wondering Poll and myself encountered this ferocious lion statue. Methinks Mr Poll’s roar was rather more successful, so I’ve stuck his photo up above. Check out the whites of those eyes! Pretty fierce eh? So brutal that it would appear that I was shaking the camera so much I couldn’t quite focus on him properly! I’m ashamed to say my roar below was a little tame in comparison.

I get no greater thrill than posting statues of lions (and monkeys) so if you have any photos out there then do send them in...

Marriage Monuments…

2007-12-04T20:35:00.000Z

I’m going to post a few statues from Italy over the coming weeks. Judging by the truly ridiculous amount of statues I saw in around six days in the country earlier on this year, I’d have to say that Italy would probably come near the top of the table in the statue-per-capita league…so there’s plenty to come.

I very fortunate to attend the wedding of good friend Luke in a lovely villa just outside the gorgeous Tuscan town of Lucca in June earlier on this this year. There we all were all mingling in a very ornate room before the ceremony when out of the corner of my eye…oh yes, a statue. Never one to miss a trick, I snuck alongside for a quick imitation before the vows! This will probably be the only statue that I stand next to at a wedding ceremony, as well as being highly probable that it’ll be the only one I stand next to in a suit.

Emulating Edmondson…

2007-12-03T20:28:00.001Z

Ahem. I’ve been AWOL again. I really am rubbish at updating this site, and I keep being touched by unexpected folk who say they take the occasional peek at this place….must do better Mr Adams!

Anyway, I’ve been prompted to post this picture tonight by a friend who took this picture in January this year, and then emailed it to me again today thinking perhaps that I hadn’t seen it…..when in reality he had sent it to ten months ago, it’s just that I hadn’t quite got around to posting it yet!

So, excitingly, we are resurrecting the Celebrity Stand By Your Statue genre this evening, and tonight’s celebrity stood by his own statue is Mr Mark Edmondson! Every year at the Australian Open tennis tournament a new Australian player is inducted in to it’s tennis hall of fame on Australia day (which conveniently occurs during the tournament). Induction is recognized by a bronze bust (some of which we’ve featured on this very site), and last January Mark Edmondson was the latest player to be immortalised in bronze.

Above is the photo that Mr Poll took whilst he was present at the ceremony (thanks for sending it in all those months ago!), whilst below is a slightly clearer press photo from the occasion. As you can see he’s lost a bit of hair since his tennis playing days, but he still sports an absolutely stunning ‘tache!

The Magic Of The Moai…

2007-11-15T19:56:00.000Z

Been meaning to post these for quite some time …

Earlier on this year, my housemate of donkey’s years and general all round good chap Mr Poll took off on travelling pursuits around the world for a year. Indeed, you’ve seen one or two of his statue imitations from the trip already.

These ones are a bit special though. I’ve talked on this site before of the beauty that are the Moai statues, located on the tiny landmass that is Easter Island (known locally as Rapa Nui), which you can find bang out in the middle of the huge South Pacific Ocean (as this map handily points out). It is one of the most isolated islands in the world.

Well, Mr Poll had the privilege of visiting Rapa earlier on this year, and, as you can see, he’s sent in some grand photos of Moai mimicry!

He even got some of fellow explorers in on the act. So, hello Steph and thanks for sending the above photo in.

In short, the Moai statues were discovered around 290 years ago on the island. Around 887 have been found. Although disputed, they are thought to be around 500 to 1000 years old. I would write more about these fascinating statues, but Mr Poll has done the job for me…read more about his trip to the island here. I’ve posted some more photos below, but you can see many more on his journal.

It’s great to finally feature some of the most famous statues on this planet on the site. Plenty more to come from Mr Poll’s adventure around South America as well. Bravo!

A Biscuit Bulletin…

2007-11-14T22:27:00.000Z

So there we were wandering around the beautiful little northern town of Lucca in Italy in the pouring rain earlier on this year with a little time on our hands… Most regular people would probably look for some shelter but not us, we hunted statues.

I’m not too sure who these two were sadly, but below we have Guiseppe Garibaldi, a famous Italian patriot and soldier in the 19th century. You can read all about his exploits here, but they do not interest me quite so much as the news that the Garibaldi biscuit is named after him. Hmmmm, biscuits.

Où Est Le Singe?

2007-11-12T20:44:00.000Z

It’s nigh on time that we featured a monkey on this site is it not?!

Nice work Mr Monkey, who’s stood by his statue in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Lounging Likenesses…

2007-11-08T21:44:00.000Z

There’s nothing like growing a big beard and having a good ole lie down eh?! We here at statue towers are firm advocates of a good lie down, and so this evening I am inspired to publish this photo of Aussie travelling companion Kathrin doing just that! The bearded statue man having a lie down here is located in Heideberg, near Frankfurt. A quality bit of resting there, Kathrin.

Not such a good bit of resting, but I was also inspired to take a lie down myself when visiting the statue heaven that is Rome earlier on this year, as you can see below. Yet another bearded wonder, located near the brilliant Capitoline Museum.

Contained within this museum, we found yet another bearded fellow. This guy was huge, and he stimulated Mr Poll to have a good ole lie down as well! An absolutely genius piece of imitation this one, especially when you consider the 20-30 people looking on. Bella!

These are the first two of around 60 statues that we found during a six-day stay in the statue mantra that is Italy earlier on this year, just to warn you. I should have them all published by June next year at this rate!

Tall and Small Players Of Aussie Football…

2007-11-07T21:40:00.000Z

Having taken a sortie from statue standing last time round with chainsaw carvings, tonight I am going to do the same with a brief foray into the world of the cardboard cut-out (something we’ve featured before on this here site if you poke your mouse here, here & here!). Tonight’s cardboard cut-outs reside in the tremendously tacky Australian Football League museum in Melbourne. Aussie rules football is pretty much the national sport down under, and the museum featured both the smallest and tallest players to have played in the footy league.

Unsurprisingly, above we found the smallest player, Mr Tony Liberatore, who stands at 163cm, expertly portrayed by travelling companion Mr Poll. Even though he was incredibly small, “Libba” was one of the great Aussie rules players, winning the player of the season award in 1990. By way of contrast, below we find Mr Aaron Sandilands, whose height is a whopping 211cm, as tackled by yours truly (a generous 178cm). He’s still playing for the Fremantle Dockers club in Western Australia.

Copying Chainsaw Carvings…

2007-11-05T21:21:00.000Z

While driving around the island of Tasmania earlier on this year, we were fortunate enough to stumble upon this fine selection of chainsaw carvings. Situated in Legerwood in the north of the island, the carvings were made to commemorate the local loss of life in the First World War.

The carving above is John Henry Gregg McDougall, who worked as a railway porter at the time.

This monument was sculpted to remember those Australians who fought and died at Gallipoli, and depicts a soldier on the beach carrying an ammunition box and a billy can.

This carving honours William Henry Hyde, who worked in the town in a sawmill.

As you can see from the photos below, the whole range of carvings was a touching and unique memorial to those who fought in the World War. The timber industry is one of the key areas of Tasmania’s economy, and the Australians, always folks to enjoy a bit of competition, even started an international chainsaw carving grand prix there this year.

Bringing Back The Buddy Bear…

2007-11-01T20:42:00.000Z

Ahem. Hello! Not been round these parts for a while, but do have a vague excuse this time, in that my computer with all its statue photos blew up and has been getting fixed for the past couple of weeks…

So just thought I’d touch base this eve with another picture of a colourful bear (following these and these). This one is located in Hong Kong.

Oh, and I’d like to doff my hat to Faces In Places, another blog featuring interesting and slightly bizarre photos from around the world.

A Spanish Siesta...

2007-10-09T22:50:00.000+01:00

Just wanted to quickly post this statue this eve. Although technically it’s not an imitation, I have to post it as: a) it has been sent in by an esteemed visitor to the blog (with huge thanks to Kate from Brisbane!), and b) it features a statue of a very well dressed chap having a lie down!

The man in question is having a rest in the Plaza del Pilar in Zaragoza, Spain, and Kate herself took the time out to, er, sit on him. Have spent the past half an hour or so trying to find out who he is, but am sadly gonna have to admit defeat. Answers on a postcard please if anyone out there has the answer…

Righty, am off for a lie down myself. Good night all…

Back To The G…

2007-10-08T20:46:00.000+01:00

A little while back, I published a few photos of cricketing statues scattered around the MCG, or the “G” as it is locally known, cricket ground in Melbourne, featuring famous Aussie cricketers (to be found here, here, here and here!). Tonight we feature the final couple of statues located around this fine sporting stadium...

The stadium hasn’t just been host to cricket games over the years. It was also famous for hosting the 1956 Olympic Games. Betty Cuthburt above was Australia’s ‘golden girl’ when it came to running during these times, and this statue has been erected to remember the three gold medals she won at these Games, in the 100 and 200 metres, and 100 metre relay. Her statue is taking an absolutely huge gulp of air, it has to be said. Running man Poll performs a beautiful Betty.

The stadium has also hosted many huge Aussie rules footy games, a peculiarly Australian sport featuring lots of tight shorts and fighting. Mr Ron Barassi is one of Melbourne’s finest exponents of this sport, playing 254 games for two local teams, and then coaching another 514 games in the area. Jamie takes on a very good kicking pose here. I'm loving that facial expression!

Hiking Around Hobart…

2007-10-04T21:57:00.000+01:00

When you’ve got a bit of time to spare when exploring some far flung city, then what better thing to do than to wander around in search of some interesting statues to imitate? We found these two statues while wandering around Hobart, the capital of the state of Tasmania, an island off the south coast of Australia.

First of all we found the above statue of Mr Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer, who headed the first European expedition to reach the island of Tasmania back in 1642. Although he originally named this land Van Dieman’s Land, Tasmania is now named after him. As is the Tasman Peninsula, the Tasman Bridge, the Tasman Sea, the Tasman Highway… Performing excellent imitation duties is the soon not to be Wondering Pollstar.

We also found this statue below, which I shouldn’t really be publishing, as it contains a particularly poor statue blooper. I’ve got the stance perfected, the feet in the right position, the head slant and facial expressions sussed, but I’ve only gone and got my arms mixed up! So, I can only offer my sincere apologies to Mr William Lodewyk Crowther, politician and long-time resident of Hobart.

Looking Like Laver…

2007-10-03T21:25:00.000+01:00

Not huge amounts of time this evening, so just a quick statue featuring one of the greatest tennis players of all time, the Australian Rod Laver, who won eleven grand slam singles finals. His statue greets you as you enter the Rod Laver Arena, funnily enough, in Melbourne, where the Australian Open championships take place each year. Looking lots like Laver is friend Jamie, holder of zero grand slams.

A Swiss Statue…

2007-10-02T22:08:00.000+01:00

Given that this was sent to me last December, this is a slightly overdue appearance from Mr LB this evening! Ahem. As I have said before, if you send me your statue imitation pics then they will get posted up on the site eventually…all good things come to those who wait and all that.

This doubles our Swiss collection as this statue is found in Geneva, and it features a Mr Charles Pictet de Rochemont. Charly was a diplomat responsible for the territory in and around Geneva becoming part of Switzerland. As part of the bargain, he was ultimately repsonsible in preparing the declaration of Switzerland’s permanent neutraliaty in 1815. So, the reason that the country has always been seen as neutral in times of conflict is largely down to the diplomatic skills of this man, and he did all this while tendering to his maize and sheep on his farm. Some fairly useful skills for a farmer there eh?!

Aussie Animals...

2007-10-01T21:02:00.001+01:00

One of the great things about travelling around Australia is the vast array of unique wildlife that you encounter. Tonight we introduce a couple of examples of animals that can be only found down under. Above we find a cassowary out in the wild, a rare bird that is mainly resides in the tropical northeast of Australia in Queensland. We were fortunate enough to encounter one of these strange prehistoric looking birds in the wild. Sadly they are very much a threatened species. Copying his cassowary is Mr Poll Star.

And, of course, above we find the kangaroo, an Australian icon. This particular roo was having a rest in Perth city centre. Indeed, as you can see below he was chilling out with a bunch of his mates at the time.

Vietnamese Guards…

2007-09-28T21:29:00.000+01:00

It’s nigh on time I added another country to the sidebar over there, so tonight we sail up the South China Sea to Vietnam. Around half way up the coast of Vietnam is the city of Hue, near which you can find the tomb complex of the Emperor Tue Duc. This Emperor ruled as part of the Nguyen dynasty from 1848-83, and begun work on designing his tomb complex a little prematurely in 1864.

He spent some of his later years in at a palatial retreat in this complex along with some of the 100 wives he enjoyed during his lifetime, so he was quite a busy man!

These photos feature friend Sarah’s travelling companion Helen kneeling next to a couple of guards on a trip to South East Asia earlier on this year. The guards had to be shorter than the man himself, which was a bit of a problem as he was a fairly small man, apparently. Please take note of the genius use of knees on flip-flops...!

The Three Sisters…

2007-09-26T20:23:00.001+01:00

Located around an hour out of Sydney is the Blue Mountains national park, a world heritage site. Within the park you’ll encounter a number of spectacular cliffs, gorges and rainforests, as well as the fascinating lyrebird, a very special bird that is able to mimic all manner of human sounds.

The main site to see within the park is the Three Sisters rock formation, which you can see here. Many of Australia’s national landmarks (such as Uluru) have an aboriginal story affixed to them which explain their origin. For the Three Sisters, indiginous legend says that that three sisters fell in love with three men from a neighbouring tribe, but marriage was forbidden by tribal law. Battle ensued, and the sisters were turned to stone by a witch doctor to protect them, but he was killed in the fighting and no one else could turn them back.

Hence this statue, showing the witch doctor mid-spell. Note the smile on my face as I launch a spell towards the naked ladies!

Sadly, I couldn’t quite fit each of the sisters in to the imitation photo, so I took this additional snap to show the statue in all its glory.

Murty Man That I Am…

2007-09-24T21:34:00.000+01:00

Once again I’ve neglected this rusty old site for another week *sigh*…

Anyway, if you travel bang out into the middle of outback Australia, in to the Flinders Ranges, you may well encounter this crazy Dutchman who goes by the name of Talc Alf (pictured below), who has been resident in the middle of nowhere for a good twenty years.

He is a truly eccentric chap who makes a living as a sculptor, making all manner of bizarre constructions from the soft stone that talcum powder is made. Such as Murty Johny above, whom I am imitating wearing a rather fetching fly net if I don’t say so myself (damn those bush flies in January are nasty).

Not only is Talc Alf a man who has spent twenty odd years in the outback carving letters into talc stone, but he also has an interesting theory about how the letters of the alphabet had a direct link with those carvings done tens of thousands of years ago by our distant ancestors. For example, his explanation for the letter 'B' is that it is the symbol for women, because when you lay a 'B' on its side is a visual depiction of a women's breasts, obviously. An ‘E’ has three equal strokes on it and so that's obviously where you get the words ‘equal’ and ‘equivalent’. In the Letter F the top stroke is a bit further forward and that's where you obviously get ‘fast’ and ‘faster’ etc…

I think perhaps Mr Alf has been subjected to a bit too much of the hot bush sunshine over the years, but nevertheless we spent an enjoyable albeit quite bizarre hour in his company. Good on ya Talc!

Sydney Smoking Man…

2007-09-13T19:51:00.001+01:00

When pottering around central Sydney we found this great big monument of an old chap smoking a pipe. He’s pretty much a dead ringer of my friend Espen actually…

Belated Boston Business…

2007-09-12T18:31:00.001+01:00

Waaaay back in November 2005, I made this bold claim that:

‘Tonight and for the rest of this week, and in all likelihood for quite a chunk of next week we embark on a journey to Boston, Massachusetts. All of these photos come courtesy of Housemate John, the Noonster and friend Chris on a fairly recent expedition’

Well, I thought it was nigh on time I finished this particular series of Bostonian statues! Here is the seventeenth and last statue from that particular trip in all its glory, alongside John. Sadly I can’t work out who the statue is, although it does look like his surname ends in ‘ining’.

*wipes brow* Phew. Job done.

Four Little Piggies…

2007-09-11T20:54:00.000+01:00

If you walk down the Rundle Mall in the centre of Adelaide then you will encounter these slightly bizarre bronze pigs! These hungry pigs are named Horatio, Truffles, Augusta and Oliver, and that’s all I can tell you really.

Bravely emulating the pig Oliver above is friend Nicki, who currently resides in Adelaide, while tackling the porker Truffles below is Wondering Pollstar. Quite a notable effort really given that this is the main shopping street in Adelaide and there were loads of bemused shoppers hanging around…

A Melbourne Couple…

2007-09-05T21:57:00.000+01:00

Not much time this evening, so am just posting this quick statue of a happy couple in Melbourne. I believe they’re looking in at some sort of art gallery. I was stood next to my girlfriend of the time (and indeed my current beau) in re-enacting this one!

Just to give you a heads up on another strange picture site, this site features a selection of misplaced manhole covers from around the world. Nice.

Gregory's Toe...

2007-09-04T20:23:00.000+01:00

Big thanks to Richard this evening, who popped up on the Stand By Your Statue Facebook group with this fine looking statue in Split, Croatia. Even more thanks to Richard as he did a far better research than I ever could, and found out some vital details about said statue…

He is a Mr Grgur Ninski, or a Mr Gregory of Nin to you and me, and was a 10th century bishop who fought the Pope for the right to use Croatian language in the religious services. The statue itself only dates back to 1929 apparently. To simplify, Gregory fought the pope to say mass in the local lingo.

You may also be interested to know that the bronze on Grgur’s toe is worn down since the local legend says it that you have to touch his toe each time you pass by if you want your wishes to come true. Standing By Gregory is Sheena, Richard’s girlfriend. I am not sure whether anyone walked by her at this moment and touched her toe.

Some of you are probably aware that we have a Stand By Your Statue mantra, in which we are attempting to publish a statue from every country in this beautiful world on the site. The countries featured so far are listed just on right-hand side over there…. I am (over) excited to add Croatia to that list this eve, meaning we now have covered 44 countries out of a possible 192. That’s 23%, nearly a quarter. Big pats on the backs all round statue brethren, especially Richard and Sheena for tonight’s episode.

A Bulgarian Adventure

2007-09-03T21:12:00.000+01:00

Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish that’s me when it comes to updating this blog….unlike the folks featured on the site this evening.

With thanks to Vicky B (sister of Katie) for sending in tonight’s submissions, taken on a trip to Bulgaria earlier on this year with the educational group Frontiers. While Vicky’s more important duties on the trip were to escort some teenagers overland to work at an orphanage in Bulgaria, they managed to stop off in Budapest to tackle the above statue in the round, with each of our intrepid explorers each imitating one of the statues to great effect.

Some background before this fantastic expedition was made can be found here, while another article detailing their actual trip can be found here. It sounded like a brilliant and successful trip all round, and you all have my utmost respect for undertaking it. I'm just sorry it’s taken me a little while to chronicle it here!

Salzburg Statues…

2007-08-08T19:02:00.001+01:00

It has been soooo long that I have featured any photos sent in by esteemed visitors, so I best get along with posting a few of those this week. Tonight’s efforts were sent in by Nora (above), and feature her and friends strolling around the Mirabell gardens in Salzburg, Austria. They do sound like very pleasant gardens it has to be said, and quite a veritable treasure trove for all sorts of statues. Always nice to feature another lion statue on this site.

This is friend, Annelise.

And this photo has been sent to me entitled ‘stupid and ugly’!

Thanks to Nora for sending them in. I also have a load of statues to post at some stage from a trip to Vienna earlier on this year, just to warn you.

It’s A Boonanza!

2007-08-01T22:06:00.000+01:00

And so to the last cricket statue for now…

When you visit the state of Tasmania, located in an island south of Australia, for cricket enthusiasts there is only really one player that springs to mind. There we were in this particular players beautiful hometown of Hobart earlier on this year, when we had a bit of spare time on our hands. We decided to pay a visit to the cricket stadium, as you do, just on the off chance that there may be some form of monument to our favourite Tasmanian cricketer…

…and sure enough there was!

David Boon is the quintessential Aussie cricketing legend. Indeed, he is an Australian Icon. First of all, let me give you his cricketing stats: he was a dogged batsman who was one of Australia’s most prolific run scorers in test matches, playing 107 games and scoring over 7,000 runs. He was also a very proficient fielder always standing close in at the batsmen giving them a determined stare. As this picture reveals, when you had Boony giving you the death stare when you were batting, it was a terrible sight.

Oh yes, David Boon has a glorious moustache! When it came to imitating his portly statue, using a piece of bark and some chewing gum, I like to think that I did his ‘tache some justice! Below is the front on view of this glorious monument:

Whereas here is the side-on view:

My travelling companion Mr Poll also had a go:

It was off the pitch, however, where Boony achieved notoriety. He was something of a cult figure for his drinking exploits and singing of team songs. He famously vomited on the hallowed Adelaide Oval turf in a domestic game in 1988 before a live nationwide TV audience of millions (he went on to make 122 and win Man Of The Match).

Perhaps his most famous exploit, however, was achieved on the flight over from Sydney to London before an important Ashes series in 1989, on which Mr Boon consumed 52 cans of beer. The previous record had been held by Rod Marsh (another proud moustache wearer), who it is believed consumed 45 cans, although there is conjecture as to whether Marsh actually finished can number 45, and some believe his attempt only equalled the record of 44 cans set by Doug Walters. When taking in to account these tremendous drinking feats, one has to take in to account the fact that with the majority of these cans consumed at such an altitude the effects of the alcohol were doubled! Sadly this record is never likely to be touched, as cricket is a far more professional game these days. A pity.

Rumours that the speed limit in Tasmania was set at 52 km/hour in honour of this record are unfounded sadly.

David Boon is such a cult figure in his country that there is even a DavidBoonFacts website created for him (in much the same vein as the Chuck Norris one). There is no doubt that this is one of the finest statues we have featured on this site. Below is another picture of the glorious statue on its own. All that leaves me to say is cheers Boony! You beauty!

Tasmania is a beautiful place, by the way. Strongly reccommended if you like walking and the great outdoors. I’m off for an extended weekend camping in the Malverns now, but shall return to more non sporting statues next week. Have a great weekend out there…

A Perfect Ponsford…

2007-07-31T21:50:00.000+01:00

Just a couple more cricketers to share with you this week… The final cricketer stationed around the MCG stadium in Melbourne is Mr Bill Ponsford. He was an opening batsman famous for occupying long periods at the crease, unlike Mr Poll, seen here imitating the Aussie legend in January this year.

Lillee Addendum…

2007-07-30T19:15:00.001+01:00

Forgot to post this picture a few days ago of someone else stood by Dennis Lillee, so here he is!

Miller Time...

2007-07-26T17:25:00.000+01:00

The Aussie cricketing legends are coming thick and fast this week, and they don’t get much more legendary than Keith Miller, pictured here with Mr Poll outside the MCG stadium. He was a quite superb hard hitting batsman, as well as a fiery opening bowler, and he also played Aussie rules in the state of Victoria. He played 55 Tests for Australia, averaged 37 with the bat and took 170 wickets at 23. But Miller wasn’t bothered by his statistics, as they meant nothing to him. Australia amassed 721 in a single day in a match against Essex in 1948, but Miller wanted no part of such carnage. When his turn came, he did not take guard, allowed himself to be bowled first ball, turned to the wicketkeeper and said: "Thank God that's over."

He was a natural born leader. On one occasion, having omitted to nominate a 12th man, he found himself with 12 players on the field. He observed: "Well, one of you had better bugger off then." Another time, he once arrived to captain for New South Wales still wearing his tux from the previous evening's festivities, and set the field with a single command: "Scatter." Satisfied, he took 7-12 to bowl out South Australia for 27.

Miller was of the view that there was more to life than cricket, however, largely as a result of being a fighter pilot during the Second World War. After duelling with the Germans in his Mosquito one night, he made an unauthorised detour over Bonn because it was Beethoven's birthplace and he was a lover of the classics. That’s extremely cool in my books. He wore his hair long (much like Mr Poll in the photo) in an era when the short back and sides was de rigeur. He enjoyed a drink and a smoke. He loved horses and wanted to be a jockey, but grew to 188 centimetres and became a lifelong punter instead.

Basically, Keith Miller was an all round bona fide fair dinkum Australian geezer. We salute you.

(and, it has to be said a far better bowling imitation by Mr Poll than his feeble Dennis Lillee effort last night)

Duplicating Dennis…

2007-07-25T18:12:00.000+01:00

We continue celebrating some cricketing legends this evening, with this statue of Dennis Lillee, which is also located outside the huge MCG stadium in Melbourne. He was actually born in the same hospital as myself in the Subiaco district of Perth, but that’s where the similarities end. Mr Lillee was one of the fastest bowlers of his time, and another Aussie cricketing legend. His bowling action was unique and utterly fearsome, as you can see by watching this, and, to top it off, he also had a thoroughly intimidating moustache.

His unique bowling action is really well captured by the statue, but sadly I can’t really say the same about our budding statue imitators! Good on you Jamie (on top) and Mr Poll below mind for having a go….it’s a bit of a difficult one to master. They are English mind.

Oh, and for those of you who aren’t interested in cricket at all (why not?!), I have found another little geography type quiz for you to play on this week instead. Click below for a game of US State Tetris. I’ve only played the easy version so far, as the others look way to hard, but managed what I think is a respectable six minutes. Let me know how you do in the comments.

US State Tetris

Double Don-age…

2007-07-24T21:00:00.000+01:00

I’m liable to lose a load of visitors this week as I’m going to focus on a sport that’s dear to my heart this week…..the beautiful game that is cricket. Having featured him earlier on this year, I mentioned it is very difficult to travel around Australia without stumbling into some sort of memorial to the great Australian batsman Sir Donald Bradman, who is quite simply the finest exponent that game has ever seen. We have a couple more Bradman statues to share with you this evening anyway...

First up is Kate above, raising her bat outside the mighty MCG cricket stadium in Melbourne, much like SwissToni did two and a half years ago. I think Kate being an Aussie slightly shades the imitation stakes there.

Sir Donald played a large amount of his domestic cricket for the South Australian team, and, sure enough there’s another fine statue outside the picturesque Adelaide Oval cricket ground, as imitated first by myself, followed by Mr Poll. Look at the focus as each of us tackle the Don. Not bad for a pair of rubbish lower order batsmen.

Finally, I give you one of the more beautiful pictures of the Adelaide statue, featuring the cathedral in the background. I think this makes Sir Donald the most stood by statue we've featured on the site to date, which is no bad thing I suppose, however much it pains me to say that as an England cricket fan.

The Big Apple...

2007-07-20T16:19:00.000+01:00

One more Big Thing to share with you, but this one is a bit strange in that it’s located in New Zealand, and so it’s not an official Aussie Big Thing. But hey, we can hardly keep a Big Apple off the site eh? Mr Poll gives it his best apple-ly grin earlier on this year. We’ll return to the more normal pursuit of standing by statues next week I promise…

In other statue news, it would appear that a new statue of Andy Capp (newspaper cartoon character) has been erected. Can someone please imitate this and send it in as soon as possible please...

Oh, and if, like me, you’ve been wasting a fare bit of time on Facebook recently, then please come and join the Stand By Your Statue Group.

Nutty Nonsense...

2007-07-17T18:25:00.000+01:00

Just the one more Big Thing to share with you this eve. Located near the Atherton Tablelands in Queensland, ladies and gentlemen I present the Big Peanut. Have you ever seen a bigger nut? We stumbled upon this one randomly whilst driving along. Damn it was exciting.

Winching It Up…

2007-07-16T19:35:00.001+01:00

Coober Pedy is such a special place that it in fact houses TWO Aussie Big Things. Sticking with the mining theme, this is the Big Winch. It’s perched on top of a hill, overlooking the town. It was quite a struggle climbing up there in 50 degree heat whilst being attacked by thousands of pesky bush flies, but when there’s a big thing that needs mimicking, then its gotta be done!

Mining Mayhem...

2007-07-13T16:59:00.000+01:00

Continuing our Big Thing odyssey... We encountered our next Biggie around a week after the Rocking Horse in the remarkable town that is Coober Pedy. Located around 850km north of Adelaide bang in the middle of nowhere, Coober Pedy is famous for its opal mining industry, and it is widely regarded that the finest opals in the world are mined there.

The harsh summer temperatures mean that most residents live in underground caves bored into the hillsides. A standard three bedroom cave home with lounge, kitchen, and bathroom can be drilled out of the rock in the hillside for a similar price to a house on the surface. These underground houses remain at a constant temperature of around 25 degrees C, whereas surface living needs air-conditioning, especially during the summer months, when the temperature often exceed 40 degrees. Indeed, it was around 50 degrees when we visited. Hot as you like!

Given some free time to explore the town we headed straight towards the Big Miner, as you do. Given the excitement of finding yet another Big Thing, we both had a go at imitating this one, myself above, and Mr Poll below.

It really is a nutty town, given the heat and underground homes. We also visited an underground church and underground bar, complete with underground pool room and underground kareoke. The first tree ever seen in the town was welded together from scrap iron! Films such as Mad Max and Pitch Black have been filmed there.

Given the opal mining boom, everyone wants a piece of the pie, and there does appear to be an unhealthy attraction to dynamite! My favourite story when visiting was that of the gentlman who, when reading the local newspaper, was extremely excited when he noticed that Star Trek was going to be shown on TV. Sadly, the paper seemed to have got this wrong in their listings and Star Trek was not shown. The paper also listed Star Trek as being on the tellybox over the next couple of weeks also, which really started to annoy this gentleman who was obviously a serious Trekkie. One week later, when the paper said that Star Trek was going to be shown again, our man had simply had enough when it wasn’t, and wondered down to the offices of the local paper with a bunch of dynamite and blew them up!

If you’re bored, further stories on our trip into the Aussie outback and Coober Pedy can be found here. In the meantime, have a great weekend out there.

Let's Rock...

2007-07-12T20:45:00.002+01:00

I’m just gonna continue to post Aussie Big Things this week if you don’t mind. Around a week after Larry, we were unaturally excited to encounter our next Biggie, namely the Big Rocking Horse! Located on the road out of Adelaide towards the fantastic Barossa Valley wine-producing region, this really a stunning Big Thing.

Having thought it may be a bit difficult to imitate this one, I was delighted to find a ‘mini’ rocking horse nearby so simply sat on that. Yeeehaw.

Large Larry Looms…

2007-07-11T20:44:00.000+01:00

Okay so we’ve featured him before, but we’d travelled for a many an hour on a very straight and boring road up towards Adelaide in searing 40-degree heat, until we encountered the beautiful Big Lobster, affectionately known as Larry to the locals. We had been counting down the hours until we reached the town of Kingston where Larry lives, as there was very little else to see.

Larry the Big Lobster stands at around 18 metres tall and weighs four tonnes. Just behind the whopping crustacean stands a grand little gift shop, where you can purchase all your Larry merchandise including fridge magnets, stubby holders and snowdomes. It really is a very classy tourist destination.

Larry was a bit difficult to imitate though. My travelling companion, Mr Wondering Pollstar, went for the wave your pincers in the air motion above, whereas I went for the pincers downwards movement below.

A Colossal Koala…

2007-07-10T20:29:00.000+01:00

*resurfaces*

Hello. I really must stop going AWOL all the time, especially as I have a ridiculous amount of statues to post. Shocking. Anyway, I shall try and make up for my poor statue attendance record recently by posting an Aussie Big Thing, the first we encountered on our trip down under earlier on this year.

I first posted about the Big Thing phenomenon back in 2005, where I introduced readers to the Big Banana and the Big Lobster. As far as I could make out when I visited, one of the primary reasons for Big Things is to provide drivers with a distraction as they drive along the huge empty boring highways that span Australia. They provided us with unfeasible excitement whenever we located them that’s for sure.

Tonight I present a Big Koala, one of three that live in the country. This one was located in Philip Island, a lovely little island just south of Melbourne, and was located near to a Koala sanctuary.

I am very happy to report that this is the third Aussie Big Thing featured on the site, and so we only have another 143 to go!

The Deloraine Dudes…

2007-06-19T16:40:00.000+01:00

Once again I’m going to have to say cheerio for a week, as I’m heading back to the Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts, scene of numerous statue exploits in the past, such as this, or this, plus this and this.

In keeping with the festival traditions, I’m fast-forwarding through the glut of photos from our recent trip to Australia to post these…

These ‘mini’ statues, or statuettes, were a couple of several that lined the main street through the town of Deloraine, in the north of Tasmania. The picture posted above is the following:

Whereas the statuette with a guitar above is this:

Peace and Rock, that’s what we’re heading to the Somerset hills for this weekend, and mud. See you in a week or so...

Wave Your Hands In The Air…

2007-06-18T17:55:00.000+01:00

I am currently very happy here at statue towers, as I’m heading back to the Somerset countryside over the next week, despite the numerous dodgy weather forecasts that seem to be doing the rounds. Indeed, I am so happy I am waving my hands in the air, much like Rich, seen here at Statuepark, near Budapest.

Lorne Lovelies…

2007-06-15T17:03:00.000+01:00

Continuing the theme…

(found in Lorne, along the Great Ocean Road)

The Binalong Bikini…

2007-06-13T20:04:00.001+01:00

Hello. Recently returned from the latest round of wandering. Of course, travelling to Italy and Austria was always going to uncover a veritable treasure trove of statues, sculptures and all sorts of other stuff beginning with ‘S’, and I have now got loads of stories and statues banked away in the archives. Thanks to those who have sent pictures in to the site in the meantime, all of which are published eventually. Keep ‘em coming…

I haven’t huge amounts of time, so am going for the cheap laugh angle this evening by posting this pic of my travelling companion for the past ten days, Pollstar, at Binalong Bay in Northeast Tasmania earlier on this year. With my bald heed he was always gonna get this gig. Flowing Locks.

Sphinx Snog Sequel…

2007-05-30T21:48:00.000+01:00

Not much time this evening, so just wanted to post this picture of someone getting amorous with the Sphinx. I haven’t done that for, oooh, at least eleven months!

Big thanks to Kev for sending it in the picture.

And on that note it’s love and kisses from me, as I am off to Pisa and Vienna for a couple of weddings over the next ten days. Plenty of statues to be found in these great cities methinks.

A Statue Standing Star...

2007-05-29T21:44:00.001+01:00

Just down the boardwalk from the Bruce Lee statue in Hong Kong is this monument, which welcomes you to the Avenue of Stars, an area celebrating the Hong Kong’s movie industry. The biggest star of this particular evening had to be Kinnie though, better half of friend Des, and making her statue imitating debut.

The first reason for being a star was that she was around seven months pregnant when taking on this statue pose. However, the main reason for being a star was for simply meeting up with me in the first place. Having flown for around thirteen hours I turned up on the Friday evening to meet Des and we immediately headed out from the airport to a very nice restaurant for dinner, where upon meeting up with Kinnie I was told was that it was their wedding anniversary. I had no idea! It was their wedding anniversary and they had to put up with my ugly mug over the dinner table! Geez. In what should have been a lovely romantic evening, Kinnie ended up throwing this strange pose in the name of Stand By Your Statue.

So to Des and Kinnie, in particular, thanks ever so much for having me at this time, and thanks for a great weekend in Hong Kong. If I am ever to have a second wedding anniversary, then you both shall be the first to be invited.

Duplicate Of The Don...

2007-05-28T22:02:00.001+01:00

*holds up hand and admits the truth*

I am just completely rubbish at updating this site eh? Two and a half years of posting statues has taken its toll a bit sadly, and I am a bit bereft of inspiration at the moment. I also have a gargantuan amount of statues in the archives, which is weighing kind of heavily. Still that’s no excuse really, and don’t let that stop you from emailing your photos in.

*slaps self on wrist*

Anyway, we continue on our slightly irregular statue jaunt this evening with this fine statue of Sir Donald Bradman. This isn’t the first statue of the Don we’ve had on the site, and it certainly won’t be the last. The man is an utter legend throughout Australia and there’s a fair few statues of him around. Visit any bar in the country and you are also guaranteed to find a picture or some memorabilia of his cricketing prowess.

For those of you unaware of Sir Don, he is the greatest cricket batsman of all time. Period. This statue of him was located inside the MCG cricket ground, through which we took a very interesting tour. The MCG is possibly the greatest sports stadium in the world, as I hope the picture below illustrates.

Roo Recklessness…

2007-05-21T20:47:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post tonight, but it does feature the first of MANY kangaroo statues encountered on the recent trip to Oz. This one was having a lie down just round the corner from the koala sandcastle at the fantastic Healesville Sanctuary.

Sit By Your Sandcastle...

2007-05-16T22:15:00.000+01:00

This koala was sculpted at the Healseville Sanctuary, in the Yarra valley, near Melbourne. An absolutely fantastic place to see some of Australia’s unique wildlife.

Terracotta Times...

2007-05-15T22:33:00.000+01:00

I’ve been looking forward to posting these photos for some quite some time, as they feature a place I have always wanted to visit. The Terracotta Army is located in the Shaanxi province of China, and was discovered fairly recently in 1974. Given that these 8,099 life-size terracotta monuments are thought to have been constructed and buried with the first Emperor of Qin in 210-209 BC, that’s some find don’t you think? I’d have loved to be there when they were discovered. “Hey, come and check this out?”!! They are quite a spectacular sight that’s for sure…

The two pictures above feature friend Sarah, along with her friends Sue and Henry. They are stood by their terracotta warriors in the number one pit, which is where the warriors that have been excavated and restored (most were broken by a marauding general a few years after they had been constructed) are displayed. So they’re stood in front of the warriors in 'hospital'.

The two pictures below photos feature Sue and Henry standing next to warriors that were found intact (hence the reason they're in special display cases). Sue is stood next to a standing General, and Henry is stood next to a standing Archer.

Now these are a selection of quite brilliant imitations it has to be said, but I should mention the story of a German student – a Mr Pablo Wendel – who in 2006 managed to infiltrate the terracotta army whilst disguised as one of the soldiers. His disguise was good enough for officials to take several minutes before he was discovered! As he merely wanted to live out a passion of being one of the warriors and damaged none of the statues, police simply confiscated his costume and sent him home. What a great story of man stood by his statue.

Thanks to Sarah and friends for letting me share these fantastic monuments with you all.

Robot Replications…

2007-05-14T21:04:00.000+01:00

We resume with the replications this eve. This one features friend Ems and work colleague dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984.

This post was bought to you in association with Transformers.

Rafael Replications…

2007-05-10T20:49:00.000+01:00

Tonight we continue the tennis theme from my recent trip to Oz. So far on this site, we’ve had someone stood by a cardboard South Korean football team and someone stood by a cardboard Will Ferrell. Tonight we add to this series, with this picture of a couple of blokes called John wearing sweatbands, while stood by a pair of Rafael Nadals!

Further Red Star Replications…

2007-05-09T21:56:00.000+01:00

My apologies as a dodgy broadband connection out here in the sticks has prevented me from posting any statues for a while. It’s all in working order again now, so I shall try and play catch up and post loads over the coming weeks…

Some of you may remember way back last June, we begun a little journey around the statue nirvana that is Statuepark, near Budapest, Hungary. Well, 11 months later and we’re nearly there!

Once again thanks to friends Laura and Rich for delivering another couple of fine ex-communist monument imitations. There are still a couple more to go from their collection but I should have them up on the site within a year of receiving them hopefully! Not quite sure how long it’ll take to post the 40ish statues discovered on my recent trip to Oz….a decade maybe?

When hunting around the Statuepark website, sadly I couldn’t find any further information on these particular monuments. I did, however, find this cracking picture of someone imitating a red star by the entrance to the park. Hope it suffices!

Greetings!

2007-04-27T21:46:00.000+01:00

Just thought I'd pop in with a quick weekend greeting!

Cracking Channel Cows…

2007-04-26T21:45:00.000+01:00

Big antipodean greetings to Ed this evening, whom I met whilst in Melbourne. On hearing of this strange statue website, Ed felt inspired to send in these pics of some rather fantastic cows, and all I can say really is good on ya Ed!

These moos are currently grazing in St Helier, the capital town found on the island of Jersey, which is part of the Channel Isles, located to the south of England. Jersey is renown for its cattle, hence the statues of the Jersey Cow.

Below is another photo of this fine breed, alongside Ed and friend Lisa.

The post this evening has been bought to you in association with Begerac.

Tackling Tennis Legends…

2007-04-24T20:17:00.000+01:00

Okay, carrying on with the Aussie theme, tonight I bring you the first of many statues (and big things) encountered on the recent trip I took around Australia. These are likely to last for the rest of the year or so, quite possibly longer!

The first, and it has to be said, one of the best, cities I visited was Melbourne. I arrived midway through the second week of the Australian Open tennis tournament, the first grand slam tournament of the year. On entrance to the fantastic venue, situated right in the centre of town, you encounter the Australian tennis hall of fame. This essentially features a bust of some of the great Aussie tennis players over the years, and a new player is inducted on Australia day each year, during the tournament.

Anyways, on obtaining a lovely free pink sweatband, and having some rather silly hair after a few months on the road, it seemed only natural that my travelling companion, Mr Wondering Pollstar, took on the role of imitating Pat Cash!

I took on the slightly more refined role of imitating Rod Laver, considered by many to be one of the greatest players of all time.

Details of their respective careers and victories can be found below, and some very detailed write ups of some of the tennis we were fortunate enough to watch can be found on Mr Pollstar’s travel blog here. My thoughts on the three days spent there are: it’s a great tournament, played under some gorgeous bright blue skies and the atmosphere was fantastic! Those Aussies do host the major sporting events extremely well.

A Xerox By Xanthi…

2007-04-23T20:59:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post tonight, featuring the delightfully named Xanthi from Perth, Australia. Alas, I don’t have too much info on the whereabouts of this particular monument, so I shall just hazard a complete and wild utter guess and say it could be in the beautiful Kings Park in the centre of town - one of the finest parks I’ve had the privilege to visit.