You can't come to Nottingham and not have a photograph next to the Robin Hood statue - the figure of the legendary outlaw which is set to turn 70 next month. Ahead of the milestone anniversary on July 24, Bob White, chairman of the World Wide Robin Hood Society, has compiled a miscellany of facts about the statue's colourful past.
Numerous celebrities have been photographed alongside what has become a global ambassador for the city, standing outside Nottingham Castle. Brian Clough, Torvill and Dean, Jonathan Ross, Cilla Black, Pudsey Bear, Brian Blessed, The Killers, and Wallace and Gromit are just a few of the famous faces. And it was a lot more than faces that were photographed in 1986.
Would-be models caused quite a stir when they posed topless for Penthouse, the glossy international men's magazine, alongside the 7ft statue. Mr White, who worked in Nottingham City Council's publicity office at the time, recalled: "One bright, sunny morning in the summer of 1986, the local BBC radio station rang me at 5am to say they had received calls from members of the public complaining about female models being photographed in the nude at city centre landmarks, such as Old Market Square and the Robin Hood statue.
