Stop Oxford’s ‘roof shark’ from going belly-up
SIR – I beg the Oxford authorities to list the fibreglass “roof shark”, as its owner Bill Heine is requesting (report, May 24).
When I was living in Marlow Bottom I installed a Second World War aircraft gun turret on my roof, but before long one or two near neighbours complained to the local planning authorities. When a pair of jobsworths demanded that I remove the turret, I reached for the bookshelf and showed them my edition of Eccentric Oxford by Benedict le Vay, which depicted the “roof shark” on the front cover. I informed the jobsworths that this case went to the High Court, where Mr Heine won the right to retain it. The planners departed.
I therefore owe a debt of gratitude to Mr Heine and the authorities who were highly influential in my retaining the turrets on my house. Lyndon Yorke
High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire