Angel of the North’s Santa hat goes south

THE Angel of the North sculpture is no longer wearing a Santa Claus hat after the pranksters who placed it there climbed up overnight to remove it.

One of the group, dressed as Dr Seuss’s character the Grinch, was seen pulling the hat down from the 65ft structure outside Gateshead with the help of three others dressed as Santa.

They had placed the hat on top of Antony Gormley’s landmark artwork on Christmas Eve, prompting delight from onlookers.

Even Gateshead Council welcomed the stunt by the pranksters, describing the public response as “staggering” after the pictures made national news.

After taking it down, the group, which has asked to remain anonymous, said: “We never in a million years expected it to hit the headlines the way it did. Because it’s such good publicity we thought we’d give the public something else to laugh and smile about before the end of the festive season and came up with the Grinch and a few Santas to take it down.”

This year’s successful stunt was the group’s seventh attempt at placing the hat on the sculpture, with previous efforts blighted by problems including bad weather and a broken-down car.

In 1998, Newcastle United fans placed an Alan Shearer football shirt on it, and in 2015 supermarket Morrisons apologised after projecting a bread advert on to its wings.