15 February: The Angel of the North

On this date in 1998, the Angel of the North was installed on a hill at Low Eighton in Lamesley parish, overlooking the A1 road. Here are 10 things you might not know about it:

1. The statue stands on the site of a former colliery pithead, which was re-claimed and earmarked for a sculpture in 1990.
2. The Angel was created by contemporary artist Antony Gormley, and the body of the angel is said to have been based on Gormley’s own body.
3. Somewhat bigger, of course. The Angel is 20 metres (66 ft) high, the height of a five story building or four double decker Buses on top of each other. It weighs 200 tonnes – the body 100 tonnes and the wings 50 tonnes each. The wings measure 54 metres (177 ft) across, which is longer than a Boeing 757 or 767 jet, and just 4 metres shorter than a jumbo jet. The wings are angled 3.5 degrees forward to suggest an embrace.
4. It’s exposed location means the Angel needed some serious weather-proofing. It is made of weather resistant Cor-ten steel, containing a small amount of Copper. There is enough steel in it to make 16 double decker buses or four Chieftain tanks. 700 tonnes of concrete and 32 tonnes of reinforcing steel were used to create the foundations, and it’s anchored to bedrock 20 metres below ground level. This means the Angel can withstand winds of over 100 mph (160 km/h).
5. The Red colour is caused by rust, which you might be surprised to learn, actually protects the metal underneath.
6. It is Britain’s largest statue (although not the largest sculpture since the ArcelorMittal Orbit in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London is 114.5-metres high) and the largest statue of an Angel anywhere in the world.
7. As with many monumental structures, The Angel of the North received a mixed reception at first. According to Gormley, it was a tribute to a forgotten industrial age and the work of the Coal miners and steel workers of the region. He wanted it to mark the transition from an industrial to an information age; and thirdly, to serve as a focus for our evolving hopes and fears. Detractors nicknamed it The Gateshead Flasher; there were fears that it would interfere with TV reception and cause car accidents due to people gawping at it as they drove past. The latter was solved by letting trees grow at the spot where the road passes closest to the statue to hide it from view. Now, however, it has become iconic enough to be used by the long-running television detective show Vera to help establish the setting of the series in Northumberland.
8. There are in existence several maquettes of the angel (a maquette being a sculptor’s equivalent of a rough sketch). Anyone lucky enough to own one is sitting on a fortune. A bronze maquette owned by Gateshead Council was valued at £1 million on Antiques Roadshow in 2008—the most valuable item ever appraised on the programme. German fashion designer Wolfgang Joop kept a life size maquette in the garden of his mansion in Potsdam, Germany until he sold it at auction at Christie's in London. It went for £3.4 million to an anonymous bidder. Another was donated to the National Gallery of Australia in 2009, and now stands in its Sculpture Garden.
9. The components were transported by night in a convoy—the body on a 48-wheel trailer—from the construction site in Hartlepool, 28 miles (45 km) up the A19 road to the installation site. The journey took five hours and crowds turned out to watch.
10. A Daffodil with a distinct reddish colour has been registered with the Royal Horticultural Society and officially named the ‘Angel of the North Daffodil’.

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

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