London's Campest Statues is one of the most popular regular items in Smoke, and to celebrate the relaunch of the website we've decided to reprint a few of our favourites here. Click any tiny picture below to have a lovely big one pop up right in front of you.
Temple Place, WC2
(Where it all began... text from Smoke 2...)
People often launch themselves acrobatically at us from fire escapes wanting to know what happened to the piece on "London’s Ugliest Dogs" trumpeted on last issue’s cover, some even accusing us of false enticement and citing the similar non-appearance of "London’s Campest Statues" to back their claim. The truth, I'm afraid, is more prosaic: accosting bedogged strangers with a cheery “Excuse me, madam, would you mind if I took a photo of your frankly hideous bull terrier? – it’s for my own personal use only, I assure you,” is liable to result in altercation. We briefly toyed with combining the articles and doing "London’s Campest Dogs", as there’s a golden retriever just up the road about whom I’ve long harboured serious doubts – brought up in a house full of poodles, I reckon (last time someone tossed him a bone, he just tried to tie it up into a top-knot) – but, again, I think we’re on dodgy doggy ground, so… let’s just stick with "London’s Campest Statues". Kicking off with this prime example from behind Temple station… one of a pair, possibly even a right pair, each atop a nice firm pillar.