“It was really just a finger up the system. They wanted something standard and boring, so she gave them a huge gorilla,” said Monro’s son Claude. “I think there was a certain amount of ‘Is this art? What is this;” added Joe, Claude’s older brother. But on Friday, a recreation of the statue returned to the city 50 years after the original, to an outpouring of joy and nostalgia. While it was craned into place, people were already queuing up to take pictures of it, with many reminiscing about their memories of seeing it as a child. “Now with him coming home, I think he’s gone 180 degrees and people are literally welcoming him with open arms,” said Joe, speaking on behalf of his father who was unable to attend the unveiling due to health reasons. “He’s really over the moon that we were able to create this and it’s a fair reflection of what he did by hand all those years ago.” Working closely with Monro – now in his 80s and living in Dorset – and his family, local property developer Cordia Blackswan borrowed a model of the original statue from the Wolverhampton Art Gallery to create a new, and slightly larger, version of the work of art. “I wanted it to be a little bigger, because everyone saw it when he was a kid. So coming back, I didn’t want them to think, “Oh, no, it’s not as big as I remember.” So it’s 20% bigger across the board,” Joe said. “[The original] he was only here for seven months, but it was enough to leave a lasting mark on the city.” After it moved to Birmingham’s Manzoni Gardens (now part of the Bullring Shopping Centre), Birmingham City Council decided not to buy the original statue at a discounted price of £2,000. Instead, it was bought by a local used car dealership, renamed King Kong Car Co, who installed the statue on the site, dressing it up as Santa every Christmas. In 1976, the statue was sold to businessman Nigel Maby and put on display at a market in Edinburgh, where it was, at one point, painted tartan and suffered a broken arm when it was vandalised. The gorilla statue now resides in Maby’s widow’s garden in Cumbria and has been exhibited on rare occasions, although she has rejected offers to sell it. Monro himself retired from the art world and has created a few King Kong pieces. His family said they were happy to see that the original details of the statue had been preserved, including the hands that Monroe created himself. “When you look at the nails, I know it’s my dad,” Claude said. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST The new version of the statue will be on display in a pop-up park in Birmingham for the next two weeks to coincide with the Commonwealth Games, in the hope it can be found a permanent home in the city. “[Monro] I didn’t know King Kong had this second life in Birmingham after he retired,” said Marcus Hawley, chief executive of Cordia Blackswan. “His opinion was that people hated it here. So when we told him that they do in fact love him and want him back, it was an extremely emotional journey for everyone involved.”
