A statuesque figure turned heads in Oxford last night as he rolled into the city for a film promotion.

The 28-foot golden statue portrays Prometheus, a character from Greek mythology, and was on display in Broad Street to mark a screening of a film of the same name by writer and poet Tony Harrison.

The statue - made of ten plastic moulded sections and finished in 24-carat gold leaf - followed the cast all over Europe while the film was being made.

But its stay in Oxford was short-lived - it was moved on straight after the screening at Magdalen College.

Mr Harrison himself visited the 1.2-tonne statue with his grandchildren after spending the day at his daughter's house in Oxford.

The film has been described as a millennial reckoning of what humanity has made of the gift of fire - reflecting the story of Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods of Mount Olympus and was punished by being chained to a rock and having his liver pecked at by eagles every day until he was released by Hercules.

Story date: Thursday 29 April

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