A professional actor – currently performing in Phantom of the Opera in London’s West End – was lucky enough to witness a truly iconic event when she was back visiting her home city of Glasgow lately.
Kelly Mathieson was walking through the city centre on Sunday, October 6 when she spotted a “heroic” Glaswegian scaling the famous Duke of Wellington statue of Sir Arthur Wellesley astride his noble steed Copenhagen.
His goal? To replace Sir Arthur’s essential traffic cone hat.
The good samaritan had clearly seen that the statue was missing its signature feature – the traffic cone – and immediately jumped to do his civic duty and prevent any more people from having to see the shocking sight of the Duke’s naked head.
The Duke of Wellington statue, complete with jaunty cone, has become an enduring symbol of Glasgow in recent years and is situated in front of the Gallery of Modern Art, formerly the city’s Royal Exchange.
The statue was erected in 1844. Sometime around the 1980s, it is believed that drunken revellers or mischievous students began to regularly climb the 21-foot-high statue to place a bright orange traffic cone on the head of the Duke.
Glaswegians take special pride in seeing the cone on Sir Arthur Wellesley’s bronze head, and to see the statue without one is almost considered to be taboo. So it’s not surprising that Kelly’s clip of the “hero” replacing the cone quickly went viral on TikTok.
The video, set to the famous Braveheart movie theme and captioned “witnessing a hero, they may never take the cone. Never change, Glasgow.”
It’s had over 600,000 views since it was first uploaded, and scores of comments, with many people praising the cone-replacer.
One follower, Mandy, pointed out: “It’s Glasgow’s equivalent of the changing of the guard! What a sight to behold!”
Another person said they were a bit disappointed to see how the cone actually got up there, writing: “Bit gutted that’s how it gets there. I always thought it got thrown and the thought of people lining up to take a shot always makes me laugh.”
A user called FrankieBoy also chimed in and claimed that he’d replaced the cone twice in his 20s, Kelly replied: “Hero.”
Other people said that they were jealous, with one complaining that they’d never seen the almost-mythical event even though they’d lived in Glasgow all of their life.
Kelly told the Daily Record how the video had come about, explaining: “I’m actually a West End leading lady here in London, and I come from Glasgow, so was home for the weekend when I took the video. Just spreading the Scottish love to the theatre fans also – haha!!”
We all certainly appreciate having this historic and important event caught on video for posterity. Thanks, Kelly.
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