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NAME H’ANGUS THE MONKEY

TEAM HARTLEPOOL UNITED

SPORT FOOTBALL

YEARS ACTIVE 1999–PRESENT

STYLE CROSS-EYED REJECT FROM PLANET OF THE APES

FAMOUS FOR BEING ELECTED AS MAYOR OF HARTLEPOOL

Most mascots have a concocted back story, but the origin tale of H’Angus the Monkey is darker than most. The residents of Hartlepool are breezily known in some quarters as ‘monkey hangers’, something based on an old myth that, when a French ship ran aground near the town during the Napoleonic Wars, the only survivor was a monkey that the crew had dressed in a sailor’s uniform. Having seen neither a Frenchman nor a monkey before, the people of the town supposedly assumed the creature was a French spy, and it was duly hanged.

Thus, H’Angus the Monkey. Cheery stuff. Perhaps with this grim tale in mind, H’Angus developed a reputation for ‘anarchic’ behaviour, which included but was not limited to simulating copulation with a female steward, and being kicked out of Blackpool’s ground amid suspicion he had taken drink.

Sounds like a perfect elected official, right? Well, yes, as it turned out. In 2002 all the established political parties were jostling to become the first directly elected mayor of Hartlepool, so Stewart Drummond, the man playing H’Angus at the time, decided to run as ‘a laugh’ and to drum up a little publicity for the club. But, in an early sign that mainstream politics was about to get very silly indeed, he won. And not only did he win, but he was elected twice more before the post was abolished in 2013. Sadly, he did not govern as the monkey.

Steve Drew/EMPICS Sport/PA Images