The world-famous Headington Shark.
(Photo courtesy of James Turnbull under Creative Commons license.)

The world-famous and often photographed Headington Shark celebrated its 25th anniversary on Tuesday, according to the Oxford Mail. The fiberglass shark was created by artist John Buckley and placed on the roof of Bill Heine in 1986. The shark celebrated its 25th birthday with a street party featuring a book-signing by Heine who recently wrote a book about the story behind the fiberglass shark.

Heine had originally placed the shark on his roof to mark the 41st anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan in World War II. The appearance of the shark almost immediately drew criticism along with a threat from the Oxford City Council to remove the shark by force, according to the Oxford Mail. However, Heine took the issue to a public inquiry and was eventually granted permission to keep the shark in place, where it has remained for the past 25 years.