The newly restored statue is an attraction to visitors

A famous bronze statue of Captain Smith, master of the ill-fated Titanic ship, has a new look.

The statue, which was erected in Beacon Park in Lichfield in 1914, has been restored, as part of a project to improve the cathedral area of the city.

Though he was born in Stoke-on-Trent, there is no memorial to Captain Smith in his home town.

The Titanic sank on her maiden voyage in 1912 after striking an iceberg.

“Be British”

The statue of Captain Edward John Smith is now a central feature in Beacon Park, which is just yards from Lichfield Cathedral Close. It is now nearly 8ft (2.4m) tall, standing on a 7ft (2.1m) plinth of Cornish granite.

It shows him in defiant pose, reminding us of his famous last words, “Be British”.

It was created by a famous sculptor of the time, Lady Kathleen Scott. Lady Scott knew herself of the grief of losing a man to his duty; she was the widow of Robert Falcon Scott, the doomed Captain Scott of the Antarctic.

The story goes however that the authorities in Stoke-on-Trent refused the statue, even though Captain Smith had been born and raised in Hanley, not wishing to be associated with the perceived disgrace.

Statue

The statue had begun to show it age displaying a dull patina

The statue and plinth have now been conserved and cleaned as part of Lichfield District Council’s and Lichfield City Council’s multi-million pound project to transform the area of Beacon Park, The Garden of Remembrance and the Minster Pool & Walk.

This restoration comes hot on the heels of the recently restored Edward VII statue, also in the Beacon Park Museum Gardens, which was unveiled earlier this July.

Lichfield councillor Neil Roberts said: “The statue looks fantastic and is a fitting tribute to the memory of RMS Titanic.”

This work has been possible thanks to £3.9 million funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund, as part of their Parks for People programme.

CARDIFF-BY-THE-SEA, Calif. (AP) – A bronze surfer statue near San Diego has been the target of many gags, but never one this big and scary.

Unknown predawn pranksters on Saturday surrounded the roadside statue in Cardiff-by-the-Sea with a papier mache model of a great white shark that appeared to be swallowing it whole.

Crowds of gawkers and photographers gathered around the 16-foot creation after the sun rose.

San Diego County sheriff’s Lt. Tony Ray said no criminal report was filed because there was no damage to the statue.

The $120,000 sculpture called “Magic Carpet Ride” was commissioned by the Cardiff Botanical Society in 2007.

The statue has been bedecked with bras, skirts and witch hats so many times that locals have come to call it “The Cardiff Kook.”

The bronze statue at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington had turned greenish-blue over the years. (Alex Brandon/Associated Press)

900-pound bronze sculpture will be unveiled in August

By Chase Goodbread Sports Writer

By Emily James

Deseret News

KEARNS — Lt. Daniel Nevot, a French war hero in World War II, was immortalized Friday night as a statue depicting him and a fellow soldier was cast in bronze.

Half a dozen men poured the bronze into a mold that had been prepared over the past few weeks through an intensive and thorough process in a warehouse west of Salt Lake City. After pouring the bronze, workers cooled the pieces and carefully chipped away the cast, revealing the bronze heads of Nevot and his fellow soldier.

Stan Watts, owner of Atlas Bronze Casting, has created approximately 50 statues since he began in this line of work. Watts gained national recognition for his statue of three firefighters raising an American flag at ground zero following 9/11. The statue, 22 feet tall, stands at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Maryland.

Watts’ warehouse is filled with molds and casts of upcoming statues and smaller models of past statues. Each one has a story that has stuck with Watts, and Nevot’s is no different.

As a young man, Nevot and two other French soldiers disguised themselves as Arabs one day, said Nevot’s grandson-in-law, Eric Probasco.

“They sneaked into the Italian garrison,” Probasco said. “The commander was counting his troops’ payroll and they took him prisoner. They ordered him onto the public address system and had him call his troops to the courtyard.”

Nevot and the two other men proceeded to convince the group of approximately 150 Italian soldiers that the French had them surrounded. They turned the Italians’ own machine guns on them while they held them prisoner until the three men were able to radio for reinforcements.

Nevot, who is now in his late 80s, retired in France, then came to live in St. George, based on a long-standing fascination with the American West, Probasco said. Nevot commissioned the statue and arranged to have it placed at his regimental headquarters in Colmar, France, Probasco said.

“He wanted a statue of common soldiers,” Probasco said. “He said there weren’t enough of those.”

The statue, which is 1 ?1/2 times life size and will be called “French Freedom Fighters,” will be delivered to France this summer by Nevot and his family.

In addition to the statues of the three firefighters and Nevot’s soldiers, Watts has completed prominent statues of Abraham Lincoln and Booker T. Washington, as well as pieces that now sit internationally, one as far away as the United Arab Emirates.

“He’s a very passionate artist,” Probasco said of Watts. “I am so impressed by what he does.”

Watts works with his two sons and a nephew, along with a handful of other men, to create pieces that really stand out and stand for something.

“There’s something about that pouring that you can’t get out of your blood,” Watts said with a smile.

Nearly a dozen men worked late into the night Friday, and they all did it with passion. Don Snarr has been working with Watts for more than 10 years on and off.

“I go away sometimes to do my own art, but I always come back,” Snarr said. “We all love this.”