Dunchurch statue gets Christmas makeover

Paddington Bear, a stowaway from darkest Peru.

This year the statue has been decorated as Paddington Bear, the famous children's character from 'darkest Peru' who first appeared in Michael Bond's 1958 book, A Bear Called Paddington.

In a tradition thought to date back to the 1970s, pranksters wait until the dead of night to dress the statue of Lord John Scott as different characters and people in the run up to Christmas.

In 2016 the statue, which dates back to 1867, was dressed as Pokemon’s Pikachu - a character from the popular game and cartoon series.

The year before it was dressed as a Stormtrooper and in the years before that is has been turned into a Minion, Prince George, a super hero and a smurf.

The statue, which is the centre of the village, commemorates the Lord, who was a Grenadier Guards officer, a Scottish MP and a landlord, who died in 1860.