Squash club

and abandoned shop in Wallingford.

Extra: The Headington shark

The shark first appeared on 9 August 1986, having been commissioned by the house's owner Bill Heine, a local radio presenter.[1] The sculpture was inspired by Heine hearing American warplanes flying from Upper Heyford near Oxford on their way to bomb Libya in retaliation for its terrorist attacks on American troops, and it was put up as a protest against the bombing as well as making a statement against nuclear weapons with the shark being used as a metaphor for falling bombs.

The sculpture was erected on the 41st anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki.[6] It was designed by sculptor John Buckley and constructed by Anton Castiau, a local carpenter and friend of Buckley. Heine said "The shark was to express someone feeling totally impotent and ripping a hole in their roof out of a sense of impotence and anger and desperation... It is saying something about CND, nuclear power, Chernobyl and Nagasaki".[5] The structure is in deliberate contrast with its otherwise ordinary suburban setting.[7]

For the occasion of the shark's 21st anniversary in August 2007, it was renovated by the sculptor,[1] following earlier complaints about the condition of the sculpture and the house.[9]

On 26 August 2016, Heine's son Magnus Hanson-Heine bought the house in order to preserve the shark.[10] The property has been run as an Airbnb guesthouse since 2018.[7] Magnus also runs a website for general information and inquiries about the shark.[11]

In 2022, the Oxford City Council made the sculpture a heritage site for its "special contribution" to the community despite objection by Magnus Hanson-Heine.[4]