An iconic sight in my hometown is the sculpture in the Forbury Gardens known as 'The Maiwand Lion', though it is known locally as the Forbury Lion. The statue was named after the Battle of Maiwand and was erected in 1886 to commemorate the deaths of 329 men from the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot during the campaign in Afghanistan between 1878 and 1880. Urban myth has it that the sculptor committed suicide on learning that the lion's gait was actually that of a domestic cat. The sculptor was, in fact, George Blackall Simonds, a member of a Reading brewing family who went on to live for a further 43 years, enjoying continuing success as a sculptor creating statues of Queen Victoria in 1887 and George Palmer in 1891, both still standing in Reading. He retired from sculpting in 1903 and become chairman of the family business in 1910. The lion is made of cast iron, weighing 16 tons. It is one of the world's largest cast iron statues and is listed grade II by English Heritage. ------------------------------------------ Original Photograph 9 May 2013