Statue's struggle to maintain regal air despite years of cheeky high jinks

YOU know how there's that one day of the year when flying ants seem to be swarming absolutely everywhere? It’s a bit like that with the students.

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There’s one weekend in September when there’s, like, thousands of them all over the place. I think I missed it this year, mind.

But in honour of the new academic year, we should pay tribute to Every Student's Favourite Thing in Bristol.

I refer, of course, to the statue of King Edward VII outside the Vic Rooms and looking considerably more martial and less corpulent that he was in real life.

Sure, yes, it is unquestionably one of the finest pieces of public sculpture in the region, depicting the king along with the cavorting nymphs and fishes and lions.