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13 December 2004

Waxworks to reopen David and Victoria Beckham nativity display

Cedric Pulford
London (ENI). Madame Tussauds, the London waxworks museum, has said it plans to reopen a controversial display featuring footballer David Beckham and his singer wife in a nativity scene after the effigies were attacked by a member of the public.

Several church leaders had condemned the display of Real Madrid and England footballer David Beckham and his singer wife, Victoria Adams, better known as Posh from the disbanded pop group the Spice Girls.

The couple appear as Mary and Joseph, along with singer Kylie Minogue as an angel and actors Hugh Grant and Samuel L. Jackson as shepherds. George W. Bush, Tony Blair and the Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, are the three wise men.

"We are currently assessing the damage, but hope to open the scene again before Christmas," Michael Birch, a spokesman for Tussauds, told Ecumenical News International. "Victoria's head is quite badly damaged. David's is less so." None of the other figures was damaged in the attack, which occurred on 12 December - less than a week after the display opened.

A man in his twenties repeatedly punched the waxwork figures and fled into the street, the Sun newspaper reported.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, speaking on BBC radio, described the display as "disrespectful", although he did not believe it was a deliberate attack on Christianity. "To have a very special part of Christianity depicted in this way and its most precious symbol, which is the coming of God into the world in Jesus Christ, seems to me to be, not just disrespectful to Christians, it is also disrespectful to the heritage of Britain and also does damage to the culture of this country," he said.

Tussauds has sought to counter criticisms by saying the display was meant in the spirit of fun. Madame Tussauds is one of London's official top 10 tourist attractions, in a group that includes the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye big wheel.

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