Serbian town to erect life-size marble statue of Samantha Fox

Published on 24/03/2007 02:22

A LIFE-SIZE marble statue of the former glamour model Samantha Fox is to be erected in Serbia after she agreed to sing at a pop festival.

Locals in the southern Serb town of Cacak raised the money to show the 1980s model turned pop star how delighted they are about her visit. Obrad Banovic, a fan, said: "We love her. She is an authentic sex symbol of the 1980s, so why shouldn't we have a monument to her. Other towns have their heroes in parks, so why can't we?

"We are also aware that her most famous attributes may require special treatment, so we are planning on using the best quality marble only."

The idea for the statue came after Fox agreed to take part in a music festival in Cacak next month.

It won't be the only celebrity statue in the area. The northern Serbian village of Zitiste is putting up a statue of the Hollywood film character Rocky, as played by Sylvester Stallone.

The Bosnian town of Mostar, which is divided along ethnic lines, erected a statue of the late martial arts film star Bruce Lee in 2005 as a symbol of unity between Muslims and Croats.

And the eastern Bosnian town of Bijelina, the scene of some of the most vicious ethnic cleansing during the 1992-95 wars, is to erect a huge bronze statue of the town's most famous produce - a cabbage.

Other eastern European countries have adopted eccentric cultural icons. Norman Wisdom is a star in Albania and was the only western actor whose films were allowed during the Communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha.