BILL Heine never really felt at home in America. Whether it was joining the Peace Corps rather than fighting in Vietnam, taking part in Martin Luther King’s civil rights march instead of preventing it coming to his home state of Illinois, or refusing to cut his hair, he felt he was always at odds with much of the population.

The veteran broadcaster comes under various guises – the shark man being his most famous incarnation, as well as BBC Radio Oxford presenter, raconteur, eccentric and anglophile.

He can add Oxford Mail columnist to his list of accolades from next Friday and, if his past experiences are anything to go by, it will be a lively read.

From the death threats he received when tracking down a paedophile, to the long planning campaign he fought against Oxford City Council, he’s a formidable adversary.

Placing a shark sculpture in the roof of his Headington home was the result of several bottles of Champagne shared with artist and friend John Buckley.

They decided that a large shark silhouetting the Oxford skyline was a good idea. Now it remains a permanent fixture, after a hard-fought victory by Mr Heine – a former law student – despite the council’s best efforts.

Born in a small town 30 miles west of Chicago in a decent, law-abiding, segregated, largely farming community, Mr Heine knew almost immediately that he wouldn’t fit in or stay for long.

“There was a sign outside the town that said ‘no steel wheels or lugs’ and I still don’t know what a lug is,” he smiles.

Always harbouring a crush on Oxford – seeing it not only as his gateway to freedom but also to an education he could only dream of – he came over to do a law degree at Baillol in 1967, studying American diplomatic history, and loved it.

But when war broke out in Vietnam, he was sent home a year later before he’d finished his degree. He took an internship in The White House instead of being drafted, and then joined the Peace Corps, being sent off to Nicaragua and Peru rather than the Asian jungle, before returning to Oxford to finish his degree. He has stayed ever since.

“It’s a magical place, Oxford. You can feel the history here.”

Having graduated, he began considering his future, and quickly noticed that although there were three cinemas in Oxford they only showed films “like Bedknobs and Broomsticks or porn”.

He decided to provide an alternative by opening the Penultimate Picture Palace in Jeune Street, off Cowley Road, in 1976, showing award-winning films not seen anywhere else, which he ran for the next 15 years.

Having bought a house in 1986 on New High Street, Headington, he invited Mr Buckley to have a look.

“He asked if he could rip off my roof and I told him he was out of his mind,” Mr Heine remembers.

“We didn’t think for a minute the shark would stay, but it’s still here 28 years later.”

It’s only down to his tenacity that the shark is still evident. His fight to keep the roof sculpture reached epic proportions, the debate raging in court and Parliament, before eventually involving the Cabinet with Michael Heseltine – the then Secretary Of State for the Environment – getting involved, granting him permission.

The shark also heralded the start of Mr Heine’s media career, as he was constantly being interviewed by TV and radio stations.

He began writing a column for the Oxford Star and then Radio Oxford asked him to come on board.

That was in 1988 and his radio show is still a main feature, courting controversy whenever it airs.

Two of his his more memorable radio moments include his most famous campaigns, the first against a lack of investment in Wood Farm, which he pestered Tony Blair about until the then Prime Minister agreed to look into it personally.

The second, an investigation into a paedophile running a child model agency, resulted in an attempt on his life, with, according to Mr Heine, police discovering that hitmen had been hiding out in his house to wait for his return. Luckily he was away.

As a result, he was forced to move out of his shark house, and now lives in a secret location with his partner, potter Jane Hanson, and son Magnus.

So how does he feel about Oxford now?

“The interesting thing is how I feel about being an American in America, because I’m not sure I get their sense of humour any more and it takes me longer and longer to get back in tune with the Americans,” he reflected.

“But Oxford feels like being on holiday every day of the year.”

HE SAID WHAT?

‘The shark has devoured all its opposition. I don’t often praise the city council, but their decision is a victory for the shark and common sense’
On the city council’s planning
committee voting not to tear
down his roof shark in 1995

‘If there was a Victims’ Party it would probably win the next election’
Said in 1995 on the subject of the number of people in the city who have been the victim of burglaries

‘I hate cars and they hate me, but every once in a while I fall for the lovely lines in their bodies and I buy one’
Said in 1988 on the subject
of his first Mini

‘Experiments on animals at Oxford University is not a cut-and-dried issue. Almost everything is disputed, including the purpose, results, effect and reliability of the experiments’
Discussing vivisection in 1987