Bill Heine was a larger than life character - and certainly not afraid of heights.
Nothing would stop him in his tracks as he celebrated his latest eye-catching addition to Oxford’s scenery and victory over officialdom.
Take for example his reaction when the city council dropped its opposition to the pair of outsized dancing can-can legs he erected above his Headington cinema, Not the Moulin Rouge.
Bill Heine with the can-can legs on top of the Not the Moulin Rouge cinema in Headington
There was no thought for health and safety - he clambered on top of the legs, dangled on a ladder by the cinema sign and hovered out of a 20ft high window to pose for photographers and toast his victory in champagne.
The dancer’s legs, of course, weren’t his only claim to fame. More famous, not only in Oxford but worldwide, was the shark erected above his nearby house in New High Street.
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The 25ft long fibreglass sculpture was installed without planning permission on August 9, 1986. Oxford City Council spent six years trying to get it removed before Environment Secretary Michael Heseltine ruled it could stay.
These weren’t the only occasions that Mr Heine battled with city councillors.
He was often in conflict with them for showing banned and provocative films at his other cinema, the Penultimate Picture Palace in Jeune Street, East Oxford.
The PPP, as it was known, was also adorned - this time with a giant pair of hands, designed, like the shark and the legs, with his friend, sculptor John Buckley.
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Mr Heine grew up in a small farming community in Illinois in the United States.
He came to Oxford in the 1960s to study law at Balliol College, but decided not to go into the profession. Instead, he chose writing “because I thought it would be more interesting,” he said later.
An almost naked Bill launches Visual Artists’ Week in the Westgate Centre in 1987
For many years, he wrote weekly articles for the Oxford Star free newspaper and later the Oxford Mail.
He broadcast on BBC Radio Oxford for more than 30 years, wrote radio plays and made numerous appearances at events in support of charities and other good causes.
Explaining his love of Oxford, he once said: “It has a special kind of attitude enabling one to ask questions and confront people with ideas.
Bill abseils down Carfax Tower for charity in 1991
“The whole city is like a giant botanical garden, with the strangest people crawling around. It is loaded with artistic and musical talent and even the local politicians are fascinating.”
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He certainly had plenty of battles with the politicians, but there was respect and admiration for him even at the Town Hall.
Louise Howkins, nine, of Farmoor, gives Bill a soaking in the stocks at Cumnor medieval fayre in 1990
When he died in 2019, Councillor Mary Clarkson wrote: “Bill, you’ve added so much to Oxford life - colour, controversy and fun. You’ve put us councillors on the spot, but you’ve been great company. Thanks for everything - we will miss you so much.”
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