If Piccadilly Circus were a person, it would be the socially inept guest at a dinner party.
The one no one wants to sit next to unless absolutely necessary; Piccadilly Circus is the “Oh, do we have to?” of London’s West End.
If there is a good time to visit the area, then I have yet to find it. All I know is that in order to get through unscathed, you’ve got to channel your inner rhinoceros: grit your teeth, put your head down, and charge.
But a word of warning: doing so may mean you miss one of the areas most graceful and intriguing statues.
The next time you’re passing – nay, charging – through Piccadilly, cross the road by the Horses of Helios (pictured above) and look up. On the roof of the Criterion Building you’ll find the Three Daughters of Helios (or the Three Graces) leaping from the top of the building.
A little surprise in the sky, hidden from the hoards below, I suppose it just goes to show: even the most unwelcome dinner guests have their redeeming features.
My daughter was the body for these sculptures. Her name is Annamaria Kalebic and she was a page three model and was approached to do the bodies. She was covered in plaster of Paris and that’s how they made them.