Pigs do fly! Iconic porker floats above Battersea power station again to celebrate 35 years of Pink Floyd album

By Daily Mail Reporter


Hamming it up: The Pink Floyd balloon pig hovers over Battersea Power Station today


Pink Floyd's iconic flying pig has made a comeback - 35 years after it caused chaos by escaping into the skies over London.

A new 30-foot, helium-filled balloon floated high above Battersea Power Station to mark the reissue of the band's 14 studio albums.

But unlike its famous predecessor, this pig remained firmly tethered to the ground.

Sow big: The 30ft monster is firmly tethered, unlike the original which escaped over London in 1976 and caused chaos


The original balloon, Algie - designed by band founder Roger Waters - broke free from its moorings during a photo shoot for the cover of the hit album Animals in 1976.

Plans had been made to fly Algie over Battersea on the first day of the three-day shoot, with a marksman ready to blast it out of the sky if things went wrong, but the pig was not launched.

On the second day, organisers had forgotten to book the marksman - and Algie made its bid for freedom. A strong gust of wind snapped the tether and the pig shot skywards, drifting off south over London.

Double take: The original Animals album cover from 1977 (left) and the new shoot on Monday


The pig disappeared from sight within five minutes and was soon spotted by startled airline pilots at 30,000 feet.

Flights to and from Heathrow Airport were cancelled as Algie flew through the path of passenger aircraft. The balloon headed out towards the coast before crash-landing at a farm in Kent that night.

The pig was recovered and repaired so the photo-shoot could resume. but by the time he was brought back to Battersea, the cloudless, blue sky was deemed too 'boring'. So what Floyd fans eventually got was a composite picture.

The way they were: Floyd together at Live 8 in 2005 (from left) Dave Gilmore, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Rick Wright


Record bosses had to commission a new version of Algie for today's shoot. The original - which had been kept in a workshop in Halesworth, Suffolk - was found to be leaky.

The new pig was created by inflatables specialist Air Artists, which has worked with members of the band for many years. It needed 12 gas canisters to fill it and, this time, was tied firmly to the ground.

A Pink Floyd spokeswoman said: 'Sadly, two weeks prior to the event, the original neoprene-glued pig was officially declared not airworthy and a brand new high-frequency welded PVC replica Pink Floyd pig has been made for the occasion.'

The band's 14 albums have been remastered and are now available on CD.

There will also be new versions of Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall. Fans can expect them within weeks.

The album Animals was inspired by Orwell's book Animal Farm, in which humans are characterised as pigs, sheep and dogs.

After its release in 1977 it became a massive hit, reaching Number Two in the UK album charts and Number Three in America's Billboard charts. It has since gone platinum four times.

Inflatable pigs were one of the staple props of Pink Floyd's live shows. The first was a sow, but a very obviously male pig appeared in the 1980s.


source:dailymail