Dead bod

The Legend of Dead Bod

Dead Bod is a Hull legend. A scruffy painted bird, belly-up and bold, with a story that’s just as unexpected as the image itself.

It was painted by Len ‘Pongo’ Rood, possibly as a prank, on a quiet Saturday afternoon at Alexandra Dock in the 1960s. Afterwards, he shared the story behind it.

While working on The Englishman, a ship anchored near Falmouth, a bird landed on deck with a broken wing. The captain, William Valentine ‘Tulip’ Hopper, was a dedicated bird watcher. He took the bird into his cabin and nursed it back to health for three weeks. When it was finally strong enough to fly, Tulip placed it gently outside in a cardboard box and stepped back inside with Pongo to watch it take off.

Before it could spread its wings, Bosun Bob Skelton came up on deck, spotted the bird and said, “What the f*** is that?” Then he swung his boot and killed it.

“It’s a dead bod,” said Pongo.

Tulip just shook his head. “Three weeks of s*** and feathers in my cabin and it ends like this. Well done, Bob.”

That moment stuck. And not long after, so did the painting. Quickly thrown up by Pongo on the side of a corrugated iron shed, with the words “Dead Bod” scrawled next to it. Over time, the image became a fixture on Hull’s waterfront. It wasn’t official or planned, but it became one of the city’s most recognisable landmarks.

When the shed was due to be demolished in 2015, a campaign to save Dead Bod took off. Thanks to public support, the artwork was carefully removed and now lives on inside our café at Humber Street Gallery.

Come and say hello. It’s weird, it’s well loved and it’s pure Hull.