P.M. to get new image

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32540, 25 February 1971, Page 2

P.M. to get new image

(From GARRY ARTHUR, London correspondent of "The Press")

LONDON, Feb. 22. One of the lighter moments of Sir Keith Holyoake’s visit to London in April may be a call at Madame Tussaud’s waxworks exhibition—not to see the famous figures, but to have his own waxen image brought up to date. Not only has the Prime Minister changed since the portrait was made, but some would say that he never did look like it. Many visiting New Zealanders have remarked on ,

the poor likeness, and Madame Tussaud’s would now like to take the opportunity of having Sir Keith Holyoake sit for a new one. It Is not quite such an unpleasant process as it sounds. The subject does not have to submit to any molten wax, or have anything more lethal than a pair of calipers touch his person. An interview takes about 45 minutes, during which , the body measurements are

taken and the head is photographed from 36 different angles. A sculptor takes detailed measurements of the head, and matches the hair and eye colour. Madame Tussaud’s also likes to know the name and address of the subject’s tailor so that it can order a suit for the model from the best source. The wax figures in the exhibition are renewed whenever it is thought that the live subject has

changed sufficiently in appearance. Sir Winston Churchill was modelled 13 times during his career, and the master moulds showing him at various stages of his life are still in the archives.

Sir Winston Churchill’s, figure is still on display, but it is probable that when Sir Keith Holyoake ceases to be Prime Minister his model will be replaced by that of his political successor. In the case of British politicians, changes of Government involve little more than a

repositioning of the figures. All members of the shadow cabinet as well as the Cabinet are on display, so with a change of Government they simply change places.

Heads of State are automatic choices for inclusion in the display, and others “choose themselves” because of their prominence. Last year new figures of Princess Anne and the British golfer, A. Jacklin, were introduced, and the museum is now working on a new portrait of the late General de Gaulle, whose present portrait goes back to the 19405.

Last September Madame Tussaud’s opened its first foreign branch in Amsterdam, with a basically Dutch theme.

In June it will open a new section in London “heroes and heroines” of various fields of endeavour, to be called “heroes live.”