Walthamstow To Get New Hitchcock Statue

Dean Nicholas
By Dean Nicholas Last edited 162 months ago
Walthamstow To Get New Hitchcock Statue

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Hitchcock bust at Gainsborough Studios by Antony Donaldson. Photo / Ray Grasso

It's all go in the 'Stow right now: as well as getting a new Speakers' Corner, a statue* of Alfred Hitchcock is to be unveiled this Saturday, during an event held by the McGuffin Film & Television Society to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the EMD cinema.

The Society has spent the last few years campaigning for the EMD, where the young Hitch would while away his childhood days, to be re-opened. They held a protest last year against plans to transform it into a church. Saturday's event will showcase designs for how the cinema could be re-opened, as well as a sneak preview of The Lost Empire, a documentary looking at the history of the EMD.

New statue aside, Hitchcock is already amply represented by public art in London. The picture above shows the enormous bust at Gainsborough Studios in Hoxton, an apartment block situated on site of Gainsborough Pictures, where Hitch worked pre-WW2. There are also 17 mosaics in and around Leytonstone station commemorating the director's body of work.

*Correction: the article originally stated that the statue was bronze. Read the comment below for further clarification.

Last Updated 15 September 2010