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Did you know that there's a plaque dedicated to the world's most famous wallcrawler here in London??
That's a little disingenuous. As you can see below, it's a different Spider-Man — note the lack of a hyphen — who's remembered on this memorial bench in Highgate's Waterlow Park. Bob Humphrys was a mainstay at London Zoo in the 20th century. He joined when he left school, and left the zoo to serve abroad during the second world war, before returning and becoming head insect keeper in the 1960s.
Considering the 1960s was when the New Yorker Spider Man made his debut in comics, it isn't a stretch to suggest that might be where Bob got his name from.
Their aliases aren't the only thing Bob and Peter Parker share in common. They're both film stars. The superhero Spider-Man didn't make his cinematic debut till the 1970s, whereas Bob made his in 1962 — in Dr No, Sean Connery's stunt double balked at the idea of a large tarantula crawling over his chest, so Spiderman stepped forward.
This memorial bench to Bob and his wife Irene was installed by their children. If you want to see the bench head for the wide open part of Waterlow Park, above the pond and near the shelter. It'd be a poor spot to honour comic books' Spider-Man. No skyscrapers in sight to swing from.
