Not to be sniffed at: three of the seven Soho noses

I followed my nose through the streets, picking my way through the hoards of tourists in the rain, searching for the seven noses of Soho. They were here somewhere, and if I found all seven (which I didn’t; I gave up after three) I was promised great wealth. I put my nose to the grindstone but they were hard to find, roughly at shoulder height yet hidden in plain view, and the size of a nose. The rain got heavier, my boon companions found a pub, and I was happy enough with my three (I nose when to give up).

The story goes that in 1997, in protest against the proliferation of CCTV cameras in the UK and inspired by the Situationist movement, artist Rick Buckley anonymously stuck 35 plaster casts of his nose to various buildings in London. Even though he painted them the same colour as the walls he stuck them on, so they would be fairly inconspicuous, most of the protrusions were found and removed. Fourteen years passed until Buckley admitted he was the guerrilla artist responsible for them, by which time the remaining Soho noses had reached mythical proportions, inspiring all kinds of fantastic tales (which you can read about here if you want), including the one about fabulous wealth coming to those who find all seven, a difficult task seeing as at least one is located outside of Soho.

Previously on Barnflakes
The Chewing Gum Artist Vs The Admen