There have been several recent articles in the national media about the fund raising to erect a statue of legendary footballer turned TV pundit Jimmy Hill at Coventry City.
The sculptor who has been commissioned to undertake the work is Nicholas Dimbleby (2 North 1964) who has already sketched several designs for the statue, which has received widespread support from former stars of the game, including Alan Hansen and Bob Wilson.
The £150,000 appeal for the seven-foot bronze tribute outside the Ricoh Arena is now just £8,000 short of its target.
Coventry City director Joe Elliott said: “If there is any company or business who would like to donate to help us reach our target, they could have their name put on the plinth.”
Dimbleby, the son of legendary broadcaster Richard and brother of David and Jonathan’s is an internationally acclaimed sculptor. In an interview in the Independent a few years ago he said: “It’s difficult if you come from a family of people who succeed in a very apparent way. Of course, everyone succeeds or fails, but if you don’t succeed in an obvious way in a family of manifest success you look like a failure.
“Success does become expected in some way. It can become a case of how does one impress one’s parents, whether they are alive or dead. Luckily my father felt that personal fulfilment was the most important thing, so art was an acceptable career.
“I wasn’t under pressure to go into broadcasting. But you do always have to think: `Am I doing this to join in or should I be doing something more modest but more fulfilling?’
“I often think that my brothers must be envious of me. My sculptures go off to the clients and I am left with my plaster casts, my ghosts. But when my brothers go on television in front of millions of viewers, the cameras stop and that’s it. My work goes on sustaining me, but theirs is gone with the sunrise.”