Dead Bod is a kind of local mascot. It was painted on the side of a shed on the River Humber in the 1960s by Les "Pongo" Rood:
I came up with my "Undead Bod" design while standing in Victoria Square here in Hull on a cold January night in 2017 after watching an animation which told the story of Dead Bod.
The animation showed an injured seagull landing on a tug named The Englishman. The captain rescued it and nursed it back to health before one of the crew killed it, inspiring Les to paint the "Dead Bod".
A few months later during an exhibition of my work, I realised that the captain was my granddad, William Hopper.
My mind was blown.
I sat there amongst a pile of Undead Bod T-shirts, wondering if granddad would approve of my design.
Life. It's a funny old game, innit?
