Dear Kingsley... I Love You 💖
The Partick Thistle mascot is literally a work of art - and a strong reminder to embrace your big yellow self
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By Ian Greenhill
I remember where I was when I saw a giant yellow foam dafty parading around Firhill to a mixture of bemused and excited press. I was sitting in Studio Something’s first office in Leith — an old tapas restaurant which we had filled with lots of colourful posters and Ikea drawers crammed with Adderall. I remember looking at my screen and thinking, “Yes, yes — I can get on board with this Kingsley fella!”
You see, it’s ten years since David Shrigley unveiled Kingsley to the world and our fan-led TV show A View from the Terrace has made a wee film about it.
And I guess the reason I got a buzz out of it when I first saw his face was because… it was fun. It didn’t exist in the vacuum of football. It was hard to explain to people; a cult artist from England… who supports a Scottish team… has done drawings for the sponsor of his team… and created a sun-like nightmare as a mascot. It was bonkers.
That’s sort of what I find fun about life in general — trying to defy convention and have a little daftness with it all, and it’s what football needs too. It’s why, for the show, we’ve tried to do things a bit differently — or, to paraphrase the continuity announcers, we take “a sideways look at Scottish football”.
Football is serious, but it is also not serious. It means everything, and it means nothing
I do think when Jordan (series director), myself and the team looked at what we wanted for a TV show it was heavily influenced by the Cult of Kingsley. Football is serious but it is also not serious, it means everything and it means nothing — and I think occupying that space allows people to have a lot of mischief and to speak to football fans in a way that feels accessible and different.
Some of my favourite things in football have come from occupying this place; Jorge Campos’ terrible goalie tops, the Romanian team bleaching their hair, the numerous daft Ultras stickers you see in every large town. I think that’s why Kingsley has stood the test of time and become, dare I say, iconic. Because to be truly cool I think you have to kind of not care what people think, be a bit different and be confident in yourself. Your big yellow self.
The film delves into the concept that harnessing creativity and art throughout life is a fulfilling thing, and it can co-exist with football. So many people get the soft bits of their persona chiselled off by life/society/Elon Musk’s social media hellfire, meaning the place for art seldom exists in their day to day. But art is everywhere and football is art. And so is Kingsley. I love you, Kingsley.
Ian Greenhill is the co-founder of BAFTA-winning creative company Studio Something and executive producer of A View from the Terrace.