The Sultan's Elephant

More than 56 square metres of reclaimed poplar was combined with steel ribs to create the elephant's sturdy skeleton.

The attention to detail was extraordinary, from the flapping leather ears and deep wrinkles around the eyes to the puffs of dust sent up by its plodding feet, and the snaking, reticulated trunk.

The show started with a rocket "crashing" in Waterloo Place on Thursday May 4, smashing up the tarmac, with smoke coming out from the bottom.

On the Friday evening the elephant wandered around St James's, while the girl went on a journey around London on an opentop AEC Routemaster bus.

While they were in London the elephant and the girl were stored at Battersea Power Station, and they were transported with a police escort to the various sites in the early hours of each morning.

The event, the biggest piece of free theatre ever staged in London, attracted audiences of up to a million people.

[3][5] It was brought to England by the production company Artichoke, which was also responsible for bringing the giant mechanical spider La Princesse to Liverpool in September 2008.