Is Lady Liberty actually a man?

A controversial new theory suggests the sculptor who created the Statue of Liberty may have used his brother as the template rather than his mother, as commonly believed.

The idea is set out in a new series of Secrets of America’s Favourite Places to be broadcast on the Discovery Family Channel on Sunday.

It explains how the statue was an early example of a crowdfunded project – with money raised from the French public to pay for its construction costs – rather than a gift from the country's authoritarian government.