We were delighted to see the photographs of snow-covered emperors’ heads outside the Sheldonian Theatre on the letters page (7 February), a lovely illustration of the diversity of faces in the centre of Oxford. These are some of the third generation of heads, carved in 1972. It may interest you to know that many of the heads of the first and second sets have taken up retirement from their Sheldonian duties to live out their days in gardens around Oxford, after suffering deterioration in the polluted air of Oxford. The whereabouts of many heads from the earlier generations are known, but some have disappeared. We’re on a mission to find them. If you’d like to join the “head hunt” and know of where any of these heads might be, we welcome correspondence.

Professor Heather Viles

Oxford Rock Breakdown Laboratory, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford

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