Impro admits Sonning telephone and 'Golden Cock' japes

Installation artist Impro has confirmed a telephone that appeared mysteriously on the side of a bridge in the middle of the River Thames was his handiwork.

The wall-style phone with an "Emergency Flood Line" sign was placed on a buttress on Sonning Bridge in Berkshire last month.

He has claimed a "Golden Cock" placed in the village last year was also his.

The artist has been behind previous art installations on the bridge, including a postbox and a door.

Impro told the BBC he had been been "worried by the flooding which happens around Sonning Bridge... for a long while now" and wanted to help provide residents with a way of reporting it.

"Making a call on this phone has to be carefully managed though as it would trigger an immediate draining of the Thames and we have to consider wildlife, naturist swimmers, and the pleasure boats of Henley," he joked.

"All they have to do is to take a boat out to the phone and make their report known."

When it first appeared on the bridge, Wokingham Borough Council jokingly responded on Facebook.

"If you ever have flooding concerns call Floodline (no, not on that phone)," it said.

The sculpture of the cockerel appeared in Sonning last year at the site where former resident and TV illusionist Uri Geller placed a bent spoon installation, which was later removed.

This work had proved unpopular with at least one resident, who left a rude message and a bag of dog poo on it.

Geller was aware of Impro's work, having once claimed the postbox on the bridge may have been the "ghost of a mischievous little girl" before Impro claimed it as his own.

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