Plan to put Becks on London plinth cancelled

A plan to place a lifesize waxwork of David Beckham in London's Trafalgar Square has been shelved as it would mean less visitors to Madame Tassaud's.

With England in the grip of World Cup fever, the Greater London Authority had already given the green light for a life-size Beckham waxwork to appear on the vacant plinth England’s match days during the finals.

The honour is usually saved for works of art and war heroes.

But Madame Tussaud’s said it could not release the statue from its world-famous central London museum because ‘‘too many people would be disappointed’’.

A spokeswoman said: ‘‘David Beckham is the centrepiece of our Goal exhibition and without him there really is a hole.

‘‘Many people come in especially to have their photograph taken with him and many guests were disappointed last time when they were not able to.’’

Such positive responses were triggered when Beckham appeared in Trafalgar Square, briefly and without permission, ahead of last week’s match with Nigeria that the GLA wanted to make it a regular event.

A flurry of calls then followed between London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s office and Madame Tussaud’s to arrange a repeat fixture.

Madame Tussaud’s considered creating a replica waxwork so that Beckham could appear on the plinth and at the museum simultaneously in order to meet the demand.

But the spokeswoman added: ‘‘We have no plans for him to appear on Friday.

‘‘Normally it would take about four to six months for a statue to be sculpted and we have some of the best sculptors in the world. Re-casting from an existing model will not take as long but a couple of days is just not long enough.’’