Stone me! Chris is the world's best living statue
There is more to being a living statue than just standing around – there are people to scare, make you laugh or squirt you with water.
Chris Clarkson has proved so good at the job he has been named the most popular "living statue" in the world.
Chris, 29, from Cosby, beat about 150 other human sculptures at the World Statues Festival, in the Netherlands.
Posing as secret agent James Bond, he squirted passers-by with his trusty Walther PPK – or Water PPK, as he calls it.
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"It was great to win and it's a nice mantle to have," says Chris.
"It was a real worldwide event with people from South America, New Zealand and all over Europe.
"I was working for up to four hours at a time.
"Of course, the people you squirt try to get comical and seek revenge and it's a lot of fun.
"When you're doing it you can zone out a bit – start thinking about the weekend's Tigers game or what you're having for tea. But I try to be quite an active statue – scare people, make them laugh. You are performing and not just standing there."
Although he stuck to his Bond role for the festival, held in Arnhem, Chris also has other statue characters, including a tennis player and an ancient Greek man pouring water.
He is a trained actor and working as a statue at events helps to fill the time between jobs on the stage and in TV shows such as Emmerdale, Hollyoaks and Crimewatch.
He said: "I started doing statue work three years ago to earn some extra cash.
"As well as the statue work, I also do fire-breathing and stilt-walking.
"All actors have a lot of breaks when they've got no work and lots of them just do temp work. But I never liked that sort of stuff so I learned to do other things.
"As a statue, I have a few different acts. I never do busking but it's pretty steady money with the bookings I get from shopping centres and other places.
"You do feel a bit vulnerable. Two weeks ago, I had a cigarette stubbed out on my bare arm in Leeds city centre. Luckily, I had lots of make-up so I didn't feel it too much."
Karin Terwisse, spokeswoman for the festival, said: "Chris was very popular – especially with the children.
"He had a very funny act and it won the audience award.
"We had about 300,000 people during the day and many of them voted for their favourite of the statues.
"We had about 150 statues, including professionals, amateurs and children.
"The event is very popular and we've been going five years now. It's the biggest event of its kind in the world."
It was Chris's second year at the World Statues Festival, but the first time he won a prize.
Chris has been based in Manchester for the last few years but regularly comes home to Leicestershire to see his family and watch Leicester Tigers play.
He has been a season ticket-holder for 22 seasons.
Chris attended Lutterworth Grammar School and trained with the Haymarket Young People's Theatre before drama school.
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