Hartlepool
Reporting on the by-election in Hartlepool, whose result is expected in a few hours (come on Jody!), The Scotsman reminds us that:
In 2002, in a major upset, the mascot of Hartlepool’s football team H’angus the Monkey, alias Stuart Drummond, running on a non-party ticket, defeated Labour to become the town’s elected mayor.
His title recalled a grim incident in the Napoleonic War when Hartlepool citizens hanged a monkey, mistaking him for a Frenchman.
There is even a Hartlepool monkey song. Follow that link also for a more detailed account of the monkey martyr’s capture and trial.