Modelled on the fictional giant gorilla King Kong, the -tall, fibreglass statue was commissioned for display in Birmingham from March to November 1972, by the Peter Stuyvesant Foundation for the Sculpture for Public Places Scheme "City Sculpture", in partnership with the Arts Council of Great Britain. It was constructed at the artist's studio at Hungerford. Munro's brief was to make something "city orientated" and he chose King Kong because of his association with New York City and "for my own petty reasons". The statue was displayed in Manzoni Gardens. On 14 July 1972 it was "occupied" by two flying pickets, who were protesting about low wages in the building industry as art of the national builders' strike. They sat on its shoulders and hung from its neck a banner reading "King King says nothing less than £30 for 35 hours and up your T.P.I." After the statue had been on display for six months, Birmingham City Council was offered the opportunity to purchase the work at a reduced rate of £2,000, but decided not to retain it, and so later in 1972, it was sold for £3,000 to a local used-car dealer, Mike Shanley, who changed the name of his dealership to King Kong Car Co. and displayed the statue at his sales lot on the A34 Stratford Road, next to the former Holy Trinitychurch in the Camp Hill area of the city. While there, it was dressed up as Father Christmas in season, and it also survived a fire in June 1974. During 1975 it was loaned to Birmingham School of Architecture, between 30 June and 3 July, as a symbol for the 'City of the Future' symposium which took part at the Gosta Green campus.. By 1976, the statue had moved to a new location on Ladypool Road, Sparkbrook, close to the Clifton Road junction. It stood at the rear face of the Clifton public house. It was still being used to advertise a King Kong cars dealership at this location and Mike Shanley was still the owner of this business.
Edinburgh
In 1976, it was sold for £12,700 to Nigel Maby's Scottish company Spook Erection Ltd and displayed at Ingliston Market in Edinburgh. During that period, it was falsely reported destroyed, and repainted several times, including once in tartan, and, in 2001, in shocking pink. Before removal from Edinburgh on the closure of that market in 2005, the statue suffered damage by vandals to its back, and a broken arm, requiring repair.
Penrith
It was subsequently displayed at Skirsgill Auction Mart, a market site in Penrith, and was still there in January 2011 albeit lying down, in a car park near its former position. There were calls for it to be returned to Birmingham, but the owner, Lesley Maby, refused to sell it.
Leeds
In November 2016 the statue, which had been repainted in its original colours, was moved to the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, to be exhibited at the City Sculpture Projects 1972 exhibition, commemorating the original "City Sculpture" programme, to be held 24 November 2016 – 19 February 2017, and where Monro spoke on 23 November. The statue's maquette, on loan from Wolverhampton Art Gallery, was also part of the exhibition. The statue left Leeds on 28 February 2017 and was returned to owner Lesley Maby's garden in Cumbria where it has remained ever since.
