Remember Octopus Paul? In case your memory is already hazy, let me help you refresh it. Paul is the octopus who correctly predicted the outcomes of all seven of Germany’s games at World Cup 2010 plus the Spain-Netherlands final. He made his predictions by opening the lid of one of two boxes, each containing a mussel and bearing a team flag. He was beyond doubts the star of World Cup 2010.
After he passed away in his sleep in October last year, the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany, decided the celebrity octopus should be immortalized with a shrine to mark his uncanny predictions.
Yesterday, three months after the soothsayer’s death, the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen unveiled an outsized memorial to the World Cup’s most unlikely star: A 6 1/2-foot (2-meter) tall plastic replica of Paul clutching a ball in his eight arms.
Aquarium spokeswoman Tanja Munzig says Paul’s cremated ashes were placed in a gold-leaf-covered urn visible through a see-through screen on the over-sized ball covered with different national flags.
“We acted upon the wishes of fans and created a place of remembrance.
“This monument was also built to show visitors just how much people around the world loved Paul,” Munzig told The Associated Press.
In addition, the aquarium created “Paul Corner”, which includes newspaper clippings in many different languages that tell of Paul’s global fame and exhibits gifts sent to the museum.
A family in Spain sent a glass of mussels in oil as a reward for Paul after he correctly predicted that Spain would win the World Cup, Munzig said.
A fan from New Zealand tailored a red, sleeveless football shirt for Paul – with a hole for each tentacle.
A successor to Paul, a French octopus named Paul II, was unveiled at the aquarium on November 3 after spending two months in quarantine.
He has yet to attempt to follow his predecessor’s fortune-telling but it is thought the Sea Life Centre may tempt him with flag-covered mussel treats for the 2012 European Championships in Ukraine and Poland.
After the original Paul’s death last year, Stefan Porwoll, manager of the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre, said: ‘Paul delighted people from all continents with his seven consecutive correct predictions for the matches of the German national team and for the final.
‘He was dear to all our hearts and we will sorely miss him. It is a comforting thought that he had a good life with us with the best possible care delivered by a committed team.
‘His success made him almost a bigger story than the World Cup itself.’
Paul the Octopus has finally got his tentacles permanently wrapped around a giant soccer ball.
Here in Malaysia, there was a glut of Octopus Paul t-shirts on sale last year as businessmen capitalised on Paul’s fame. Just look at a few samples of the t-shirts available here in Malaysia.