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" Monkey hanger" is a colloquial nickname by which people from the town of Hartlepool in the ceremonial county of County Durham, England are sometimes known.
An earlier and remarkably similar monkey-hanging legend, with a similar associated song, refers to the inhabitants of Boddam, Aberdeenshire.Westwood, Jennifer and Kingshill, Sophia (2009), The Lore of Scotland: A guide to Scottish legends, Random House Books, (p. 302) With comparable lyrics and scansion ("And the Boddamers hung the Monkey, O"), it is plausible that 19th-century Tyneside concert hall songwriter and performer, Edward Corvan, heard and adapted the song while travelling in the Scottish Lowlands with Blind Willie Purvis. Similar stories have also been told about Mevagissey in Cornwall and Greenock in Scotland.
The French comic book Le Singe de Hartlepool by Wilfrid Lupano and Jérémie Moreau published in 2012 tells this story.
In 2008, a novel based on the legend called The Hartlepool Monkey, written by Sean Longley, was published. The novel tells the story of the monkey, named Jacques LeSinge by the French doctor who discovers him, that was supposedly hanged. In the book, the monkey talks and possesses several other human characteristics.
The Hartlepool Monkey also featured prominently in the play Bestiary, written by Jim Burke and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2003.Daoust, Phil, "Pick of the Day" The Guardian, 8 July 2003
In 2014, a documentary was made about the Hartlepool Monkey and its long-lasting significance to the city and its inhabitants called Heart of The Pools. Heart of The Pools work A radio play by Ian Martin, The Hartlepool Spy, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Christmas Day 2018, with a cast including Michael Palin, Vic Reeves, Toby Jones, Gina McKee and Monica Dolan.
The Northumbrian singer/songwriter Jez Lowe has a satirical song "The Simian Son" (originally known as "The Monkey's Revenge") that was performed first in 2012. In it, the grandson of the ill-fated monkey reveals the simian curse under which Hartlepool has been living since the hanging.
Another British singer/songwriter, Boothby Graffoe, released the single "Hartlepool" in 2021, detailing the story and relating it to other (less fictional) atrocities committed during the Napoleonic Wars.
The Spanish-Portuguese co-produced short animated film The Monkey (2021) was based on the story of The Hartlepool Monkey. The film changes the setting from England to Ireland and from the Napoleonic Wars to the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) and concerning the Spanish Armada in Ireland. The film, which stars Colm Meaney, won the Goya Awards for best Best Animated Short Film in 2021.
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