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Monkey bone fuels British town's curious simian myth (AFP, 6/03/05)

A bone found on a British beach has sparked renewed interest in one of the country's most curious myths -- that a monkey washed ashore during the Napoleonic Wars was executed by suspicious locals for being a French spy.

Police in Hartlepool, on the northeast coast of England, confirmed Friday that the one-foot (30 centimetre) long bone found on a beach last month was not human, but came instead from a monkey or gorilla.

The discovery has intrigued locals, given the town's curious folklore from the Anglo-French Napoleonic conflict, which lasted from 1793 to 1815.

According to popular legend, a monkey dressed in a French uniform was washed ashore at Hartlepool and tried by local magistrates on suspicion of being a French spy.

Because it did not answer questions they presumed the animal was guilty, and it was hanged from a lamppost.

Although the tale's authenticity is unknown, Hartlepool's football team has long used a man dressed in a monkey suit -- dubbed "H'Angus" -- as its mascot.