On 15 November 1940, the Bristol students tried to kidnap Reggie during a Union Society debate. But they were foiled by the astute D L Leete, who spotted suspicious characters lurking behind the stage curtains. All the lights went out, but Leete was too quick for the Bristol conspirators and seized Reggie, locking him up in another room. For this heroic act, one of the few successful defences of Reggie, he was awarded a medal by the Engineering Society: it was made from a farthing with a round metal frame bearing the words:
‘Salu Tibi Leonis Defensor’
‘Hail, O Defender of the Lion’
After the College had been at Bristol for some time, it was suggested that a model or replica of Reggie would be useful to the Engineering Society; especially at events like the Engineers’ Arts Dance, when the real Reggie was not available.
Various junk shops and antique dealers in Bristol were scoured, and eventually twin lions, one the image of the other, were acquired. They were re-painted in the correct colours and adorned with a ribbon. Each of the twins was called ‘Reggie Minor’; one went to the Union Society and one to the Engineers. The current whereabouts of Reggie’s cubs have yet to be confirmed, though it is suspected that one may be in the Principal’s Office…
As the war ended, Reggie and his new small family (though he was as yet unmarried) returned to the Strand in triumph, but the years of war had wreaked havoc on the College and on student life in London. King’s had received some bomb damage, and hundreds of the College’s students and staff fought and gave their lives for their country.
Mascotry was never to be the same again. The days of careless undergraduates and Parades were over, at least for the time being. In the years immediately following the war, the majority of male undergraduates were ex-servicemen, and had more on their minds than entering into active operations of a relatively foolish kind. As the world emerged from these bleak years, the atmosphere had changed, save the rivalry between King’s and the ‘Godless College of Gower Street’. Such deep-rooted rivalry has existed since the creation of our Colleges, and will remain long into the future.