CHRISTOPHER STEVENS evaluations Hercules The Bear – A Love Story: The lovable grizzly who starred with Bond and beloved a glass of low cost fizz
Great stories bear repeating. And the legend of Hercules is the wildest of them all. I’ll never tire of hearing about his adventures.
This adorable grizzly, the beloved pet of wrestler Andy Robin and his wife Maggie at their farm near Dunblane, enjoyed a moment of global celebrity in the 1980s.
Most of the archive footage and family video in Hercules The Bear – A Love Story has been aired before, in a Channel 5 documentary from 2014 called Hercules The Human Bear.
When that was first broadcast, I interviewed Maggie for the Mail’s Weekend magazine, and I confess I’ve been slightly besotted with the animal ever since.
The hero of exhibition wrestling bouts with Andy up and down the country (even appearing on ITV‘s World Of Sport), Hercules starred in TV ads and shared the screen with Roger Moore in a James Bond film, Octopussy.
He even joined Bob Hope for a round of golf at Gleneagles. Hercules was the caddy.
He became a news sensation after escaping in the Outer Hebrides and spent a month roaming the islands, evading capture.
One local school kept their pupils locked indoors for fear the bear might eat them.
BBC2 viewers watched in awe at the unlikely true story of a Scottish wrestler raising a 65 stone grizzly bear he treated ‘like a son’
The bear would drink his morning tea from a mug and could sit up at the table to blow out the candles on his birthday cake. At night he would sprawl in front of the fire
What touched me most about his story, though, was how much the couple loved spoiling ‘Herky’.
They clearly adored each other, but they had no children and the bear was their baby.
Maggie regularly made the 20-mile round trip to her nearest Marks & Spencer food hall to pick up his favourite treats.
‘If you gave him something cheap, he didn’t want it,’ she told me. ‘He had very high standards. And though he had a sweet tooth, he didn’t like honey.’
A typical day’s menu started with a whole bloomer loaf, beans and four eggs, and coffee – with evaporated milk.
For elevenses, he had fruit and yoghurt, with another bloomer and beans for lunch, ‘with a wee snack in the afternoon’.
He enjoyed curry and spaghetti, but his favourite evening meal was ox heart with carrot and potatoes – and if it wasn’t cooked through, Hercules would push his plate away: ‘He wouldn’t put up with that.’
Hercules The Bear aired on Tuesday night and recounted how Maggie Robin, 74, and her late husband Andy, a professional wrestler, bought the ‘wee boy’ from a Scottish wildlife park
Hercules battled wrestlers, starred in movies and adverts and even enjoyed a pint of lager
The statue at Langass Woods, on the Scottish island of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides, where Hercules is now buried. Andy Robin, who died aged 84 in 2019, was laid to rest by his side
Hercules liked a tipple, and would slurp down a pint of lager. His best-loved treat, though, was a drop of wine – nothing red or too dry, but a sweet dessert wine or a glass of Asti Spumante would put a gooey smile on his furry face.
‘Herc was a cheap drunk,’ Maggie said. ‘One glass and you’d start to see him wobble.’
This BBC2 documentary, which was shown on BBC Scotland earlier this month, focused more on the news angles and the bear’s appearances on chat shows.
The closing shots were heartbreaking, though.
Hercules died in 2002 and is buried on the island of Uist, with a statue for his memorial.
Andy Robin, who died aged 84 six years ago, lies beside him.
