In this place I am going to introduce the history of certain the celebrity, which all naughty children know, and which one frightens those "innocent". All Iron Maiden fans know him, and many people who do not listen this band. This is the special mascot of the band which all bestow worship and respect. Who is this? Yes Dear Sirs!

This is EDDIE in front of You!

And the story started that way:

Eddie was born with no body and no arms and no legs. Just a head. But despite this slight birth defects his parents loved him very much. So on his sixteenth birthday they run into a doctor who said "Hey, I can give Eddie a body"... so the parents went totally nuts because finally their kid could have a body and be like other normal people. They went home and were really excited and said " We have got a surprise for you. It's the best present ever!" and Eddie said "Oh, no, not another fucking hat!"

This is joke (one of his version). Another one tells about the fifth birthday and differs in details, but the meaning stays the same.

And now seriously ;), I am going to describe the history of the birth of this cult creature made in the minds of the designers which conquered the whole globe.

As the old books describe on the beginning there was the chaos. Gods created the earthly valley then, and anything interesting happened after this memorable event, until someone invented Rock & Roll and the electric guitar. After this breakthrough, The Gods made Heavy Metal and the avalanche moved, music bands started to form... When Gods also created their own band, they came to the conclusion that they need something what, all would recognize, and this would be the special sign of Iron Maiden (because it was the name of this band).
And they found the mortal who undertook this unimaginably difficult task. And his human number was 666 ;) his name was Dave "Lights" Beasly. That mortal knew that he undertook enormously difficult task, but the spirit of the fight did not let him surrender, so he began to wangle something... He did not have too many possibilities, the materials were also scarce, so he had to do with very simple materials, just like the hoover parts, gun powder and casual lights. But it wasn’t enaught... Gods needed something expressive that would decorate the scene during concerts. And so "first" EDDIE came into being in 1978.
Our Eddie itself ruled as the stage mask on the very beginning. He was built from the zombie mask, which Dave received from the Academy of Arts, and the aerial aquarium pump which blew away the smoke and during the song "Iron Maiden" the blood sailed out. And it was named 'EDDIE THE HEAD' (from this the inscription "Edward T. H." appeared on sepulchral plate on the cover of the album "Live After Death").

We waited for a long time for the body for EDDIE, but it was really worth waiting. Derek Riggs was the author of the body for the most splendid mascot, which was the draughtsman of covers. After long discussions between Gods, they decided not to disclose the appearance of EDDIE , until the release of first album (that is why on the cover of the single "Runnig Free", EDDIE stands in the shadow on second plan).

Not hard to assume, that EDDIE began quickly to rise controversies. The cover of the single Sanctuary rose the passions. There Margaret Thatcher the most ordinarily in the world was stabbed by EDDIE (she was in this time the Prime Minister of Great Britain), for tearing off the poster of IM from the wall. Due to, the release of this single, all which where issued on later were censored by the black belt on Margaret’s eyes (although you could find them on British market only) Rod Smallwood (the manager of the band) come out the decision about such form of the censorship. We did not have to wait long for Thatcher's vengeance over Eddie. The cover of single "Women In Uniform" represents Her lying in wait behind the wall, keeping the machine gun. That cover rose further controversies. Feminists began now to protest against EDDIE presented in company of two women, a nurse and a schoolgirl. However this didn’t create any stir.

All in all, I should write, that EDDIE appears on concerts under various figures, and that depends on the particular band tour. It is not also the secret that EDDIE looks differently on every cover, changed throughout the years, is going to change with every record...