The artwork on Iron Maiden’s latest calendar includes a nod to Huddersfield.
The March page of the heavy metal band’s 2018 calendar features their mascot Eddie the Head dressed in a sheriff’s uniform beside a signpost with directions to three cities in Texas - and the Yorkshire town.
Their tour manager Rod Smallwood is from Huddersfield and it’s thought to be yet another shout-out to him.
They wrote a song about him in 1986 called Sheriff of Huddersfield and another one in 1992 called Bayswater Ain’t a Bad Place to Be.
He had began managing the band in 1979 and in the 1980s moved to a mansion in Los Angeles, but was having difficulty settling in and often complained to them about it.
They wrote the songs to mock his homesickness and kept Sheriff of Huddersfield a secret from him until it was released as a B-side to their single Wasted Years.
Sheriff of Huddersfield includes the lyrics: “The Sherriff of Huddersfield locked in his castle,
“Look down on Hollywood Hills.
“The Sherriff of Huddersfield locked in his castle,
“You’re our own Hot Rod on wheels.”
Frontman Bruce Dickinson also sang: “For Yorkshire he’s yearning but because he’s earning he’ll always live in LA.”
Rod, 67, grew up in Salendine Nook and, being a rugby union fan, was a regular at the Huddersfield YMCA sports ground.
The dad-of-four also features in the Flight 666 documentary, which charts the band’s Somewhere Back In Time world tour in February and March 2008.
Iron Maiden’s latest studio album - their 16th - called The Book Of Souls went straight to number one in the UK’s official albums chart in 2015.
