A GIANT golden sculpture that will become a glittering landmark for visitors to Middlebrook was unveiled today.

The Spirit of Sport sculpture will be the tallest piece of public art built in Britain since Nelson's Column in 1843 and will dominate the landscape next to the Reebok Stadium and Bolton Arena.

It will be situated on the De Havilland Way roundabout next to the Reebok Stadium and Bolton Arena.

At 85 feet high, it will tower 21 feet above Gateshead's Angel of the North and be 14ft taller than Britain's biggest sculpture, North Tyneside's Tyne Anew.

Council leaders instigated the £250,000 scheme to create a stunning gateway to Middlebrook - one of the most economically buoyant areas in the borough - and to pay tribute to the role sport has played in its rise.

It has been designed to look like a trophy, with Town hall bosses quickly picking up on its strong resemblance to the Jules Rimet Cup, which was awarded to the winners of the football World Cup until 1970.

The sculpture was designed by Stockport-based artists Terry Eaton and Jem Waygood of Eaton Waygood Associates, who also incorporated the look of a propeller into the twisting sculpture in homage to the area's former use as an aerospace works.

The Spirit of Sport will be covered by more than a thousand panels emblazoned with pictures of sporting heroes and other famous faces from around the borough.

The sculpture will be completed by December next year.

Council leader Cllr Barbara Ronson said: "This amazing structure is something that will become a fantastic landmark for the borough and bring visitors flocking here to see it.

Mr Waygood said: "We did not set out to make it look like the Jules Rimet Cup, but people are seeing it that way.

"The structure is similar to a twisting torso or the stretching of a muscle in action at the point of release."

Project manager Mike Taylor said of the Spirit of Sport: "We want people to know when they have arrived in Bolton."