It could just have happened. You are a Boeing pilot and you want to land at Heathrow Airport in London. Suddenly you see a nine-meter purple pig in the sky. "Pilot Bresser to air traffic control. Have spotted strange object in the sky. A purple pig, about nine meters tall". "Air traffic control to pilot Bresser, can you repeat your message one more time? Do I understand correctly that you spotted a purple pig in the sky?" Thankfully, no plane crash occurred when 'Algie', the purple pig's name for the "Animals" album cover, flew through the air after failing to be tied down between two chimneys of the Battersea Power Station coal-fired power plant in South London. The Pink Floyd crew managed to warn the airport on time. At first the airport officials thought they were dealing with a hoax, but sent a police helicopter into the air just in case. And sure enough, 'Algie' floated around. Air traffic was stopped for a while. "Animals" may not be Pink Floyd's best album, but there is a wonderful story behind the album's artwork. The idea came from bassist Roger Waters. He was inspired by George Orwell's book "Animal Farm" in which pigs take over the farm. The book is a metaphor for the human society in which rulers oppress the common folk, who, in spite of everything, follow the dominant creatures like sheep. Waters suggested attaching an inflatable pig in between Battersea's chimney pipes; he wanted a real "animal" for the cover and not a photo collage. The German firm Ballon Fabrik, who also built Zeppelins, was commissioned to manufacture a nine-meter pig. To be on the safe side, a sniper was hired to shoot the colossus out of the sky should things go wrong. The Pink Floyd crew had little experience with balloons and cables between chimney pipes. Not everything went smoothly on the day. Inflating the pig met with considerable problems. And the English weather is quite unreliable, as we all know. When it rains the sun starts to shine and vice versa. Same thing that day. It became more and more drizzly, no suitable weather to take pictures. The project was cancelled and rescheduled to the following day. Unfortunately, they forgot to hire the sniper. Sure enough, one of the cables broke and 'Algie' was gone. The pig drifted towards Heathrow Airport. Eventually it ended up in a farmer's field in Kent. The farmer was quite annoyed because his cows were startled, but he eventually did return the inflatable pig to Waters and co. The Pink Floyd crew tried one more time on the third day, subject to strict police conditions. But a floating 'Algie' did not produce the desired effect. So they had to resort to a photo collage for the cover. 'Algie' was 'pasted' in between the chimney pipes. This is the actual cover of "Animals". During live shows on the Animals tour a smaller replica of the pig was used, which floated over the heads of the audience. Unfortunately I never saw that show. In 1977 I was still a country boy from the eastern part of Holland. I went to see Dutch bands like Gruppo Sportivo and Sweet d'Buster. Every now and then I was allowed to accompany my older brothers and see Yes at the Ahoy in Rotterdam or Genesis at the Groenoord Hallen in Leiden, but a Pink Floyd concert never came to be. I did try and have a go at "Pigs on the Wing" from this particular album, on guitar. But I always fumble around the middle part, the "We would zigzag our way...." section. And I must admit, my singing was not quite up to standard, with my slight east country accent. My then girlfriend kindly asked if I wanted to put on a record instead. She used to frequently visit me in my room, knitting away on my two-seater sofa. I recently donated five woolen sweaters to the Salvation Army. Once again, last week, I tried to play "Pigs on the Wing" on guitar. This time it was the cat who rapidly removed itself from the room, meowing loudly. Somehow I don't like animals, the feeling is mutual."