Triton Fountain, Queen Mary's Gardens NW1

The Triton Fountain was made by William McMillan in 1950 to commemorate the artist and philanthropist Sigismund Goetze, who lived and worked in Grove House (now Nuffield House) close by. His wife was the founder of the Constance Fund which donated fountains in Green Park and Hyde Park.

Triton - half man, half fish - was the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. He was the sea-god's herald, blowing his conch shell so mightily it could calm or raise the sea and put giants to flight.

Triton is accompanied by a couple of mermaids, who have divided tails in the way that brought so much prudish disapproval on Starbucks they had to change their original logo.