Fox Hunting - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

Fox hunting has inspired artists in several fields to create works which involve the sport. The most famous usage is in the Daniel P. Mannix 1967 novel titled The Fox and the Hound which follows a story of a fox called Tod and a hound called Copper. This story was subsequently used by Walt Disney Pictures to create the animated feature length film The Fox and the Hound in 1981, although the film differs from the novel in that Tod and Copper befriend each other and survive as friends. Other children's books which involve fox characters becoming involved with a hunt or being hunted include The Animals of Farthing Wood, and Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox. Poet Laureate John Masefield wrote "Reynard the Fox", a poem about a fox hunt in rural England in which the title character escapes. In a Conan Doyle story, the French officer Brigadier Gerard joins an English fox hunt, but commits the unpardonable sin of slaying the fox with his sabre. Author Rita Mae Brown has authored a series of fox-hunting mysteries starring "Sister" Jane Arnold, starting with Outfoxed in 2000. In real life, Brown is the master of the Oak Ridge Fox Hunt Club.

There have also been several musical artists who have used fox hunting, with both Ray Noble and George Formby recording Tan Tan Tivvy Tally Ho!, a comic song about fox hunting, in 1932 and 1938 respectively. More recently Dizzee Rascal used the concept of a fox-hunt for his video of Sirens, showing a stylised urban hunt. The foxhunt is a prominent feature of the 1963 movie The List of Adrian Messenger. Sting has also written and recorded a song that references a pair of foxes during a hunt, called "The End of the Game."