Editing The Saint (Simon Templar) (section)

== In popular culture ==
 
In the 2003 BBC documentary series ''Heroes and Weapons of World War II'' episode titled "The Man Who Designed the Spitfire" (Episode 2) at approximately 18 minutes in the film an RAF pilot is seen at rest in his dispersal hut with a large Saint stick-man logo on his flying gear (see image at right). He is perhaps showing some personal identification with Simon Templar's own war against Germany in the novella ''Arizona''.<ref>Britain's Greatest Generation documentary series, Episode 2. First broadcast on BBC2 on Friday, 27 January 2003.</ref>

In 1980 English punk band [[Splodgenessabounds]] released a single "Simon Templer" (misspelling intentional). It reached number 7 in the UK charts. The song appears mocking of the TV character, concluding "I think Simon's a bit of a bore/Ian Ogilvy and Podgy Moore."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ifyouwerethere1980s.wordpress.com/tag/splodgenessabounds/|title=Splodgenessabounds – If You Were There|date=n.d.|website=ifyouwerethere1980s.wordpress.com}}</ref>

In 1962 students from [[James Cook University]], [[Townsville]], Australia abseiled down the pink granite monolith, [[Castle Hill, Townsville|Castle Hill]] and painted the character on its side as an act of patriotism, as the university had adopted the character as their mascot. At first, the local council (and some of the public) considered this vandalism and removed it, only for the students to keep repainting it. The council eventually gave up, and The Saint has been a permanent fixture since the 1970s. The irony now is that Queensland State Legislation states that objects older than 30 years old are eligible for cultural heritage status. This means that The Saint, originally a piece of graffiti, is now a Townsville Cultural Heritage icon.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Castle Hill Saint Turns 55 Today!|url=https://www.triplem.com.au/story/the-castle-hill-saint-turns-55-today-21042|access-date=2022-01-03|website=Triple M|language=en}}</ref>