A UNIVERSITY student has shared the story behind her handmade costume of York's most famous duck, Long Boi.

Hannah Spencer, a final year biochemistry PhD student at the University of York, redesigned a costume of climber Adam Ondra - originally used for a Halloween themed climbing competition at Layerthorpe's Red Goat Climbing Wall in 2019.

"He has a famously long neck," she said.

With a vision in mind and £20 to use, she made the headpiece out of an old bedroom bin with a face hole cut out of it.

She used a plant pot topped with a balloon and began to cover it up with papier maché.

Hannah then painted it and added the all important accessories of a wig and a picture of the climbers face. Much like York celebrity Long Boi, Hannah went viral too. She appeared on Reddit and later became a Spanish meme.

York Press:

When it was time to head out for Halloween again, Hannah needed a costume that people would recognise and turned to the campus icon for inspiration.

Hannah said: "I decided to repaint it and stick a beak to it and it became Long Boi.

"I wore it with a onesie, black fairy wings, a feather boa and some orange feet I made out of cardboard.

York Press:

"A picture of me in the costume then became 'longboiyorks' most liked Instagram post.

"I spent about £20 on making it but I've since earnt £80 in prize money and people hiring it!"

Soon after the picture was shared online, mobile payments app Kodypay - created by a former University of York student - asked if they could hire the costume for its advertising.

Long Boi recently had a guest appearance on James Corden's TV late night talk show in America. The duck - which is a cross between a Mallard and an Indian Runner duck - is a whopping 70cm in length from beak to webbed feet.