They were held in birmingham this year.
One of the highlights of the opening ceremony was a 30foot tall mechanical bull.

So on monday we went to brum on the train to see the bull

Birmingham city centre has been almost totally rebuilt in the last 20 years.
It's pretty decent.

We found The bull.
And yeah - damn impressive.

He's worked by 4 handlers.
three climb up into the body cavity and one mans the Loader he's built around.
The head and eyes are moved by human powered means. The controls to move the head resemble rowing machines.
That' a fair bit of woieght !
The legs are moved by giant stepper motors, 1 per leg.
I suspect the 'steam' is a smoke machine.
He was built by Artem special effects company.
And 50 people took 5 months to construct him.

He currently has no official name - but the handler i talked to last, calls him 'Antonio'.
In a rather sexy spanish accent. The majority of handlers seemed to be attractive young women.
And why not

So 'Antonio' is good enough for me

He's been in millenium square since the opening ceremony.
Every hour he's worked for 10 minutes by a team of handlers so visitors can see him in action.
We got there on the last day for the movement 'shows'.

He'll be in the square untill september and then he'll take up residence somewhere else - that's yet to be decided.

I recommend turning the playback speed up to 2x speed once the video section starts.

If you're wondering why a Bull.
Birmingham has always been associated with bulls. The oldest section of the city is called 'The Bullring.'

Disappointgly there was nothing else in brum with a commonwealth connection.
I was expecting exotic food stalls and cultural displays from around the empire (uh, 'commonwealth').
But there was absolutely nothing.
I think they really missed a trick or six there.

So anyway here's Antonio The Commonwealth Birminghan Bull

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db0b_-tePJc