Why the British love Henry Hoover

What's so endearing about Henry? It's been the question on everybody's lips since he spectacularly photobombed the unveiling of the new Downing Street press room. The friendly faced vacuum cleaner still manages to compete with the likes of Dyson forty years after he was first created. Made in Chard, Somerset, with his bowler hat shaped ‘cap’ and smiley face, Henry is arguably one of the last remaining bastions of British eccentricity.  

Henry is that rare thing in British culture - a domestic appliance that transcends class. As Grayson Perry pointed out in his excellent series All in the Best Possible Taste, the British have a propensity to imbue ordinary household objects with all sorts of thinly veiled social codes. Just as patched up clothes and clapped out cars are the language of the upper classes, Smeg kettles, Le Creuset dishes and heavily branded Land Rovers are beloved by the aspirational middle classes, keen to signal their status through labels. Today's brands try to tap into the allure of this exclusivity, conveying their ownership as a sign that you are somehow in the club.  

Not so with Henry. He rises joyously above such class riddled social traps. Many of our finest stately homes probably have a Henry hoover hidden in the broom cupboard. And unlike Oka furniture, he is equally at home in Westminster as he is in Wakefield. He’s an emblem, really, of our refusal to take ourselves too seriously. His appearance in the corner of a pristine press room designed to echo that of the West Wing was the sort of bathos-filled moment that the British relish. Fancy yourself as C.J. Cregg? Think again.  

Henry pokes fun at the age old adage that an Englishman’s home is his castle. He undercuts grandeur and self importance just when we need him to. The British have always been idiosyncratically domestic, proudly chasing home ownership where other populations are content to rent. Henry both endorses and mocks this instinct.

But the hoover's appearance at No. 10 is far from the first time he’s stolen the spotlight. A Christmas nativity scene where the figures of Mary, Joseph and Jesus were played by Henry and his hoover siblings went viral in December. Back in 2018, a Cardiff university student organised a Henry Hoover picnic on Facebook which 37,000 people pledged to attend (with their hoovers). He attracts legions of fans across the country and yet he manages to remain reassuringly useful - he's no mere collector's item.

So what's the secret to his enduring appeal? I fancy it's his name. Aside from the pleasingly simple alliteration, Henry is derived from the German 'Heimrich', which combines the words 'home' or 'estate' and 'ruler'. Thus hidden within it are all the associations of domesticity that are innate to the British psyche. Despite its royal connotations, it's a name that is used across the classes, even today. Numatic International - the Somerset company who make him - have always been committed to keeping him affordable, despite his cult status, which is key to his durability. Like his name, he can be the property of both princes and plumbers. And therein lies his power.