Last week we noted that Stephen Hawking is getting a 3 metre high bronze statue of himself. Now Jack Newton, a resident of Brighton, England, has bestowed a rather more singular honour on the professor.

Newton, an apprentice tattoo artist, has had an image of a smiling Hawking needled into his leg. Below the picture is a line from Monty Python’s Life of Brian: “He’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy”.

The Brighton Argus says the ink has already won two trophies at tattoo conventions (picture here).

“I read A Brief History of Time, but to be honest I didn’t understand a word, but I respect the man and that’s why I got his face tattooed on my leg,” says Newton (Daily Telegraph).

Someone tell Carl Zimmer!