Student Rags were manifestations of the rivalry between the two institutions. Rags were "colourful, subversive, and occasionally dangerous" for both participants and bystanders and reached their height between the two
World Wars. A long-running campaign of the rags were the attempts to capture each other's
mascots. Running battles were supposedly brought to an end by the colleges' authorities in the first half of the twentieth century, but rivalry amongst the two University of London colleges continues to this day.
College mascots The mascots of both universities were frequently kidnapped by students of the other. In 1922, King's students—allegedly bitter about a rugby defeat—kidnapped Phineas, the large wooden highlander model that had served as UCL's unofficial mascot since 1900. After more than an hour of fighting and an eventual intervention by the
Metropolitan Police, Phineas was returned to UCL with a broken arm. Reggie the Lion has been the King's mascot since 1923. Reggie was captured by UCL students in 1927 and filled with rotten apples. That same year, King's and UCL students brawled in the UCL Main Quad following a failed kidnapping attempt. Six students were hospitalised and two arrested as a result of the incident. Other incidents have included the tarring and feathering of Phineas and the burial of Reggie in
Hampstead Heath. The affair culminated in 1989 with the infamous theft of
Jeremy Bentham's mummified head by King's students, who reportedly played football with it and were threatened with fines and expulsion. Mascot theft has since died down with both universities' mascots under securely protection. ==Women==