MUNCHING sandwiches while nonchalantly perched on a steel girder 840ft above the streets of New York – it is a photograph that has become one of the most famous ever taken.

Now the black and white image showing a group of workers at lunch during the construction of the RCA Building at the Big Apple’s Rockefeller Center in 1932 has been recreated by children in north Wiltshire.

Grittleton House School pupils have posed for a reimagined version of the iconic photo Lunch Atop A Skyscraper for a striking school calendar.

There are a few changes from the original. The youngsters are wearing their school blazers instead of work shirts and overalls, while the 1930s sandwich boxes of the men on the crossbeam have been replaced with the children’s rather more colourful school bags.

There are 13 Grittleton girder dwellers instead of the original 11 New Yorkers. And – no surprise here – none of them appear to be smoking! But the caps they are wearing are very 1930s.

With the aid of some clever photography the image – which Grittleton calls Take A Break – imaginatively updates the 82-year-old shot from Depression-era America.

The school’s drama department teamed up with professional photographer Terry Owen of New Take Photography to produce what Grittleton House describes as a “fun, unique and innovative school calendar”.

School spokesman Julie Gleed said: “We think the calendar is fantastic. We are all really excited about it.”

Children from the infant, junior and senior schools spent hours one Saturday morning in June to combine with Mr Owen on the project.

Ms Gleed added: “Everyone is delighted with the results.”

Emma Levan of the school’s drama department said: “It all began with the seed of an idea to reproduce well-known iconic images.

“The calendar really shows off the talent of the pupils involved and the unique nature of the school.”

Charlie Chaplin, Superman, Harry Potter, Hamlet, Laurel and Hardy, The Beatles and others are also featured in the calendar alongside those relaxed construction workers who took a giddy pew above Manhattan all those years ago.

The calendars are £15 each or three for £40. Call 01249 782434.