Rivalry in the twentieth century between students of the two colleges was centred on their respective mascots. University College's was Phineas Maclino, a wooden tobacconist's sign of a kilted Jacobite Highlander purloined from outside a shop in Tottenham Court Road during the celebrations of the relief of Ladysmith in 1900.

King's later addition was a giant beer bottle representing 'bottled youth'. In 1923 it was replaced by a new mascot to rival Phineas - Reggie the lion, who made his debut at a King's-University College sporting rag in December 1923, protected by a lifeguard of engineering students armed with T-squares. Thereafter, Reggie formed the centrepiece of annual freshers' processions by King's students around Aldwych in which new students were typically flour bombed.