Bare necessities: the naked truth about streaking
Police wanted to slap on Asbo on our most prolific streaker. Magistrates said no.
So it's official: public exposure is part of our culture.
By Andy McSmith
Published: 09 August 2007
Ever since the kindly Lady Godiva rode naked through the streets to help the people of Coventry, the British have had a soft spot for streakers.
Instead of being outraged when a sports event is interrupted by a flash of naked flesh, we treat it as part of the fun.
Even the magistrates of Liverpool do not believe it is necessarily a threat to public order if a man bares his bottom to amuse a crowd. Hence their decision this week to deny a police request for an Asbo to be imposed on the Mark Roberts, from Liverpool, the nation's most dedicated streaker.
Mr Roberts has been streaking for years, on two continents. Indeed, there is a barely a sport that he has not disrupted. He has been seen cantering along the course during Ladies' Day at Ascot, prancing through the Crucible Theatre during the 2004 world snooker final, dashing down the fairway during the Open Golf Championship, with "19th hole" emblazoned on his back, and vaulting the net during a women's doubles match at Wimbledon, wearing nothing but a message saying "Only balls should bounce". He claims 380 streaks, but at the age of 42 is thinking about retirement.
Some like to date the start of the habit back to 950 years ago, when Lady Godiva, wife of the Earl of Mercia, rode naked through Coventry to shame her husband into reducing taxes.
The history books say that while Lady Godiva really existed, the story is a myth. Anyway, it does not count as a "streak" because she was not making an exhibition of herself to amuse the crowd. Indeed, the people of Coventry are said to have closed their shutters to spare her modesty. The only person who peeped - and was struck blind for his trouble - was named Tom. Hence the expression "Peeping Tom".
The last thing the modern streaker expects is for people to look away. A few do it for a motive, most for fun - but whatever the reason, they all set out to make an exhibition of themselves.
In Britain, the start of this national pastime can be pinpointed almost precisely to spring 1974. The first streakers found inspiration from the open air rock concerts where some fans seemed to think that music sounded better when listened to naked. Surrounded by other rock fans, they did not risk causing offence or being arrested.
But on 17 March 1974, a young woman named Sally Cooper decided to take a run across Richmond Bridge minus her clothes, and was very soon stopped by an officer of the law. She was also seen by a photographer, and next day her image was splashed across every tabloid newspaper.
Ms Cooper's exploit was capped by a 25-year-old Australian named Michael O'Brien, who invaded the pitch during an England-France match at Twickenham. The photograph of Mr O'Brien being taken into custody, his groin concealed by a policeman's helmet, became one of the iconic images of the year.
The "streak" was quickly elevated into folklore. A pop song by Ray Stevens in June 1974 catalogued the misadventures of a hapless witness of a series of streaks, who repeatedly warns his wife, Ethel, not to look - but always too late. In the final verse he runs after her, crying: "Ethel! You git your clothes on!"
In reality, streaking is risky, because to be naked is to be vulnerable. One man who tried a streak during an ice hockey match in Canada wearing two socks - only one of them on his foot - fell, stuck to the ice and had to be scraped off and rushed to hospital, half dead from the cold.
There is also the prospect of being charged with indecent exposure, or outraging public decency. Anyone streaking through a shopping centre, or near to children or people who might feel threatened, is liable to end up in court. Ironically, the fact that people like Mr Roberts have performed in very public places, in front of such huge crowds, has protected them.
But the police have begun to weary of Mr Roberts. They say they cannot deal with hooliganism or terror threats while having to chase streakers. "People do not pay to see this man streak," Jim Clarke, for Merseyside Police, told the magistrates in the case against Mr Roberts.
But District Judge Nick Sanders concluded: "What Mr Roberts does may be annoying but, in my opinion, it does not amount to antisocial behaviour." For now, at least, streakers can streak in peace.
Mark Roberts
Ryder Cup, 2006
Roberts ran on to the K Club course in County Kildare with a toy squirrel covering his groin and a golf ball between his buttocks, as Tiger Woods was about to tee off. It was about the 380th time that he had streaked in "career" that began when he leapt on to the floating weather map during a live broadcast of This Morning, in 1995.
Brynn Reed
St Mary's Cathedral, 2002
The former civil servant, streaked in front of the Queen's Rolls Royce during her Jubilee visit to Newcastle upon Tyne, with the words "Rude Britannia" across his bottom. He said he'd done it because "it's something to tell the grandchildren". Charged with indecent exposure, he was given a 12-month conditional discharge, provided he kept his clothes on in public. The magistrates also confiscated his specially adapted trousers. He is currently seeking work as a rock drummer.
Jacqui Salmond
St Andrew's, 2000
St Andrew's golf course, July 2000. The British Open attracted an above par turnout of streakers, with three women and two men ending up in court. They included Jacqui Salmond, a 33-year-old mother of two from Kirkcaldy, who was fined £100. She danced around the 18th flag after Tiger Woods had teed off. Salmond settled in Edinburgh with a boyfriend and found work as a lap dancer in a pub. Her solicitor denied that she was paid to streak.
Linsey Dawn McKenzie
Old Trafford, 1995
McKenzie, a 16-year-old model and soft porn actress, ran on to the pitch wearing just a thong and trainers and with "Only Teasing" scrawled across her breasts during the England v West Indies cricket match. The stunt helped her modelling career and earned her an appearance on They Think It's All Over. She then moved into hardcore porn. She is married to the former footballer Mark Williams.
Michael O'Brien
Twickenham, 1974
During an England-France game, O'Brien, a 25-year-old accountant from Australia, became the first streaker at a major sporting event - and lost his job for it. "He had nothing to be proud of," said one police officer. Either way, the Daily Mirror photographer Ian Bradshaw captured the iconic scene of O'Brien covered only by a PC's helmet.
Sally Cooper
Kingston Bridge, 1974
"Where is Sally Cooper now?" was one of the questions asked on Yahoo recently. But if anyone knew the answer, they did not post it on the web. When she stripped and ran across the bridge in south-west London, she probably did not expect to achieve fame as the first streaker to be caught by a press photographer and displayed before the entire country.
Laura Gosling
Royal St George's, 2003
The presentation ceremony at the end of the 132nd Open Championship was in full swing when 28-year-old Laura Gosling ran topless out of the waiting crowd and attempted to kiss the winner, Ben Curtis. She was stopped by the police. Unusually, this was streaking with commercial intent - she was seeking publicity for a website.
Robert Opel
Hollywood, 1974
The 34-year-old photographer probably captured the biggest live audience of any streaker when he marched across stage behind David Niven during the Academy Awards ceremony, flashing a peace sign. "The only laugh that man will ever get is by stripping and showing his shortcomings," Niven remarked. Opel opened a gallery for gay male art in San Francisco but was murdered during a robbery there in 1979.
Erica Roe
Twickenham, 1982
The 24-year-old bookshop assistant became the most famous streaker of the Eighties by baring her 40-inch chest and running onto the pitch at half time during an England-Australia rugby game. She said it happened because she'd "had a few beers and was a bit eccentric". She went on to earn £8,000 from television and modelling. Roe is now married and settled in Portugal, where she and her husband grow sweet potatoes for export.
Michael Angelow
Lord's, 1975
Lord's Cricket Ground, 4 August, 1975, the fourth day of the second Test between England and Australia. The Test was drifting towards a stalemate on a stiflingly hot afternoon when, after several hours in the Tavern, a friend bet Michael Angelow, a navy cook, £10 that he did not dare streak across the pitch. Angelow set off, wearing only plimsolls, and athletically cleared the stumps. John Arlott, the veteran radio commentator, revealed that he had not been fully briefed on the new British craze when he exclaimed: "It's a freaker." Angelow was luckier than a streaker at a later cricket match, who was pursued by the batsman Greg Chappell and dealt a resounding stroke on his bare backside. Angelow got off with a £10 fine. He has since kept out of the news.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/ ... 846562.ece
