No topic is taboo at Speakers Corner, the home of free speech. WORDS: Trevor Paddenburg
He looks like an average bloke: white, middle-aged, unremarkable in his jeans and beanie. Then he throws up his arms to the grey sky, squints into the rain and yells: “Lucifer, Prince of Darkness, I bow down before you.”
A second later he’s off, sprinting across the green expanse of Hyde Park. Maybe he fears a thunderbolt is about to descend from the heavens. Maybe he thinks his Satanic speech won’t go down too well with the Sunday morning crowd braving the grim weather to attend Speakers Corner.
In fact, a ripple of amusement runs through the crowd and that’s about it. “Aye, that’s nothin’. I’ve seen that and more. You get all types here,” says Andy Beacham, a Londoner who goes to Speakers Corner every month or so.
Andy says he comes because it’s the best free entertainment in the city on a Sunday — unique, absorbing and theatrical. Depending on who you speak to, Speakers Corner is everything from a forum for nutters to democracy embodied.
Historically, the corner of Hyde Park at Park Lane and Cumberland Gate was a gathering spot for protests and dissent. In 1872, it was set aside — in legislation — for public speaking. It has been a stage for Karl Marx, Lenin, Winston Churchill and George Orwell.
Speakers these days are not as likely to influence world history, but every Sunday (especially in summer) crowds gather to see people from all walks of life stand on their soapbox — or their stepladder — and have a rant.
From the Devil to Princess Di, the war in Iraq to the Wiggles, and from global warming to the way Manchester United played on the weekend, no topic is taboo, too unusual or too trivial.
Perched atop a crate, an elderly English lady insists we should be content with our lives. “Well you’re obviously not content because you’re standing up there telling us to be content,” yells someone from the crowd.
A man from Ghana says black Africans have no place in London. “What are you doing here, cleaning their toilets and collecting their garbage.”
To the side, a newcomer steps up on his ladder saying, “Global warming is serious.” No shit!
It makes for a lively forum as spectators hurl questions, opposing arguments or abuse at the speakers.
Conversations can quickly become contentious debates, especially when fanatics from the more extreme religions start spouting. But that’s when the corner really comes to life, as speakers launch into a verbal battle with hecklers.
Get along for a listen or, if you’ve got something to say, take a milk crate and have a ramble.
In our world of online chat rooms and text messaging, a visit to Speakers Corner is engaging, damn interesting and just plain entertaining.
» Hyde Park, corner Park Lane and Cumberland Gate, W1. Opposite Marble Arch tube. Sundays between 10am-6pm, depending on speakers
From slaying to speaking
Speakers Corner is touted as a bastion of democracy but the site was originally a place for public executions, dating back to 1108.
When the gallows was removed in 1759, Londoners were pissed. According to many, it had been ‘quite an outing’ to see a good hanging. While Speakers Corner might draw a few hundred people these days, the public execution of highwayman Jack Sheppard drew an audience of 200,000.