Bill Boaks - Death and Legacy

Death and Legacy

In 1984, Boaks was injured in a second minor road traffic accident while getting off a bus. His death in hospital two years later was the result of complications from the head injuries sustained. His funeral was attended by the then Transport Minister, Peter Bottomley.

Boaks left three continuing legacies. The first is the pedestrianisation of London's Carnaby Street, which he took an active part in campaigning for, along with Screaming Lord Sutch, and which has set the precedent for "Pedestrian Precincts" elsewhere in the UK. The second is HMS Belfast lying near Tower Bridge in London as a tourist attraction - it was his advice as to the correct depths of the Thames at this juncture that persuaded the Royal Navy of the ship's viability as a floating museum rather than scrapping it. Finally, there remains his passing role in the creation of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party - a number of their more successful candidates (particularly Wild Willi Beckett & Peter "Top Cat" Owen) emulating one of Boaks' old tactics of using the middle of roundabouts as a place to campaign from during elections (until the police arrived to move them on).