Stanley Green

Stanley Green

Stanley Owen Green (22 February 1915 – 4 December 1993), known as the Protein Man, was a human billboard who became a well-known figure in London, during the latter half of the 20th century.

For 25 years Green patrolled Oxford Street in the West End, carrying a placard that advocated "Less Lust, By Less Protein: Meat Fish Bird; Egg Cheese; Peas Beans; Nuts. And Sitting," though the wording – and punctuation – changed slightly over the years. Arguing that protein made people lustful and aggressive, his solution was "protein wisdom," a low-protein diet for "better, kinder, happier people." For a few pence, passers-by could purchase his 14-page pamphlet, Eight Passion Proteins with Care, which reportedly sold 87,000 copies over 20 years, its front cover observing, "This booklet would benefit more, if it were read occasionally."

Green became one of London's much-loved eccentrics, though his campaign to suppress desire, as one commentator put it, was not invariably popular, leading to two arrests for obstruction and the need to wear green overalls to protect himself from spit. He nevertheless took great delight in his local fame. The Sunday Times interviewed him in 1985, and his "less passion, less protein" slogan was used by Red or Dead, the London fashion house. When he died at the age of 78, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and The Times published his obituary, and his pamphlets, placards and letters were passed to the Museum of London. David McKie writes that in 2006 Green achieved what no other human billboard has, an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.