Jump to full article: The Independent (uk), 2009-07-07
Author: Arifa Akbar
Intro: When Antony Gormley first announced his plans to enlist members of the public to stand on top of Trafalgar Square's empty fourth plinth and do exactly as they wished for an hour, he anticipated "a certain degree of anarchy". . . .
As Boris Johnson, the major of London, Gormley and scores of spectators waited for the clock to strike nine, a spidery figure was seen scaling the heights with a banner tucked under his arm.
Minutes later, he had made it on top of the plinth and unfurled his anti-smoking banner which read: “Save the Children. Ban Tobacco and Actors Smoking”.
Stuart Holmes, a seasoned protestor who usually stood on a soap box outside the High Courts had become the first member of the public – even unofficially – to use the plinth as his very own giant soapbox.
By the time Ms Wardell was due for her ‘first turn’, many were more interested in him than in her. Johnson commended the man for gaining his fifteen Warholian minutes of fame.
“I want to thank the organisers and thank this man for ascending the plinth as brilliantly as he has...What is fame? Is it a lottery or is it self-selected as this chap’s demonstation? This is one of the questions the fourth plinth asks us to meditate on,” he said.
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