Beware the Eight Passion Proteins

Whilst browsing through Flickr the other day I came across a photo of the cover of Stanley ‘The Protein Man’ Green’s Eight Passion Proteins booklet.

Anyone over 30 who grew up in London will remember Stan as that 'special person' who was always walking up and down Oxford Street with a huge placard muttering about the dangers of eggs and flogging his homemade guide to dietary well-being for 12p a pop. The booklet was a classic printed, as it was, on a homemade press and with a font style vaguely remiscent of a hybrid cross between a ransom and a suicide note.

The full text of Stanley’s pamphlet is recorded for posterity here. As someone else said ‘reading it made Tolkein look like Doctor Seuss’. Stanley sold his last earthly booklet back in 1993, so remembering him is one of those things that separates ‘old’ Londoners, as in people who actually grew up here, from new Londoners who’ve been here for about five minutes, give or take.

I only mention this because coming across the picture made me all nostalgic about the London that once was. I won’t fart on like an old man about that now. I just wanted to blog the cover picture. It makes me smile.