Aaron Alexander Barschak (born 1966 in Southwark, London) is an English self-styled "comedy terrorist" and fringe UK politician. In 2003, he attracted media attention by gatecrashing

Prince William William, Prince of Wales, (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. Born in London, William was educa ...

's 21st birthday party.

Background

Aaron Barschak was born in 1966 into a Jewish family. His father, Fred Barschak, fled

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1938, the rest of his father's family died during the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. Aaron grew up in Hampstead in North London and attended City of London School where he learnt French and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

. After leaving school, Barschak travelled to Bolivia working at importing Western pop records and later moved to New York to study acting.

The Windsor Castle gatecrash

He came to public attention on 21 June 2003, when he gatecrashed

's 21st birthday party at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...

whilst wearing a pink dress, a false beard and a

turban A turban (from Persian دولبند‌, ''dulband''; via Middle French ''turbant'') is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. Communities with promin ...

in a fashion similar to Osama bin Laden. After flashing his

merkin __NOTOC__ A merkin is a pubic wig. Merkins were worn by sex workers after shaving their mons pubis, and are now used as decorative items, erotic devices, or in films, by both men and women. History and etymology The '' Oxford Companion to the ...

at the crowds outside, he scaled the walls of the castle and entered William's party. He was arrested after storming the stage where William was giving a speech. He was not prosecuted. The intrusion triggered a police investigation into the security breach. Of the event Aaron told the Guardian Newspaper; "I was put under house arrest for the royal wedding last year. Are the police planning the same for the jubilee?"

Edinburgh Festival appearances

Barschak has also appeared for a three-week run at the

Underbelly Underbelly is the side of something that is not normally seen. Figuratively, it means a vulnerable or weak part, similar to the term Achilles' heel, or alternatively, a hidden, illicit side of society. This term could refer to: Business * ...

venue at the 2003

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

with a show, ''Osama Likes It Hot'', co-written with Brendhan Lovegrove, to a generally poor critical reception. In the early days of the run, it was apparent that Barschak was woefully unprepared for the show and the critics were unsurprisingly harsh. The show received stronger reviews later in the run.Roger Co
Comedy terrorist hits the big screen
/ref> The poor critical reception did not prevent early high sales due to his fame from the Windsor Castle incident.

Election campaigns

In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

s gain major national media coverage. They fall in between elections and can be seen as a straw poll of public opinion. Barschak stood in the Brent East by-election of 2003 coming 14th of the 16 candidates and gaining 37 votes. He stood again in

Witney Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is west of Oxford. The place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest known record of it is as ...

in the 2010 General Election, against the

leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...

of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, coming last out of 10 candidates with 53 votes, appearing at the count dressed in a long white robe with a crown of thorns and carrying a sign saying "Close Campsfield House".

Television documentary

A 2004 documentary film, ''Rebel Without Applause'', made by his sister Tamara, charts his life during the previous three years.

Other notable stunts

Barschak is also famous for throwing a bucket of red paint over Young British Artist Jake Chapman, apparently in protest (albeit in a suitably parodic form) over the latter's vandalism (along with his brother, Dinos Chapman) of a series of original prints of

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...

's ''

The Disasters of War ''The Disasters of War'' ( es, Los desastres de la guerra) is a series of 8280 prints in the first published edition (1863), for which the last two plates were not available. See "Execution". prints created between 1810 and 1820 by the Spani ...

''. Barschak was jailed for a month. In 2005, he was arrested and bailed following an incident in Wapping.BB
Barschak bailed over 'bomb hoax'
9 April 2005 In 2006, Barschak stormed a controversial art sale of a painting believed to be created by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

whom Barschak dressed up as.

Current career

His brief comedy career has not been a success and he appears to have returned to obscurity, reflected by his occasional appearances on the

James Whale James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: ''Frankenstein'' (1931), '' The O ...

Show on TalkSport radio, although he has recently performed at the launch party for The Event - a high-profile series of artist run activities in permanent and temporary spaces throughout central Birmingham.

References

External links

Home Secretary expresses regret at Barshak stunt
BBC News, Tuesday, 24 June 2003. Contains a pop-up map of Barschak's security breach.
Barschak's Windsor Castle stunt minute by minute
BBC News, Thursday, 14 August 2003

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barschak, Aaron 1966 births People educated at the City of London School Living people English male comedians 20th-century English comedians 21st-century English comedians Independent British political candidates