Heydon Prowse (born February 1981) is a British activist, journalist, satirist, director and comedian. He is best known for writing and performing in

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...

's Bafta-winning '' The Revolution Will Be Televised'' alongside

Jolyon Rubinstein Jolyon Rubinstein (born 22 April 1981) is a British actor, writer, producer and director. He is best known for writing and performing on '' The Revolution Will Be Televised'', a show on BBC Three, alongside Heydon Prowse. He acted in a popul ...

. As part of that show he gave

George Osborne George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born Gideon Oliver Osborne; 23 May 1971) is a former British politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the ...

a GCSE maths text book, a stunt that featured on the front cover of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' and other publications.The pranksters who gave George Osborne a GCSE maths book
By Leo Hickman, 22 August 2012, ''The Guardian''

Early life

Prowse was educated at King Alfred School, London and the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

where he studied philosophy, graduating in 2004. As a schoolboy he played Colin Craven in the 1993 film ''

The Secret Garden ''The Secret Garden'' is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett first published in book form in 1911, after serialisation in '' The American Magazine'' (November 1910 – August 1911). Set in England, it is one of Burnett's most popular novels an ...

''. Prowse made national news in the UK in 2009 when a secret recording he made of Conservative politician

Alan Duncan Sir Alan James Carter Duncan (born 31 March 1957) is a British former Conservative Party politician who served as Minister of State for International Development from 2010 to 2014 and as Minister of State for Europe and the Americas from 201 ...

in the Houses of Parliament resulted in Duncan's dismissal from the opposition front bench.

Revolting

Heydon Prowse and Jolyon Rubinstein created and starred in '' Revolting'' on BBC2 in 2017, a short-lived satire show which garnered controversy through sketches including "The Real Housewives of ISIS".

Don't Panic

Prowse is director and talent with the viral creative agency ''Don't Panic'' for whom he has created a number of award winning films. In 2013, Prowse directed his first VICE show, presented by Nimrod Kamer at the Venice Film Festival.

Michael Green

For the

2015 United Kingdom general election The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 7 May 2015 to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. It was the first and only general election held at the end of a Parliament under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. Loca ...

, Prowse changed his name to ''Michael Green'' via

deed poll A deed poll (plural: deeds poll) is a legal document binding on a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an intention or create an obligation. It is a deed, and not a contract because it binds only one party A party ...

to stand as an independent candidate against

Grant Shapps Grant Shapps (born 14 September 1968) is a British politician who is serving as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy since October 2022. He previously served as Secretary of State for Transport in the Johnson govern ...

in the

Welwyn Hatfield The Borough of Welwyn Hatfield is a local government district in southern Hertfordshire, England, governed by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. It covers the two towns of Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield, along with numerous smaller settlemen ...

constituency. The name Michael Green is a pseudonym of Shapps which has attracted controversy. He secured 216 votes in the election, placing sixth out of seven candidates.

Presenting

Prowse also acted as the presenter for the BBC documentary show ''The Town That Took on the Taxman'' shown in January 2016, where businesses in the small Welsh town

Crickhowell Crickhowell (; cy, Crucywel , non-standard spelling ') is a town and community in southeastern Powys, Wales, near Abergavenny, and is in the historic county of Brecknockshire. Location The town lies on the River Usk, on the southern ed ...

attempted to minimise their tax burden using the same methods as large corporations.

Prank calls

Prowse is known for prank calling notable figures in politics and entertainment. In February 2017 he duped Number 10 Downing Street claiming the US President wanted to send

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...

her favourite bouquet as a special gift. In May 2017 he called

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the pol ...

who mistook Prowse for

Stormzy Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr. (born 26 July 1993), known professionally as Stormzy, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter. In 2014, he gained attention on the UK underground music scene through his ''Wicked Skengman'' series of f ...

and discussed making a grime video together.

References

External links

*
Heydon Prowse
on ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

''
Prowse on Independent Talentinterview on The Consulting Detective blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prowse, Heydon 1981 births 20th-century British comedians Living people Alumni of the University of Sussex British male film actors British satirists Climate activists People educated at King Alfred School, London