Fifty-five years after a protest that saw a man dressed as Santa Claus briefly detained by police, Oxford Street has finally been pedestrianized.
In 1971, John, a member of the youth wing of the Liberal Party, participated in a demonstration with other campaigners from the newly formed Oxford Street Action Committee. The group aimed to highlight concerns about traffic and air pollution in central London and envision a car-free future for the bustling street.
On December 18, 1971, the Saturday before Christmas, John, celebrating his 28th birthday, joined fellow campaigners at Hyde Park Corner. The plan, kept secret even from his wife Lizzie, involved using balloons and a symbolic act of obstruction. John was dressed as Father Christmas in a plastic suit, carrying a pole adorned with balloons.
"The police were present in strength and clearly nervous," John recorded in his diary. "We had fly-posted that Oxford Street would be closed at 11am but the poor bobbies had no idea how we hoped to do it."
At precisely 11 a.m., as the traffic lights turned red, the group enacted their plan. A woman with a pram, seemingly carrying a doll, revealed a heavy-duty chain with padlocks concealed beneath blankets. "The girl [with the pram] set off across the road and two heavies grabbed the padlocks and launched themselves at the traffic light poles to lock the chain across the highway," John wrote.
The demonstration was short-lived. Police officers quickly intervened, rugby-tackling protesters and removing the chain. The traffic lights soon returned to green, and the street reopened. John was arrested and charged with obstruction for allegedly endangering passers-by with his balloon-laden pole. He was fined £2 plus £2 in costs, which he did not contest.
Lizzie, who watched the events unfold, acknowledged the protest's brief duration but emphasized its success in generating publicity. "The publicity that went on about Santa Claus getting arrested at Christmastime was just brilliant," she said.
More than half a century later, Lizzie and her daughter Helen reflect on the event. Helen, who was a baby at the time, notes the significant changes in London, including clean-air initiatives and the prevalence of electric vehicles. "He would be pleased it has been pedestrianised after everything that happened," she said of her father's legacy.