Tony Allen, #1 – Speakers’ Corner, Hyde Park, London, England

Tony Allen (born 4 March 1945) is an English comedian and writer. Best known as one of the original "alternative comedians", his artistic career had taken many radical turns.

He has been a regular at Speakers' Corner since 1970. In the words of an article that appeared in the New Statesman:"For Allen, every event, meeting or show was a chance to join in. He once heckled a hapless cabaret critic who decided to try his hand at stand-up. In a club packed with comics glad of the opportunity to abuse a critic, it was Allen's line that cut the deepest. During a moment of calm, he gleefully advised: 'Give up the day job!'

If anyone was going to get an arts grant for heckling, it was going to be Tony Allen - and that is precisely what he did. The London Arts Board paid him £300 a week for six weeks to be an "advocate heckler" at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park. A Summer in the Park is his account of that time. Allen records his attempts to engage with the crowds (or lack of them) and his quest for the 'ultimate spontaneous discourse,' in which performance, oratory and crowd contribution result in some sort of truth. He skilfully weaves his fellow orators, hecklers and park characters into the story, embracing their oddities and often 'borderline' behaviour. The result is a loving, if caustic, portrait of Speakers' Corner and its culture. Occasionally, Allen mentions the history of the place, but his real concern is the current crop of humans who inhabit it.

As ever with Allen, the heckling is what matters most. Of a religious speaker berating the crowd for sinning, he gently inquires: 'Was it very bad? What you did?,' then quietly leaves to set up his own pitch with a sign reading: 'Tony Allen: advocate heckler, anarchist parasite, mixed-ability shaman.' In his speeches and debates, he combines old routines with new riffs and ad libbing, and gets as much joy out of the crowd besting him as he does out of besting it. There are also moments of genuine compassion, as when Allen tries to work out what to say to a squaddie who is about to go AWOL after hearing him speak about the dangers of work."