 = Stanley Green = 
 
 Stanley Owen Green ( 22 February 1915 – 4 December 1993 ) , known as the Protein Man , was a human billboard who became a well @-@ known figure in central London in the latter half of the 20th century . 
 Green patrolled Oxford Street in the West End for 25 years , from 1968 until 1993 , with a placard recommending " protein wisdom " , a low @-@ protein diet that he said would dampen the libido and make people kinder . His 14 @-@ page pamphlet , Eight Passion Proteins with Care , sold 87 @,@ 000 copies over 20 years . 
 Green 's campaign to suppress desire , as one commentator called it , was not always popular , but he became one of London 's much @-@ loved eccentrics . The Sunday Times interviewed him in 1985 , and his " less passion from less protein " slogan was used by the fashion house Red or Dead . 
 When he died at the age of 78 , the Daily Telegraph , Guardian and Times published his obituary , and the Museum of London added his pamphlets and placards to their collection . In 2006 his biography was included in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . 
 
 = = Early life = = 
 
 Green was born in Harringay , north London , the youngest of four sons of Richard Green , a clerk for a bottle stopper manufacturer , and his wife , May . He attended Wood Green School before joining the Royal Navy in 1938 . 
 Philip Carter writes in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography that Green 's time with the Navy affected him deeply . He was shocked by the obsession with sex . " I was astonished when things were said quite openly – what a husband would say to his wife when home on leave " , he told the Sunday Times " A Life in the Day " column in 1985 . " I 've always been a moral sort of person . " 
 After leaving the Navy in September 1945 , Green worked for the Fine Art Society . In March 1946 , Carter writes , he failed the entrance exam for the University of London , then worked for Selfridges and the civil service , and as a storeman for Ealing Borough Council . He said that he had lost jobs twice because he had refused to be dishonest . In 1962 he held a job with the post office , then worked as a self @-@ employed gardener until 1968 when he began his anti @-@ protein campaign . He lived with his parents until they died , his father in 1966 and his mother the following year , after which he was given a council flat in Haydock Green , Northolt , north London . 
 
 = = His mission = = 
 
 
 = = = On the streets = = = 
 
 Green began his mission in June 1968 , at the age of 53 , initially in Harrow on Saturdays , becoming a full @-@ time human billboard six months later on Oxford Street . He cycled there from Northolt with a sandwich board attached to the bicycle , a journey of 12 miles ( 19 km ) that could take up to two hours , until he was given a bus pass when he turned 65 . 
 He rose early , and after porridge for breakfast made bread that would rise while he was on patrol , ready for his evening meal . Otherwise his diet consisted of steamed vegetables and pulses , and a pound of apples a day . Lunch was prepared on a Bunsen burner and eaten at 2 : 30 in a " warm and secret place " near Oxford Street . 
 From Monday to Saturday he walked up and down the street until 6 : 30 pm , reduced to four days a week from 1985 . Saturday evenings were spent with the cinema crowds in Leicester Square . He would to go to bed at 12 : 30 am after saying a prayer . " Quite a good prayer , unselfish too " , he told the Sunday Times . " It is a sort of acknowledgment of God , just in case there happens to be one . " 
 Peter Ackroyd wrote in London : The Biography that Green was for the most part ignored , becoming " a poignant symbol of the city 's incuriosity and forgetfulness " . He was arrested for public obstruction twice , in 1980 and 1985 . " The injustice of it upsets me " , he said , " because I 'm doing such a good job " . He took to wearing overalls to protect himself from spit , several times finding it on his hat at the end of the day . 
 
 = = = Writing = = = 
 
 Sundays were spent at home producing Eight Passion Proteins on his printing press . Waldemar Januszczak described it as worthy of Heath Robinson , who was known for his cartoons of ancient contraptions . The racket caused trouble between Green and his neighbours . 
 Noted for its eccentric typography , Eight Passion Proteins went through 52 editions between 1973 and 1993 . Green sold 20 copies on weekdays and up to 50 on Saturdays ( for 10 pence in 1980 and 12 pence 13 years later ) , a total of 87 @,@ 000 copies by February 1993 , according to Carter . He sent copies to those in the public eye , including five British prime ministers , the Prince of Wales , the Archbishop of Canterbury , and Pope Paul VI . 
 The booklet argued that " those who do not have to work hard with their limbs , and those who are inclined to sit about " will " store up their protein for passion " , making retirement , for example , a period of increased passion and marital discord . He left several unpublished manuscripts , including a novel , Behind the Veil : More than Just a Tale ; a 67 @-@ page text called Passion and Protein ; and a 392 @-@ page version of Eight Passion Proteins , which , Carter writes , was rejected by Oxford University Press in 1971 . 
 
 = = Posthumous recognition = = 
 
 Green enjoyed his local fame . The Sunday Times interviewed him in 1985 for its " A Life in the Day " feature , and some of his slogans , including " less passion from less protein " were used on dresses and t @-@ shirts by the London fashion house Red or Dead . 
 When he died in 1993 at the age of 78 , the Daily Telegraph , Guardian and Times all published obituaries . His letters , diaries , pamphlets and placards were given to the Museum of London ; other artefacts went to the Gunnersbury Park Museum . His printing press was featured in Cornelia Parker 's exhibition " The Maybe " ( 1995 ) at the Serpentine Gallery , along with Robert Maxwell 's shoelaces , one of Winston Churchill 's cigars and Tilda Swinton in a glass box . In 2006 he was given an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . 
 Two decades after his death Green was still remembered by writers and bloggers , fondly for the most part , although not invariably so . Artist Alun Rowlands ' documentary fiction , 3 Communiqués ( 2007 ) , portrayed him as trawling the streets of London , " campaigning for the suppression of desire " . Musician Martin Gordon included a track about Green on his 2013 album , Include Me Out . 
 
 