Aaron Alexander Barschak (born 1966 in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

, 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 Diana, Princess of Wales. William was born during the reign of his p ...

's 21st birthday party.

Background

Aaron Barschak was born in 1966 and grew up in Hampstead in North London attending 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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

.l 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

Barschak came to public attention on 21 June 2003 when he gatecrashed

's 21st birthday party at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...

whilst wearing a pink dress, a false beard and a

turban A turban (from Persian language, Persian دولبند‌, ''dolband''; 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. Commun ...

in a fashion similar to

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

. He scaled the walls of the castle and entered William's party. He was arrested shortly after storming reaching the stage where William was giving a speech. Barschak was not prosecuted. The intrusion triggered a police investigation into the security breach.

Edinburgh Festival appearances

Barschak appeared for a three-week run at the Underbelly venue at the 2003

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

with a show entitled ''Osama Likes It Hot'' co-written with Brendhan Lovegrove,

Election campaigns

Barschak stood as candidate at the Brent East by-election of 2003 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. History The Toponymy, place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest kno ...

in the 2010 General Election, against the

leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

of the Conservative Party with 53 votes.

Other notable stunts

In 2003 Barschak was found guilty of causing criminal damage and imprisoned for one month after he threw a bucket of red paint over the artist Jake Chapman apparently in protest (albeit in a suitably parodic form) over the latter's vandalism of a series of original prints of

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 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, an ...

's '' The Disasters of War''. In 2005, he was arrested and bailed following an incident in Wapping.

Poetry

Since the early 2000's, Barschak has faded into relative obscurity. However, he can be found performing on the London poetry circuit, and in 2023 was commended in the Poetry Kit International Poetry Competition.

References

{{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 Jewish English comedians Jewish male comedians