Lord Buckethead
Interstellar villain turned novelty election candidate.
The character has been used as a novelty political candidate in UK general elections since 1987, standing against sitting prime ministers.[1][2] The American filmmaker Todd Durham invented the fictional character Lord Buckethead for his 1984 movie Hyperspace, which was an inexpensive parody of Star Wars.[3]
Quick Facts
- First
- Hyperspace (1984)
- Creator
- Todd Durham
- Portrayed by
- Robert Bloodworth (Hyperspace, 1984)
- Mike Lee (1987, 1992)
- Jon Harvey (2017)
- David Hughes (2019)
- Gender
- Male
- Occupation
- Imperial Space Lord; Commander of the Woopian Star Fleet
- Nationality
- British
Facts from the source article.
Making and release
In the 1984 film Hyperspace, the galactic villain Lord Buckethead was portrayed by Robert Bloodworth, with the character being the creation of Todd Durham.[3] VIPCO, a video distributor whose owner was Mike Lee, put out the film in the UK under the title Gremloids.[4] To generate publicity for Gremloids, Mike Lee, representing the Gremloids Party, ran as Lord Buckethead in the 1987 general election, opposing Margaret Thatcher in her Finchley constituency.[4][2] That election saw Lee obtain 131 votes.[5][6]
Jon Harvey, who had previously worked as a TV producer, brought the character back in 2017 by standing against Theresa May in Maidenhead.[7][8] Harvesting the necessary 10 signatures from individuals inside a Costa Coffee, Harvey also paid a friend to construct the costume.[9][8] Harvey's vote count was 249 (0.4%), which was the greatest percentage the character had ever achieved.[9][10] In 2019, David Hughes, a film journalist, was recruited by Durham to portray Lord Buckethead, and he ran against Boris Johnson in Uxbridge and South Ruislip.[11][12]
Hughes garnered 125 votes (0.3%) during that election.[12][10]
What the cited sources add
Time Out Worldwide reports that Hughes used the Lord Buckethead Twitter account in 2020 to declare himself an "imposter" and endorse Count Binface as the true heir.[10][13]
References
- "Comedian Jon Harvey to take on Boris Johnson as Count Binface", British Comedy Guide, 14 November 2019. facts only, no text reused. comedy.co.uk
- reprobatemagazine, "Lord Buckethead – The Whole Story", The Reprobate, 14 June 2017. facts only, no text reused. reprobatepress.com
- Wikipedia, "Lord Buckethead" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Saunders, "The real Lord Buckethead: the cult sci-fi film that inspired Theresa May's election rival", The Daily Telegraph, 9 June 2017; Saunders, "The real Lord Buckethead: the cult sci-fi film that inspired Theresa May's election rival", The Daily Telegraph, 9 June 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Lord Buckethead" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: reprobatemagazine, "Lord Buckethead – The Whole Story", The Reprobate, 14 June 2017; Phipps, "No British election is complete without a man with a bin on his head", The Economist, 17 June 2024; Jefferson, "Lord Buckethead vs Theresa May – meet the UK's weirdest political parties", New Statesman, 12 May 2017 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Lord Buckethead" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jefferson, "Lord Buckethead vs Theresa May – meet the UK's weirdest political parties", New Statesman, 12 May 2017; Waterson, "A Person Called 'Lord Buckethead' Is Standing Against Theresa May in the Election", BuzzFeed News, 13 May 2017; reprobatemagazine, "Lord Buckethead – The Whole Story", The Reprobate, 14 June 2017; Matthew Engel, "Engel's England: Thirty-nine counties, one capital and one man", Profile Books, 23 October 2014, p. 150 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Waterson, "A Person Called 'Lord Buckethead' Is Standing Against Theresa May in the Election", BuzzFeed News, 13 May 2017. facts only, no text reused. buzzfeed.com
- Wikipedia, "Lord Buckethead" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Waterson, "Double trouble: the fight to be the real Lord Buckethead", The Guardian, 26 May 2019 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Waterson, "Double trouble: the fight to be the real Lord Buckethead", The Guardian, 26 May 2019. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
- Wikipedia, "Lord Buckethead" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Waterson, "Double trouble: the fight to be the real Lord Buckethead", The Guardian, 26 May 2019; "Maidenhead parliamentary constituency", BBC News, 9 June 2017; "The Latest: Costumed candidates in UK get moment of fame", Associated Press, 9 June 2017 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Hughes, "Lord Buckethead: my part in his downfall", Time Out Worldwide, 2022-02-14. facts only, no text reused. timeout.com
- Wikipedia, "Lord Buckethead" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hughes, "Lord Buckethead: my part in his downfall", Time Out Worldwide, 2022-02-14 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Lord Buckethead" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Comedian Jon Harvey to take on Boris Johnson as Count Binface", British Comedy Guide, 14 November 2019 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Boffey, "'He goes a bit funny if you use his real name': the unstoppable rise of Count Binface", The Guardian, 2026-07-11. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Lord Buckethead (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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