Swampy

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For other uses, see Swamp Yankee

Swampy (real name Daniel Hooper) is an English environmental protester, or eco-warrior. He lived in Exeter, Devon in the early 1990s and belonged to a variety of protest groups including the A30 Exeter to Honiton Protest and Fairmile Road Camp.

He became a nationally known figure after spending a week in a complex series of tunnels dug in the path of a new extension to the A30 road in Fairmile, resisting attempts at eviction by police. Several people took part in the protest, but Swampy was the last one evicted. Mr Hooper was originally from Newbury, Berkshire, the site of the protest over the Newbury bypass in 1996.

Swampy's subsequent fame included an appearance on the BBC comedy current affairs quiz Have I Got News for You, where he became (briefly) the show's youngest ever panellist. He later took part in another tunnel protest intended to prevent the building of a second runway at Manchester International Airport, and has also been involved with the Trident nuclear submarine protest camp at Faslane, Scotland.

Greenpeace activists entered the International Petroleum Exchange on 16 February 2005 from which they were evicted by traders, two activists being hospitalised. One trader, drinking outside a nearby pub when the activists were being led away by police, shouted: "Sod Off, Swampy". The line has now been reproduced on t-shirts, popular with those who believe that this statement represents their frustration with what they perceive as extreme environmentalism.