Mark Roberts
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- This article is about the famous British streaker. For other persons named Mark Roberts, see Mark Roberts (disambiguation)
Mark Roberts (born December 12, 1964 in Liverpool, England) is a famous British streaker who has run naked during several international events.
A father of three, Roberts' saga began when he saw a female streaker run down a Rugby Sevens game naked in Hong Kong. After a bet in a bar, he went naked in front of the crowd himself the next day, and the day after. This was during the 1993 Hong Kong Sevens.
Roberts has done this, as of 2005, a total of 380 times, targeting such events as a Mr. Universe contest, a Miss World contest, tennis matches, the bull run in Pamplona, the synchronized swimming world championship in Barcelona, and his specialty, association football matches.[1] Nowadays, he is forced to give out his passport and other important documents before football games, as a way to ensure he won't be streaking at these events[2]. He has also been banned from every football stadium in England to date.
Arguably his most famous streak was on a live 1995 broadcast of This Morning, where he swam onto Fred Talbot's floating weather map and proceeded to emulate Talbot's trademark leap from Scotland to Ireland. This famous clip has now been aired on blooper shows all around the world.
In January 2003, Roberts flew to San Diego, California, United States, where he planned to streak at the Super Bowl XXXVII. He was not able to get tickets for that game, however.
He persisted, and succeeded next year on Super Bowl XXXVIII, in Houston, Texas, after the Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show that had included Janet Jackson's nipple being revealed on live television (the infamous "wardrobe malfunction"). Just before the start of the second half, he ran onto the field disguised as a referee, undressed, and performed a little dance wearing only a thong. On US television it is not customary to zoom in on such events (it was seen a day later on The Late Show with David Letterman and can be viewed on many internet sites) but was commented on by Greg Gumbel and Phil Simms as the second half would feature "raw, naked football." Tackled by members of the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers, as well as by police and security, he was taken into custody. In July 2004 he was given a fine of $1000 for trespassing[3]. Because of this incident, he is now denied entry into the United States.
The fact that he wore a tattoo on his back promoting the Internet casino GoldenPalace.com at these events has led many to believe that he was paid a large amount of money by that company to produce a publicity stunt during both American football games.
He had used the referee disguise months before in the 2003 UEFA Cup Final in Seville. Most recently, he streaked during the recent Ashes series.
Roberts planned on retiring by streaking at the 2006 World Cup final in Germany, but was stopped before he entered the stadium.
Later on, in 2007 Roberts ran out on the pitch of Wembley Stadium during the NFL's first regular season game outside of North America between the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins.
The very next year, Mark struck again, this time in the final of the World Snooker Championship 2008 between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ali Carter. He did so previously at the same venue in 2004.
[edit] References
- ^ Mark Roberts, Professional Streaker, accessed 23 November 2007
- ^ "FA Cup Final 2001", Mark Roberts, May 2001. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
- ^ Streaker Avoids Jail, Sky News, 22 July 2004
