Swampy

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For the language, see Swampy Cree.

Daniel Hooper, known as Swampy, is a United Kingdom environmental protester, or eco-warrior. He 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, Devon, resisting attempts at eviction by police. Several people took part in the protest, but Swampy was the last one evicted. Swampy 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 Airport, and has also been involved with the Trident nuclear submarine protest camp at Faslane, Scotland. In 2006, Swampy was living with his partner and their three children in a yurt, a dome-shaped tent in 'Teepee Valley', a remote New Age commune near Llandeilo in West Wales.

Swampy's antics were parodied in a Judge Dredd comic featuring "Spawny" who impeded the construction of a "Spaceport" in the same manner as the real-life eco-warrior. The story ends with the construction continuing unimpeded, with Spawny apparently being sealed alive under the concrete foundation.

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