Swampy The magistrate passing sentence on him was David Cameron's mother. Swampy was originally from Newbury, Berkshire, the site of the protest over the Newbury bypass, and he then lived with his parents in Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire. Hooper's subsequent fame included an appearance on the BBC comedy current affairs quiz "Have I Got News for You", on 18 April 1997, when he briefly became the show's youngest ever panelist. In 1997, he 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
Newbury bypass the "Newbury Weekly News" (10 March 1996) found that 53% of respondents thought that "work should stop immediately to allow time for alternatives to be tried". Despite the protests, site clearance and road construction proceeded under heavy security provided by the Thames Valley Police led by the Assistant Chief Constable Ian Blair, the Hampshire Constabulary, and private security firms. The road was eventually finished after thirty-four months in November 1998 and now provides a high-speed section of the A34. It cost £104 million, against an original contract price of £74 million. The Highways Agency blamed the cost blow-out on the