Test Match Special - View from the Boundary - Count Binface aka Jon Harvey.

Episode Date: September 16, 2026

Jon Harvey has worked on programmes like “The Thick of It” and “Have I Got New For You” but is best known for performing as the “intergalactic space warrior” who has taken on the likes of Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Andy Burnham and most recently Nigel Farage in by-elections. Harvey also discusses his lifelong love of cricket and TMS including how he modelled his bowling action on Phil Tufnell.

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You can also enjoy a range of our podcasts, ad-free, with an Amazon music subscription. The TMS Podcast, from BBC Radio, So as promise, it's our final view from the boundary of the summer. I can't believe we're actually saying that. And as always, we've had an eclectic mix of guests this year. We had the former head of MI6, the governor of the Bank of England, a comedy impressionist, a Red Rose's World Cup winner, a soap opera star,

and an award-winning journalist. But it's to the world of politics that we turned today. We've represented all Hughes over the years, guests on TMS, Andy Burner and Rishi Sunak, Nigel Farrine, and many others have all been guests, but today we go to the political figure who this summer increased the share of the vote in by-elections by 13,400 percent.

He finished second to Nigel Farage in the recent Clacton by-election with 27% of the vote. It's not bad for an intergalactic space warrior who dresses as a bin. So it's a very warm welcome to Count BinFace, also of course known as a comedy writer and performer John Harvey. Let's love it to have you. I should explain that you're actually here as John.

Yes. And you're not wearing your bin. No, sadly not. Although, as you're saying, I would have fitted very nicely in the holly stand. Well, you would, because people would have just thought you were just out there watching the cricket. Exactly. It's one of the few places I'd be anonymous. Well, I'm hoping maybe next summer for the Aschews you might get a few.

Look, I know you love cricket, but I've got to start, first of all. I mean, what's your life been like over the last few weeks? It's just been meteoric, isn't it? Well, indeed, meteors abound. Firstly, I've got to apologise to my wife, Sarah, who will be listening, because it's actually our wedding anniversary. Today? Today, right now. And we were going to be going for a lovely, crunchy breakfast.

But your esteemed producer, Adam, made the wise call yesterday that the match might not last till Friday. Has she forgiven you? She has. So we've shifted. But I wanted to say, sorry for that. It's just another example. I can't make plans this summer because next thing I know there'll be another by-election. Well, it's quite a do it does demonstrate your love of cricket that actually you've forsaken your, I mean.

Absolutely. It's one of the, it's the only thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what has you been? I mean, you know, did you have any idea? I mean, the McAfield thing was one thing. There you are with Andy Burnham and all that. But the clacked one was a bit different, wasn't it? I mean, with no other senior, you know, people standing and a recognised parties, or whatever, suddenly you get projected, don't you know? People thought you're going to win for a while. Well, that was never going to happen. If you look at the... 10,000 votes you got. He would have had to do... By he we mean, Mr. Farage,

he would have had to do something cataclysmic to overturn it. Because it's such a sort of Brexit-y reform-friendly seat. So I never entertained the idea. I would have quite happily done it. But yeah, it was a perfect storm. Because Makerfield, the thing we'd been faced is sometimes it goes viral when a moment happened. So there was this interview with Sky News. and the chap John Craig interviewed me and didn't know who bin face was which was perfect

because I can say you know do you not who do you think I am look at look at your list and so that went that went crazy online and so bin faced I think was in the ether a little bit and then when Farage called the surprise by election and then the other parties didn't stand I was like nature and politics both abhor a vacuum and and all I did was tweet a joke a three words I said game on night oh and the the newspapers and the media then it basically said it must be a mano abino it's it's been face forage not of course there they ended up being 34 candidates but that's the thing that captured the imagination and you know um when in rome but 10 000 people voted for do i say you or him by the way both i mean you know well i i suppose i'm like a rubbish bruce way in more ways than one in that

i'm not rich uh people start to know who i am like i'm doing this bruce way wouldn't do that and I dress as a trash can. So, yes, it's very much that it's him, really. It does feel like an out-of-body experience because when I put the bin on, the character pours out. It does. It really does. You actually feel as if you are, you are somebody else when you pull the bin on.

A bit. I always think it's like the Jim Kerry movie, The Mask. When I first did it, it was kind of an accident that originally the pan was just to see if it would be fun and just to prove you could still do it, and we could talk about how it all happened. But then once I started doing it, I realized, oh, I could start making jokes and I could start doing songs and sketches and policies and it. And so it just sort of spewed forth organically. And I think that's sort of, there's a bit of heart to it, which I've always loved. And the voice? I don't recognise your voice as being bin face's voice.

Which is, I mean, you've got proper impressionist to be on your show. I'm not the world's best, but some people have said like, have you got like a voice changer in the bin. And I don't, it is literally just me wrecking my throat with this strange voice. It was the first voice I could think of. Yeah. And you do it every time. Yeah. We'll be what to cricket say, but what's in the bin? I mean, is it a comfortable thing to wear?

I mean, what, what do you think? Well, I think it's probably incredibly uncomfortable. But you wander around and you're looking, you're looking all right. Is it, I mean, to put a, is it lined? Is it, is it? No. It's a bin. It's an actual bin.

Nothing inside it to make it. It's horrible. There are some wires at the top because we were trying to, me and my friend Tom, we tried to make a little LED light for the sort of visor, eye thing. But we've never got round to finishing it. And occasionally the wire will fall down during an interview and hit me in the eye while I'm trying to talk to a politician. Apart from that, it's just a bit with a little bit of fishnet stockings in the mouth hole, which I try and see through. Which the visibility is all. It just sits on his shoulder.

Yeah, that's it. That's it. With a sort of children's American football pads underneath. more of that to come up, John. But I mean, you're like a kid in a candy shop here. Because, you know, to come, is it your first day of cricket you said this year? Yeah. Yeah.

Because of cricket every summer. But yeah, this, because of the two by-elections, I haven't had a chance. And I mean, I love Edgbiston. I've been here a couple of times. T-20 finals day in the hollies. You can't beat that. Masked race. Obviously, that's a big thing for me.

Wow. You could be in. I could win that, I reckon. You could be in it now. Exactly. I wonder which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, you'd represent. Whoever wants me. It's like Eurovision, I'm a gun for hire. Do you think anyone would want you? No.

No, you know, word. Maybe the minor counties. Cornwall. Do they get represented in the mascot race? Well, I don't know if they do. But where did it start? I mean, your love of cricket, how do that begin then? Since as long as I can remember, before I had my own memories, I was told I would be playing cricket with my brother in the garden,

taking as long a run up as possible in our small garden, pretending to be Ian Botham. I don't know how I knew. Ian Both must have stuck in a sort of three-year-old's mind. So that was the start in the early 80s. And then we play at school with a bin for a wicket, ironically. Right. A clip of bat.

Do you remember them? Yes, I do. And a wind ball, that kind of thing. And then I remember when TMS hit me, I was about nine years old and my dad would have it on in the car. And when you're not used to cricket, when you're a child, it sounds like gobbledygook. And the applause happens. Why are they clapping? What's going on?

on it's just men talking and then dad would be like no no no you'd stick with this and we'd get home and you put the tv coverage on and then suddenly it clicked in i think it must be the 89 ashes when obviously england were dreadful wasn't too good no but i but then terry alderman was like the most famous man in the world that's right you know and and so it stuck then i i played a bit at secondary school and uh i have an unusual distinction which is um a golden duck is your first ball yes out in an inning yes i was out my first first ball ever in that I was 11 years old. That's just a pointing.

It's, and my own math teacher gave me out, LBW, aged 11. Was it, was it probably out or not? Well, I think it was going down leg. Well, I was 11, but the team was 19 all out. So I think we had this. It's quite harsh to do that, isn't it? Yeah, I think so. First ball you've ever faced?

Yeah, I think a platinum duck, I call it. It's one step up. Yeah. Did you ever get over that or? No, not quite. Well, then the next year, I got into the school team and I was a left-arm spinner. My hero was a certain PCR toughnall.

I even had the little skip in my run-up, which was all modelled on. Did you? Yeah, on Tupper's. Record figures six for 13, including one horrendous P-roller, which I'm still ashamed about, but he's a wicket. And I got 17 wickets, age 12,

and then the next season they didn't pick me, and I still don't know the reason. If Mr. White, the teacher is listing, I'm still waiting. And so I moved into more, like writing in music and maybe that was the better for the team and for me. Yeah, yeah. Apparently modeling on Tuffers though.

I mean there's no other part of Tuffer's life that you've necessarily followed is the path. Thankfully not. He's a Dab Hand at the Art these days. Actually, he is. You know. No, no, he is. And did you go and watch County Cricket or Test Cricket or were a keen enthusiast from that point of view?

Well, on the TV, I mean, my summer holiday. We were lucky then because we could watch it on the telly. It was all on the TV. Even walking around Edgbaston today, you see things like, you know, Warwickshire, winning the Sunday League and even the Sunday League was on Sunday Grandstand and so I'd watch that you know pyjama cricket we'd call it Peter Walker yeah all that kind of stuff

I'd drink it all in and then I remember my first ever match I went to was 96 the Lord's Test England India watching Ather's out after I think five balls naught for one you know it was in the the deepest of the doldre of that era and but

I was hooked you know why what is it about cricket for you that does it then I think there's there's something about, it's the richness to it and there's the towing and throwing and I think also as an England fan who grew up in the 90s

when you're so starved of success, the smallest of joy can make you so happy in a way. I mean, I've written about tough as that match in 97 when he sort of outspun warning. Yes. And he does talk about that. And so he should.

And Devin Malcolm's just walked past. And the game at the Oval against... That meant so much, maybe even more to me as a fan back then than something. But then we've been spoiled by England being quite good. You know, Alistair Cook over, he's ruined it by being, you know, one of the best batsmen of all time. You know, we never deserved that in those days. No. You'll know, you know.

So I remember when we did get those wins, it was so precious. And probably the best moment ever for me was, do you remember, was it the 100th test match at Lourdes in 2000? England played the West Indies. And I think it was it was the only match or one of the only matches, where all four innings occurred on a single day. I went to the day after with my brother, and there was a huge pitch invasion, very rare at Lords. And we found ourselves walking next to Kurtly, Ambrose,

and Courtney Walsh, as they just lost this match. We just want to say, well played. They gave us this look of thunder. Keep away. Yeah, because, yeah, but we were just like cock a hoop. So something, a battenball get, particularly cricket, when cricket is great, like the World Cup finals, know, 2017 and 2019, there is literally nothing like it.

No. But there's also something I suspect that appeals to the sort of comedic side of you about English cricket, isn't they? Because, I mean, we do, we do find fun in the fact that we have been terrible and the awful things happen to English cricket. And somehow that does become an element of fun, isn't it? And it's a sport that likes to take the Mickey out of itself. TMS is classic that some people say it's better during the breaks when the rains on.

He's suddenly the viewing, the listening figures go up because people want, they want to hear about you and cake and the correspondence. And so because it's got this hinterland and other sports are so on the clock, you know, a football match, you can fit it in a little bit. But there isn't that room for the character and the nuance that I think, especially long form cricket can give you. Yeah. Is that your favourite, test matches? Absolutely. I mean, we were just saying, there's something slightly heretical about us having a test match in mid-September. Yeah. August should be sacrosanct for test, in my humble opinion.

But, you know, I know the game's got to move on. But, yeah, when you're here watching, you know, England, Pakistan and it's not full, yes, yes. It is a bit of a worry. Yeah. So, I mean, do you watch the shorter form? Do you go and watch the T20? Do you get the 100?

Do you watch the 100? I try to. I mean, I had tickets for the 100. when before the pandemic and it was all going to be in different grounds there was going to be a game in Beckenham right next to where I was living at the time and I was all set for it and then then obviously COVID happened and after us that we had our first child and moved out to the countryside it hasn't been possible in fact this is such a blizzard of cricket these days that you kind of get lost in it if you asked me who won the hundred this year I'm ashamed of so I couldn't tell you do you who did win though I can't remember no yeah exactly see that's my point I totally agree with you I love all forms of I really do. But there's no comparison between the memories that are created from test matches to the very short form, which is entertainment, it's instant and great. But it is fleeting. And I reckon I can remember something about most of the 400-odd test matches that I've seen, with a bit of a prod these days, perhaps. But not the shorter form. I've enjoyed watching them and commentating on them and they've been exciting finishes. But the game that you put on the telly today looks, very much like the game that you watched yesterday, the day before that, except they're wearing different colours.

That's it. But if it gets people interested in cricket, then that's great. And if an alien came down, I'm not naming names here. They might turn around and say, well, hang on, so you've got a form of the game of cricket where there's a result in a relatively short amount of time what's there to complain about. But I'm the older I get, the more I realise that part of the joy of cricket is nothing to do with the results. And that obviously other cultures might not understand that. A game which is five days long and ends in a draw can be the most thrilling spectacle. And no logic.

If you don't understand cricket, that makes no sense whatsoever. But I think maybe there is this more, whether it's capitalism or Americanisation or whatever it is that people crave a result at the end of a set amount of time that is maybe inevitably pushed us in that direction. Do you feel also that actually, particularly with youngsters, we're kind of telling me that they've all got short, form memories and actually they're thinking well no that's not true because we have a lot of students who listen when they're revising and so on but they keep being told well you know you haven't got the concentration that you used to have or the patients that you used to have it everything's got to be instant instant instant I'm not I'm not sure that's actually totally true actually we're we're saying our students revising they love listening especially when we're away in Australia whatever commentating during the night and there they are listening to test matches I think that's true I think the I think sports fans listen to what's served up to them and I think if they're if there was a test series in August instead of the 100,

I think people would be very merrily enjoying that. Because that's not on, people will enjoy the 100 instead. And it's not something in the 100, still packing out grounds. It's not that it's clearly not a failure. But it's just for me, I think if you're from the generation beforehand, you know, and I sort of wish I'd seen more four-day cricket in the county era when I was when I was a kid. You know, it's not quite what it was, you know, the overseas professionals and how it will.

The big one-day finals. Yeah. Great packing out lords. Yeah, it still happens to an extent. But I guess, again, sport has to move on. But you talk about, you know, attention spans. But one minute, we talk about how fans have got just as long attention spans as ever. But these days, we're as much, the microscope on the players.

And can Harry Brooke? Sure. Keep it. Can you back for a session without playing a silly shot. Yeah. So maybe it's something that's afflicting players and fans. I don't know. You're listening to the TMS.

podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Let's get into comedy, can we? Because that's clearly what you do do. You've written some great programmes and been involved with wonderful things. How did all that start? Were you a bit of a sort of a bit of a pain at school and a bit of a naughty boy and funny?

Or you've always been a funny person? Or is it just something you just kind of switch into? I was an inordinate SWAT at school. You were a classicist, actually, aren't you? Yeah, so I went to university and studied classics and loved it and a lot of bad people in public life have done that. But I loved it and studied actually ancient satire as part of that. So I wanted to find out where jokes came from. And I was brought up on...

Ancient satire? Yeah, sort of juvenile and Persis and Horace and Aristophanes in Athens. And some of the jokes obviously have aged poorly. But some of them, like you think, my goodness me, we're still doing this. the same tricks now. I mean, I was learning about how this writer Juvenile was writing a, supposedly, in a mask form of himself. And 20 years later, I'm kind of wearing a mask myself. I had no idea that would happen. But it all started with sitcoms. My dad and my brother, these are days when in the 80s, we had one TV, but piles of VHS tapes recorded off the telly. And I was just fed a diet of 40 towers, only fools and horses. But then the spicier stuff, the new statesman, Blackadder, you know, the election episode of that. Oh, isn't that hilarious? Standing at the back? All in that accent.

Yeah, exactly. That's the vote I was looking for, effectively. Who would I know? I'd end up being the standing at the back, just stupid-looking stupid party. So that's how it kind of started. It was in the back of my brain. Then I joined the BBC after finishing university

as a sort of tea boy and did various jobs, a bit of a strange couple of years, and then found myself working as a journalist with zero journalistic qualifications in the newsroom. And I didn't enjoy it. And I was like, I love news. Why am I not finding this fun? And so instead, I just wanted to, I could feel the urge to take the Mickey then.

And I happened to meet Armando Junucci at the same time. The legendary producer is like the thick of it. And he was making a series called Time Tumpet at the time where they needed tons and tons of news footage. This is pre-Utube. So where do you get it from? I found a cupboard in the BBC newsroom where the cameramen would stick all the tapes after they'd been filming. And so at the end of a shift on BBC breakfast, I'd nick them. And I'd go up two floors and copy them, like in the old days on my VHS recorder at home.

And then on my days off, watch through these sort of, he'd be like David Cameron visiting ASDA. And just hunting for a funny moment. And then I found this amazing clip of him clocking the camera as he tries to demonstrate that he's wearing this England World Cup bracelet to show he loves football. Yeah. And then it all started from there. So from Armando, then I got slingshotted into comedy and then sort of never looked back. Yeah. And I suppose politics is an easy game, is it, for comedians?

Yes. And well, you know, they make it easy in the sense that I think as the thick of it proved, you know, they're on a hiding to nothing. Yeah. Particularly British politics. There is a wonderful naftness about it, which is so important that we keep, you know, compared to the money that it's like running through, say, for example, American politics. And, you know, it's always been gaff prone and it always will be gaff prone. and so I think people enjoy seeing big figures brought down to size. And so the original point of doing this,

because Count Binhace originally I did Lord Buckethead before I had to rename it. And part of it was just to prove that you still could. And I always thought it was fantastic. I don't know if listeners agree. We are unique as a country to have that moment on election night where whether it's the prime minister or the foreign secretary or a far-right leader are supposed to stand on a stage next to. next to anybody who's been brave enough to put themselves forward.

It's the great level. Suddenly we're the bosses, just for that moment. And they are held to account, part of pun intended. There's still that image of Margaret Thatcher standing alongside Buckethead. That's it. So what happened was, me and my friend Tom, who we were making sort of comedy sketches at university, and he did classics as well.

We are great hobby as finding the worst films ever, like the ones that unintentional genius. And we've been watching these for like 25 years. And we watched this sort of rather shonky sci-fi film from 1984 called Gremloids, which sounds like a cream. It does actually. But it was actually like the first ever Star Wars parody. So three years before Mel Brooks did Spaceballs.

And this character in it is a sort of Darth Vader clone with a bucket on his head. He's only called the leader in the film. It's only in the credits. It says Lord Buckethead. And I just looked it up on IMDB after we'd watch the film, which is not good. And it said, did you know someone dressed up as Lord? buckethead against Margaret Thatcher in 87 and John Major in 92 and we thought wouldn't it be funny to bring him back 25 years later and so when Theresa May called that snap election we

thought let's roll the dice. This is it. Yeah. And what's the process? I mean if you want to, if you actually want to stand in a in a by-election. Are you interested? No, I don't know. I don't think so but if you want to stand as buckethead or bin face or whatever, what is the process? How do you actually go about the actual whole process? of getting into this thing. It's astonishingly simple. To stand for election is really simple. So to do that, so the base level, all you need is 10 people in the constituency to nominate you, to sign your form, 500 quid, so you know, raid your piggy bank. Right. So you know that you've lost that basically. Yeah, well, until the until clacton, I'm in the money. Yeah, exactly. Yeah,

I mean, that's that's on heard. You've actually kept your deposit. Yeah, I mean, on aggregate, I'm down. But, and then that's pretty much it. But, What Tom and I did was we thought it'd be much funnier if BinFace had a party. So there is actually a Count Bainface Party. And the main reason for that is when you get your ballot paper, you'll know when you go into the election. All the independent candidates, it just says their name. You only get the logo if you're a party.

And we were desperate for a lovely little bin to be on the... So you pay your 25 quid subs for the year. And so the Count Binn Face party is a real thing. And so it's not that hard. Have you sort of examined yourself and wondered why you do this? Not enough. Do you know what I'm going? Is this where we're going?

Have you thought, no. Have you thought what is it about dressing up as a bin? I mean, you're not sort of worried in some way about yourself. Oh, yeah, yeah, a bit. Because it is, it is like an out-of-body experience? Is it? Yeah, because I saw Andy Burnham doing PMQs yesterday, and I have to pinch myself that eight weeks ago I was talking to him about nationalising Adele

and renaming H.S. to FFS1. And he was quoting these back at me. You know, yeah. So I think there's, there is a Batman element to it that if I, if it was me like now saying these policies to you, I don't think anyone would give me the time of day. It's about, what does Christian Bail say? It's about if you become an idea, you know, that there's something about bin-faced,

the idea that this alien is occasionally saying sensible things, like he's going to build at least one affordable house. Yes. And then the next minute is saying, I'm going to cut your taxes and raise everyone else's. and price cap croissons at £1.10. And the journalists and other political parties, they kind of love it actually. And I've been so touched, by the way,

with a couple of exceptions, people have really embraced it, including even the police and the councils. They get it and they really want to make it happen for me. Something very British about it, isn't they? I mean, could it happen anywhere else? No, I don't think so. That's why we've had all this attention.

I've had Japan, Australia, Germany. they've all been asking to talk to a bin face because they can't understand why we do it. But I think at a time in which people are wondering what does Britain still do well, this is, we are world leaders in taking the Mickey out of ourselves. Yes, and that's a good thing. Totally. And I think it's wonderful that we can still, you know, there is a point behind it as well that you can lift the lid on hypocrisy

and also the very fact that one in four people in Nigel Farage's constituency would rather be voted, would rather have. as their MP, an alien with a C-fax fixation, I think, says a lot. But isn't it wonderful? Well, it is. I mean, and what's the future? What's the future for a bit and face? I mean, because now, I mean, it might be pushing it to say you're taking seriously, or he is,

but I mean, you kind of are. 10,000 votes? Yes. 27%. Yeah, the only way is up, as Gaz put it. But you're on the way up? Yeah. You're going up.

Your statistic, Mr. Altman earlier, was saying, you know, I'm on the fast track to a thousand percent. Exactly. Exactly. It keeps going at that rate, I mean, which I suppose is unlikely. But I mean, what is, has it changed? From being the original buckethead and bin face and whatever, has Clacton changed it in any way? I think it's the only time when people were starting to try and out me on the internet. So there was that Charles were saying, this is who he is.

And it wasn't me. It was like a strange AI person. It looks sort of one. So no one. I did know what you looked like actually. Well, sometimes... Well, sometimes they'd take a picture of me and put me in clothes I've never worn, which was strange.

And then sometimes they'd find a picture, which was just like, it looked like Jeremy Renner, crossed with Nick Knowles. And I'm like, well, that's not me. So I thought, well, I'll say who I am, so I did a piece in The Times about it. Right. I mean, no, I don't know how many people.

Oh, okay. Well, that's... Of course. I still think nobody in the holly stand's going to pick me out of a crowd. No. So I don't think it's changing a huge amount, but I feel like I've gone from being a rubbish Bruce Wayne to a...

rubbish Tony Stark in that I'm wearing it now in the sense that I say it's me. I'm, hence talking to you right now, you know, so I'm, I haven't really been hiding it, but I think it's, it seems to have gone up a notch, but it's so hard for me to know. The fact that I'm talking to you on view from the boundary means something must have happened. Yes, but it has. It just does connect. And it is, it is, say, it is very British and ridiculous. But when you're on that platform then, you say we've been talking about Andy Burner, about nationalising Adele. I mean, is that actually happening on? on the stage.

I mean, do you actually... The nationalisation. No, that would take time. But when you're talking about... What's their response? Because are they trying to get as far away from you as possible? Because the worst possible picture Andy Booneham could have that night was him standing next to you.

So, I mean, is he kind of... Is he inching away? Are you deliberately shuffling into shot? I've never done that. He didn't, actually. He was really game for it, to be fair. And so he... We had a chat off...

but off stage, as it were. That's when he was, he seemed to know about my policies, as did the Culture Secretary. I was like, what is this happening? This is strange. And then he'd said on the TV, he and the Lib Dem had joked that he alphabetically, Binface and Burnham would be next to each other on the ballot. And so I did say to him, would he do me the, uh, the honor of honoring alphabetical order? And, and so we, he sort of trudged up next. I don't know how much he wanted to be next to me and the man in the fox suit. Wherever a bin is, a fox is sure to follow. And, uh, And so it's serendipity. The best one was when I was next to Boris Johnson in 2019.

And the Washington Post, the paper that covered the Watergate scandal, had the caption next to me as an alien and Boris. And he said, Boris Johnson, brackets, left. Just to make it clear. That's true. But he was very chatty as well. Was he? I spoke to him in Latin.

It's the only thing I thought you'd understand. And, I mean, I, you've got sort of a, I suppose I don't know what's coming up next do you? I mean, are you going to just keep going? What's the objective? What's the aim? The aim? Yes. What is the actual? I mean, everyone has a strategy. Do they? What, don't they? I'm surrounded by 1990s England cricketers. Well, they had a strategy. They had an ambition to play for England. I mean, has been face actually got an ambition? Is he, what is his ambition? Well, his ambition is to conquer every planet in the omniverse and he'll play the game that's at, at hand. So, but how's you can

to do that? Well, he will ideally win an election of some kind. He will. That is your aim. I mean, if he does it, if you vote Bin, you get Bin. And I was on Newsnight and they revealed that MPs apparently have been spending time trying to work out how, if I was elected, how BinFace could be allowed in the chamber. I mean, you think they might have better things to be worried. But they apparently spend parliamentary time debating this. So if it happened, do you remember there was a hand

Angus the Monkey, I think, was it Mayor of Hartley-Paul? So there is a precedent. I mean, even Vladomis Lensky was a comedian. I mean, I'm not in his league. Well, yes, but he was, wasn't it? Look at him now. Yes, poor guy. So there is a nice, yes.

But there is a route. There is a way. It's possible. But I think beyond that, it's to continue to prove that there is a way. It's a, it's a, it's a, the nicest thing I ever received. So a part of the reason I do it is it keeps the flame burning for my brother. That's the thing. Yeah, I think I've come on to that. I mean, you have, you know, there's all this funny side, obviously,

but a fan for all seasons is a completely different kind of thing, isn't it? Yeah, so I wrote a book. What happened was my brother, Dan, who I, we were obsessed, sport, comedy and politics. They upset, we were, we loved all of it. And then he very sadly passed away in 2015. He was only 43. It was undiagnosed diabetes. I found him.

So obviously, things haven't been the same. And my dad also passed away prematurely 10 years before that. So there aren't any men in my family anymore. I'm certainly older than me. And so Dan was a palace season ticket holder. And so for a year I inherited his season ticket. They got to the Cup final in 2016 against Man United. The same thing that had happened in 1990 when he started his journey.

And he'd had 25 years he'd had this seat at the palace. Wow, that all felt very strange. Very odd. And that was they nearly won it again. And since then, they've been winning things, which feels so weird that they're now not useless. It's strange. But I thought, what can I do?

Because I'm a Spurs fan. So instead of maintaining his seat, I spent the money the next year on trying to see as much sport as I could. That included the 2017 World Cup final. And I went to everything, from the snooker to the darts to the World Rubik's Cube Championships. You name it.

I went to it. Is that a good watch? It is. 3.9 seconds. What? They can do it. They can do it 30 seconds, blindfolded. It's incredible. Blindfolded. Blindfolded. Or indeed, a minute with their feet.

Come on. Yeah, yeah, it's mad. But I did all of this stuff in Dan's sort of name. And then it wasn't meant to be a book, but then a publisher said, oh, that sounds like an interesting story. So I wrote about it. But politics was the other thing that Dan loved. And so he's the one in 92. He was like, come on, John, let's go down to the count in Croydon. It'll be great. I was like, no, it won't. But he got me into this. And so Binface is a, it's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's. It's got his soul and the fact that his character loves C-Fax and love joy and this kind of stuff,

it's got, like my brother runs through it like a stick of rock really. Wow. So I'm doing it for him. There's a real personal edge as well as the, obviously, I hope it makes people laugh. I hope it proves that we can still take the Mickey out of ourselves. But yeah, there's a personal thing too. And the other thing which I love is, this is widely felt it would make my day, but one political journalist wrote, I think it was the last general election.

He wrote a tweet which said that, He asked his child, I think he was 10 years old, he said, do you know what happens on election day? And she said, yes, daddy, that's when Count Binface comes. Like a sort of... Like Father Christmas? And I'll take that. Yeah. And now kids are writing my policies.

I had a policy in the Clacton by-election, you know, about energy companies paying for solar panels for everyone. And that was genuinely sent to me by a boy called Jack at age 10. So I asked, I said, can we have that in? He was like, yeah, brilliant. But isn't that amazing that through all that bin-face stuff, there is actually that really strong emotional thread going through it? Yeah, it means it's heartfelt. It meant it was very strange when the buckethead change happened,

when the American producer of that film sort of wanted to own the character. And there was a point when I found myself against Boris Johnson. I invented bin face. It's a Lord, Count, Bucket, Bin, Head, Face. You know, that didn't take me very long. No. But I found myself taking on like a doppelgang of buck. buckethead and people thought that was me. So I was taking on myself as well as Boris. It was very strange.

And so it felt like that I'd like to think that didn't have the same heart that what I've been putting into it has. So now hopefully people know that there's actually, there's a, you know, basically that it's just a kid who loves silly, silly funny. But also, but you've just revealed that BinFace has a bit of a soul actually. But there is something there. There is a soul there. Oh yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, he's for the little guy. guy. You know, he's a he's an outlander. He's like Namibia in the cricket world cup. You know? Having had this conversation, should I look at him with any degree more seriously that I have done in the past or not? No. No. Okay. Hi, that's a fool's error. I can

only disappoint you. But you know, like I think people have loved the fact that out of nowhere, a character that usually gets 0.6% can get over a quarter of the vote. I think it's, I think it's hopefully captured people. I think he's going to do rather well from now on. John, it's been lovely to have met you. It really has. And it has been extraordinary. And I've loved following it.

I really, really have. It really has. It's been one of those crazy things that, yeah, that we can still do. It's fantastic. Thanks for coming. Oh, it's my pleasure. Honestly, this is the honour of my year. Just one thought.

I mean, England? Ash is next year? Well, you've just got back to cricket quickly. I mean, it's been a funny all year for England, isn't it? I mean, I think comedians must have had a field day with what's been going on, on and off the field. What's your thought to it? It's a tailor to Summers. Isn't it? I would love to see this England team be taking on New Zealand. If only this was May, and we had a summer ahead of us.

Because it feels like they're on the straight and narrow now. Again, it feels like another trip that what happened at, was it Trent Bridge with the Ben Stokes thing, now feels like a fever dream that that could actually have happened. It does seem strange looking back at it, doesn't it? Yeah, there's clearly a story yet to come out fully about all that. But maybe England's on the right track. Now, I think everyone was a bit sad that Pakistan weren't putting up much of a fight, but now Razorullah. and if they've unearthed a diamond there and the bowling we've been seeing so far today it feels like maybe green shoots on both sides. You can see him bowling a moment.

We're going to have some lunch. John, thank you so much for joining us. John Harvey. Camp Binface. There we go. A lovely 40 minutes. Thank you so much for coming, John. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. So much sport today and all the goals as they go in up and down the league. This is Five Live Sport.

Little light to the lights and fit to the floor. To bowl him. It's not to stop out. Everyone's standing around the 18th three. Oh, my God! He shows to the center. Go! Do it!

Oh, the right head and the former champion is the extraordinary stuff. He gets on his knees and kisses the turf. Five Live Sports. The home of the world's greatest sporting events. Listen on BBC Sounds. With a subscription to the BBC website and app, You can now get early access to your favorite BBC podcasts. Listen to shows like, You're Dead to Me, In Our Time, Good, Bad Billionaire, and more.

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