February 1 – The Luther Blissett Project

AS Manchester miserablist Morrissey once sang “stop me if you’ve heard this one before”, but have you ever heard about the group of artists and social activists from Europe and South America that gave themselves the collective name of “Luther Blissett”? As nom de plume’s go, it’s an odd one, as why a group of international pranksters, hoaxes and general headcases would want to name themselves after the former Watford and AC Milan striker, who was born today in 1958, is anybody’s guess.

When piano and wig enthusiast Elton John sold Blissett from Watford to AC Milan for £1m in the summer of 1983 the striker had just been crowned Europe’s Golden Boot winner and much was expected from the England International. Milan gaffer Ilario Castagner said: “once he starts to score he won’t stop – take my word for it,” in La Gazzetta dello Sport. Unfortunately he would go down as one those players that fell into the ‘so bad they’re good’ category, as a series of misses, including a penalty at the San Siro that nearly left the stadium, caused much hilarity in Italy. Five goals in his solitary Serie A season tells it’s own story.

The main faction of the Luther Blissett Project was an organised network in Italy between 1994 and 1999 that played a series of pranks on the Italian media. Whether it was making up a chimpanzee called Loota who escaped an animal-testing lab to create paintings that were going to be exhibited in Venice, or the story of Harry Kipper, a British conceptual artist who disappeared whilst riding his bike around Europe tracing the word ‘art’ across the continent, Luther was blamed for all sorts.

The final part of the project was the publication of a novel entitled ‘Q’ that sought to show ‘the birth of all that is rotten in modern life.’ It became a bestseller in Italy and was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award when translated into English in 2003.

No one has ever really got to the bottom of why the project chose Blissett as their collective identity. Many believe it to be a statement against right-wing extremists in Italy who singled out Blissett, one of the first black players in Italy, for racial abuse. As for the man himself, he seemed to be fairly bemused by the whole thing, as you can see from his appearance with Baddiel and Skinner’s Fantasy Football League below.

We’ll leave you with the Fight Club-esque motto of the LBP and we’ll be back tomorrow for more tales from days gone by.

“Chiunque puÃ² essere Luther Blissett, semplicemente adottando il nome Luther Blissett”

Or in English, “Anyone can be Luther Blissett simply by adopting the name Luther Blissett.”