HOW OCCUPY TURNED A BIG ISSUE VENDOR INTO THE LORD OF ST PAUL’S
It’s late afternoon on Sunday February 26, 2012. The sun is beginning to set and Jimmy McMahon is standing, shirtless and bearded on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral.
The Occupy camp is in its final days with evictions on the horizon after a protracted battle, both legal and physical, to keep the longest- running Occupy protest in the world going.
Jimmy has been a part of the movement since the occupation began in October 2011 but his links to St Paul’s go back much further – he’s slept rough there for a decade.
But this time things are different. Jimmy has just returned from the Land Registry office in Croydon. In his hands are documents laying claim to his ownership of the land underneath St Paul’s Cathedral.
Meet Jimmy. A rough sleeper. The Lord of St Paul’s. And a Big Issue vendor.
Press photographer and journalist Paul Davey captured the iconic photo of Jimmy on the steps that day as well
