DES KAY

Founder of Save the World Club and the Circulatory
and a bit more of his background

With David Attenborough on his 80th birthday.

An entertainer, artist, poet, rapper, sculptor, archivist, enabler and an inspiring educator of the recycling and environmental message. In October 2003 he was invited to 10 Downing Street to meet the Prime Minister in recognition of his work.

Glastonbury and Lily Allen

His music, wacky bicycles and inventive comedy shows have made him well known and loved in the UK Festival scene. He has performed at Glastonbury every year since it began and in 2014 he is featured three times in the Lily Allen video, "As long as I got you" as his Mister Green persona. He is the founding Chairman of the Kingston Green Fair, the UK’s largest one day Green Event.

Professor Kayoss can fix anything. If it can be fixed he will fix it. Professor Kayoss is also an inspiring performer, electrician, mechanic, welder, bonder, stitcher and carpenter. Professor Kayoss prides himself on minimal purchasing with maximum recycling.

Professor Kayoss can find anything. If the R&R world has it, he will know how to find it. Prof Kayoss has supplied half a tonne of usable items to the Kingston College of Art for degree sculpture courses.

Music

Along with the local children of Kingston Professor Kayoss made an album of raps. Download the ‘Save the World Club Rap‘ (Right click on song title and save to your desktop). You can read the lyrics here.

Specialises in environmental shows and cycle displays

Professor Kayoss

Picture: Maggie Pound

Des travels the Country performing his 40 minute environmental comedy show at festivals and events in his Professor Kayoss persona.

The Bicycle Powered Answer to Everything Machine is a family favourite. Mounted on a re-purposed ice cream tricycle, the puppets and machinery come to pedal-powered life to reveal the Answer...

At the recent GREEN ZONE in Kingston upon Thames

Mister Green

Walkabout Mister Green reminds us of our connection with Nature using witty one liners to leave them smiling.

Boris begged Des to help find his ancient Pagan routes - but spoiled it by opting for the political option...

A photo opportunity to create your own image of Mister Green.

Whilst on walkabout at Glastonbury Festival, Des bumped into a video crew who were filming for the new Lily Allen video. Mouthing the lyrics off the idiot board and dancing to the rhythm ,he later wondered if he would be included and end up looking like a total embarrassment to his children for years to come.

As it happened, the 3 shot, 10 seconds worth isn't so bad, which is a good thing now its had over five million views...

Green Police and Glastonbury Festival

Created in 1985 to support the first Red Nose Day by taking red nose prints of Kingstonians, merged onto the Glastonbury scene to encourage recycling of the many squashed cans scattered on the fields, in the nineties. The Green Police grew into a powerful reminder that our responsibility to our planet doesn't end as soon as you enter the fields.

Love the Farm...

Des created a pedal powered sound system from two tandems - working in, err, tandem and our once a day trips up to the Festival's Kings Field transformed a litter strewn sacred space into its pristine origin - in minutes by cajoling the punters to just clear what they could reach.

Des has been part of Glastonbury Festival since 1979 and has performed poems and made announcements on the Pyramid Stage for three of those years, as well as performing shows, walkabout and sculpture installations.

Sculptures and Artworks

All made entirely from stuff rescued from landfill

Shortly before The London Olympics, Des transformed an ugly hoarding along the Olympic Cycle route, down Kingston's London Road, with a 50 foot guerilla art Installation with numerous faces created using found wooden objects. Having expected a short duration as no permission was sought, it remained (with occasional replacements - the results of the rogue souvenir hunters), for four years.

A veteran of London's Thames Festival, Des was commissioned to construct a water themed installation. Powered by a large water wheel, his two life sized puppets represented the relationship between water and the earth.

Kinetic installation commissioned by the last Elephant Fair 1986

Water sculpture for an early water-themed "Green Futures" Field at Glastonbury

Over the years, his installations and structures have appeared at many festivals and events around the country.

My Story - Bicycle Displays

In the seventies, I decided the CND (campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) needed something more than just marching and decided to create a display on my push bike, and constructed this dismantlable bamboo and string CND spiders web with Thatcher's hat bobbing up and down (connected to the pedals) in fear of the Campaign logo spider. I could ride up and down the march for all to see.

I remember waking in a cold sweat realising everyone would be looking at me. I soon got over that and was rewarded with a wave of applause as I moved along the crowd. It set the scene for marches becoming more carnival like - and fun!