Editing Mike Read (section)

==Personal life and ventures==
===Stalker===
Read had a [[Stalking|stalker]] who had changed her name to Blue Tulip Rose Read and believed that she was married to him. Rose was from Welwyn Garden City and her original name was Carol Ballard. She was featured in a 1996 film made by [[Jaine Green]] for [[Channel 4]], entitled ''I'm Your Number One Fan''. The film formed part of Channel 4's "Fame Factor" season, which examined the dark side of fame.{{cn|date=May 2025}} Rose was one of the most candid interviewees in the film. She was filmed as she travelled to the offices of Classic FM, and as she wrote "love letters" to Read.<ref>{{Citation
  | last =Lewis-Smith
  | first =Victor
  | author-link =Victor Lewis-Smith
  | title =I'm Your Number One Fan
  | newspaper =<!-- Current tiitle dates from 2009. -->Evening Standard
  | location=London
  | date =7 October 1996
  | url =https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mbishop/News/funny/vls-fan.htm }}</ref> The film stated that Rose had been writing obscene and threatening letters to Read for many years.

===Politics===
Having spoken three times at [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] conferences, including entertaining guests at a Tory conference dinner in 2006 with a ten-minute political rap,<ref>{{cite news |last= Duff |first= Oliver |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/pandora/could-galloways-party-snub-cause-a-cable-street-riot-418737.html |title= Mike Reads 10-minute rap |work= The Independent |date= 5 October 2006}}</ref> Read said that he was asked to run for the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] nomination for the [[2008 London mayoral election|London Mayoral elections in 2008]].<ref>{{cite news |last= Read |first= Mike |url= http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mike_read/2007/07/im_backing_boris.html |title= I'm Backing Boris |work= The Guardian |date= 17 July 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071218175323/http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mike_read/2007/07/im_backing_boris.html |archive-date= 18 December 2007 |url-status= dead }}</ref> He subsequently announced that he was instead putting his energies behind the ultimately successful candidate [[Boris Johnson]].

On 21 July 2012, Read spoke at the [[UK Independence Party]]'s South East regional Conference in [[Frimley]], where he was also announced as a member of the party.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ukip.org/content/latest-news/2724-mike-read-speaks-at-frimley |title=Mike Read speaks at Frimley – UK Independence Party |publisher=Ukip.org |date=24 July 2012 |access-date=24 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130416085212/http://www.ukip.org/content/latest-news/2724-mike-read-speaks-at-frimley |archive-date=16 April 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Read has since spoken at the UKIP 2012 Annual Conference at [[Birmingham Town Hall]] on 21 September.

Read wrote and recorded a song in support of the party, "[[UKIP Calypso]]", which was released in October 2014 as a single credited to The Independents.<ref name="holehouse">{{cite news |last=Holehouse |first=Mike |title=Get Ukip Calypso to No 1, says Nigel Farage |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nigel-farage/11174130/Get-Ukip-Calypso-with-its-dodgy-faux-Jamaican-accent-to-No-1-says-Nigel-Farage.html |access-date=20 October 2014 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London |date=20 October 2014}}</ref><ref name="mikereadwithdraws">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29722860 |title=Mike Read withdraws UKIP Calypso song|access-date=2 November 2014 |work=[[BBC News]]|date = 22 October 2014}}</ref> An online petition was filed by former Labour borough councillor Richard McKenzie in which he called Read's song 'racist and offensive'.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/petition-calls-mike-read-suspended-7976639|title=Petition calls for Mike Read to be suspended from BBC|last=Davidson|first=Gemma|date=22 October 2014|work=getreading|access-date=1 March 2018}}</ref> Party leader [[Nigel Farage]] endorsed it and called for the party's supporters to download the song. Read adopted a faux-Jamaican accent, but said that it was 'not remotely racist' to do so, saying: 'It's a satire and a bit of fun. It's not terribly serious. It wouldn't have sounded very good sung in a Surrey accent.'<ref name="holehouse"/> Debate over the single featured on ''[[Newsnight]]'', with UKIP spokesman [[Winston McKenzie]], himself of Caribbean origin, praising the song and likening it to adaptations of predominantly black musical styles by [[Elvis Presley]] and [[The Beatles]], although the [[BBC Asian Network]]'s [[DJ Nihal|Nihal]] was critical of it.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Meredith|first1=Charlotte|title=Winston McKenzie Defends The Ukip Calypso In The Most Bizarre Newsnight Debate Ever|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/10/21/ukip-winston-mckenzie-newsnight_n_6019290.html|access-date=26 October 2014|work=[[Huffington Post]]|date=21 October 2014}}</ref> Read withdrew the song from sale on 22 October 2014 and apologised 'unreservedly' for the fact that it had 'unintentionally caused offence'.<ref name="mikereadwithdraws"/> On 26 October 2014, the song reached number 44 on the [[UK Singles Chart]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/meghan-trainor-ties-clean-bandit-for-longest-running-number-1-of-2014-3239/ |title=Meghan Trainor ties with Clean Bandit for longest-running Number 1 of 2014 |access-date=2 November 2014 |publisher=[[Official Charts Company]] |date = 26 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/oct/27/ukip-calypso-fails-to-make-top-40-mike-read |title=Ukip Calypso fails to make Top 40 |access-date=2 November 2014 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date = 27 October 2014}}</ref>

===The Rupert Brooke Society===
In 1999, Read founded the Rupert Brooke Society<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.henleyherald.com/2014/10/06/henley-literary-festival-mike-read-loves-to-sieze-the-day/|title=Henley Literary Festival – Mike Read Loves to Seize the Day|work=Henley Herald|date=6 October 2014}}</ref> of which he was chairman for a few years, as well as editing the society's twice-yearly magazine and creating a museum at [[The Orchard (tea room)|The Orchard]] tea room in [[Grantchester]].

===Charity work===
In 2013, Read and three friends formed the British Plaque Trust, a charity established to commemorate deceased achievers in show business, sport and the general arts by unveiling [[blue plaque]]s on buildings with which they were associated.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} The organisation aimed to act alongside the work in London of [[English Heritage]] who stated that they were "restructuring" their plaque scheme.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}

In the same year, he was one of the event presenters at [[Concert at the Kings]] in All Cannings, Wiltshire.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}