Ben Walker

Biography

Ben in full fairy mode in Harrogate before the performance of Iolanthe 2015

Born Benjamin Jonathan Oliver Walker, Ben was an English and philosophy student (though he prefers the term "philosopher poet") who blundered into LOpSoc more or less by accident in his first year, and stayed because he liked the productions' constant use of the word "wherefore". He was the Loremaster for the 2015/16 academic year, which means he was responsible for editing and updating all the pages on here to be more current and "on-message with LOpSoc's new corporate philosophy".

Ben began his PA career searching for personal validation in acid trips of shows like ComedySoc's cross-PA production The Case of the Film Genre Killer and his own stand-up, with limited success. Soon after Genre Killer ended, he and fellow "innocent" first year Katie Giles were poached by HMS Pinafore director Joe Hand (the Inspector from Genre Killer) to screw around in the back of his show, thus beginning a beautiful relationship with Victorian colonial propaganda. Ben then went up to Harrogate with the rest of LOpSoc to be a punk rock fairy - in his words, "if there are three words I want to describe me at all times, those would be the three". There, he made an excellent friend in his cup of tea, which was, to quote " the only thing that didn't have the capacity to hurt me." Building on that success, he then took a short holiday to Anatevka to be the world's worst Bolshevik in LOpSoc's 2016 production of Fiddler on the Roof 2016.

After a pretty successful run in Fiddler, he then took on the role of the Duke and Duchess' valet/servant/pet monkey Luiz in LOpSoc's upcoming summer show The Gondoliers. He hopes his grade 8 coconut playing skills were up to the task. After one run of super tight costume trousers that he was reassured were totally fine (and weren't) he then proceeded to take them to Harrogate for Gondoliers 2016 (Harrogate) to subdue the adjudicators into giving us good marks.

Next, he took on being Koko in The Mikado 2017, where his main duties were complaining about his busted knee, having intensely spiky hair and inserting wrestling references into a Victorian show, which amused him greatly. Half a Sixpence 2017 gave him the chance to have a jaunt to nearly his hometown to play Sid, the Marxist. Once a Marxist... After musing gently on the importance of reminding the people Folkestone is nowhere near as nice as Half a Sixpence makes out, he then re-donned the Sonic hair to play Koko once more on the Harrogate stage for The Mikado 2017, now with the added task of ignoring Katie Giles who had nothing to do but annoy him relentlessly as his creator and therefore boss.

Having graduated, he tried to escape the LOpSoc pull by writing his own stuff at home and pretending not to hear the siren call, but alas, the call of the eternal bobbing and rapture was too great, and he returned to be part of the rugby boy chorus for Patience 2018, as the angriest boy on the squad, who STILL complains about his busted knee.

Fresher Legends

-Not actually scary, a genuinely nice guy

-Apparently he has limbs like Jon North

-Is definitely not dating Katie (... yet)

-Will take anything as a challenge. Do not test the theory.

Major Achievements

• Broke the world record for usage of the word “aubergine” in 5 minutes of regular conversation.
• Former TF2 EU Highlander Open quarter-finalist (thereby proving your headshot skill increases as your amount of friends decreases).
• Has written nearly 150,000 words of terrible prose and poetry in his compilation “Streets Swallow Their Own Tails and Choke”.
• Has almost died twice – once due to appendicitis, once due to some terrible unpleasantness on Burgess Road involving a potato.
• TV celebrity baker Paul Hollywood still believes Ben is a homeless apprentice gas fitter named Dan, whom he gave five pounds to help.
• Partner in crime of Katie Giles, and has never dated her. Not now, not ever. ... until they started actually dating (finally)
• Beautiful Coiffure award for an ungodly amount of hair gel from Genre Killer which was only fully gone five days later and that nobody will ever let go.
• 60% Johnny Depp. (He's very proud of that.)

Past Roles

Show	Role
Patience 2018	Male Chorus
The Mikado 2017 (Harrogate)	Koko
Half a Sixpence 2017	Sid
The Mikado 2017	Koko
Gondoliers 2016 (Harrogate)	Luiz
Gondoliers 2016	Luiz
Fiddler on the Roof 2016	Perchik
Iolanthe 2015	Fairy Chorus
H.M.S. Pinafore 2015	Sailor Chorus