'Eight Passion Proteins' is something you are very unlikely to find in bookshops, libraries or indeed anywhere you might expect to buy something to read. It was a pamphlet, self-published and typeset, distributed by the decidedly eccentric Stanley Greene in the West End of London from 1968 onwards, until some time before his death in 1994. Stanley cycled 15 miles each day with his placard (until he was old enough to qualify for free public transport) and was a familiar sight to many Londoners.

His premise was that people think too much about sex, and this is the result of eating too much protein. But he had opinions on many other aspects of what he saw as the decline of society, and frequently updated his pamphlet to include his latest opinions. I once had three versions of it, but now have only one, identified as the 35th variation, 77th thousand (Stanley's own words.) This contains then-contemporary observations on the behaviour of the royal princes and a recent speech by Robert Runcie, then archbishop of Canterbury.

Stanley sold his pamphlets for the cost of production, which varied over time - 5p when I bought the first, 12p and 20p in later years. They are unintentionally humorous, in part because of his unusual use of English - hyphenated euphemisms such as 'married-love' are a particular favourite - and partly because of the bizarre variation in typefaces and style. It seems certain that the book was edited over time using cut-and-paste methods with bits of paper, but Stanley wasn't very consistent in his use of typewriters or the photocopier. There are bizarre variations in size and layout throughout the book, and odd spaces where text has been removed, as well as UNEXPECTED capitalisation.

Stanley was an institution and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the BL has a catalogue record for his work. An online source claims that the Museum of London has every edition - a great thing if it is true. ( )