As we walked down Whitehall Street in London two weeks ago, my family saw an older man with top hat and dress coat covered front and back with buttons. He offered to pose for pictures with the tourists and then seemed to ask them for money for that privilege.<BR>I vaguely remember hearing several years ago about this "Button Man". Is that his popular name. Who is he? What is his story?<BR>Jim

Al Gore?<BR>

He will have been a Pearly King - see<BR><BR>http://www.pearlies.co.uk/history.htm and many other sites on cockney traditions.

By the way, he will probably have been collecting money for charity.

Thanks for the info on the "Pearlies". The photos on that web site do not quite match the outfit I saw as they seem to be wearing tiny pearl buttons in intricate patterns on their clothes. <BR>I just looked at the picture I took from behind the man we met. <BR>He was wearing dozens of "buttons" like those we put on with a built-in pin to show support for a political candidate or to wear a smiley face (though he had a pattern on the back of his coat which may have been made of pearls). <BR>His hat was very high with many flowers and feathers.<BR>Nothing on the web site mentioned those kinds of "buttons" or showed hats that highly decorated. <BR>Could he be just a "hippie" Pearlie?<BR>Jim

Sounds very much like it ;-)<BR><BR>You're right, that doesn't sound the same, and I've not heard of that type before.