Sky News is reporting that the man who threw a custard pie (or possibly a shaving cream pie) at Rupert Murdoch--and weathered a punch from Murdoch's wife Wendi Deng--is a British comedian named Jonnie Marbles. Marbles appeared to confirm as much, tweeting "It is a far better thing I do now than I have ever done before #splat" moments before the attack.

So who is this guy? He describes himself on Twitter as an "activist, comedian, father-figure and all-around nonsense." In a blog post under Marbles's byline describing his participation in protests of the UN 2009 climate summit, a bio reads: "Jonnie Marbles is not the real name of this writer, comedian, activist and dad from West London." The Smoking Gun reports his real name is Jonathan May-Bowles, described as "a comedian, of sorts." According to Ad Week, he also runs a blog called Anarch*ish*, which hasn't been updated since February and doesn't feature a single post about Murdoch. (It does feature a lengthy guide to kettling, described by May-Bowles "an exciting and physically challenging new urban sport broke out of the sub-cultures and into the big time."  Meanwhile, here's a video attributed to him on YouTube. Not a pie in sight.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at rgustini at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Ray Gustini