The Naked Rambler: the man prepared to go to prison for nudity

Six years ago, walking naked Rambler Stephen Gough of Land's End to John O'Groats brought him a media celebrity - and a prison sentence. Then another and another, and ... Why was locked up since then?

winter in HMP Perth. The River Tay has ice chips in his journey beyond the prison wall. Prisoners breathing catches in the clouds, while, unfortunately, in the circuit court. At this time of year, many choose not to be affected in its outdoor exercise. The stone corridors of space to sit quietly, 133 men are in the temporary block, while one of them was to meet me. For many of the prisoners who this man is a stranger. Are more likely to see his face in a newspaper on the wings.

Stephen Gough

occupies a parallel universe in HMP Perth. While the prison was moving through their daily program, and other prisoners in workshops or visits, it remains alone in his cell. At 20:30, when the building is closed at night, which is released for 30 minutes. Empty your trash, the messages of his letters and has a shower. If you're lucky, you also have time for a walk, a quick circuit of empty corridors.

This morning, Gough, 52, is on track to meet me, so that the rest of the waiting room behind the door. It was taken from his cell, along the corridor, down the stairs. I hear her bare feet padding on the stone before it became the office.

"Nice to meet you," Gough said politely.

We shake hands and for a while, I was not sure of where to sit. With a sense of duty of a long-term prisoner who is awaiting trial. His body is thin and pale, patched with strands of brown hair. Your penis is suspended in the cold air between us.

Media

Gough called the Naked Rambler. He is serving 657 days for a breach of the peace and contempt of court. The gap was naked HMP Perth after completing a previous judgment. He was taken to Perth Sheriff Court, and represented himself naked. It was contempt. When he returned to prison, the cell was such that he had left - did not bother to pack

last sentence

Gough is his 17th in 10 years. Since May 2006 was a series of short sentences interrupted by fleeting freedom itself: they have actually been in custody for nearly six years for refusing to get dressed. At a recent hearing, it was suggested that it might be in jail for the rest of his life. "People often go to jail for many years," he said, "before others see the light."

I wonder how it is. "Well, you know. You adapt."

So how does an intelligent, friendly, serious, even lost their freedom for their right to be naked? After a stint in the Royal Navy, and a flirtation with the Moonies in Thailand, Gough has spent nearly 20 years in his native country, Eastleigh. He worked as a truck driver and was involved with environmental groups and community life. Then, in 2000, 40, moved to Vancouver for a year with her partner and two children.

"I did not work in Canada," said Gough. "I spent my time watching the kids and hit the road. One day I was walking and something happened." He had an epiphany: .. "I realized that it was good to be British, buried in our education is that we are sick or do - it may be religion, or school, I realized that at a fundamental level, I'm fine, we are all well, and you can count on that part of yourself. "

This self-realization often Gough won the election to be naked in public, whether it was good, then his body was good. "The human body is not offensive," he says. "If this is what we say, as human beings, then it is not rational."

His former partner was "more conservative" and visit his parents proved disastrous. "One morning I came for breakfast naked, and that's everything, everything," Gough said flatly. "The problem was that his parents were not even that bothers me."

The couple returned to Santa Maria together, but Gough went to live with his mother. He arrived in England, he said, with intense satisfaction of what might offer nudity, and questioning "things we're taught to believe they are right." He visited a police station in Santa Maria and asked if it was illegal to walk naked through the streets. "They could not get an answer," he said.

Her bare feet, was the first short-lived. In January 2003, he left his mother's house and went to Santa Maria city center. "Nothing really happened," he says. "There was a man who shouted:" This is disgusting! "But he was eating a sandwich, so I think that's why. Went into the covered market where the police arrived in great difficulty."

For his audition, which was adopted by naturists groups. The BBC said she left naked "a multitude of followers." The photos show a muscular, healthy, radiant Gough on the steps of the court. "I wanted to follow my truth," he recalls, "to keep asking questions."

That summer, Gough left Land's End using hiking boots and a backpack. Their destination was John O'Groats. On his first day of the press ran reports jovial Cornish. In his second, he was arrested in St. Ives, briefly detained and then released. In the outer periphery of the city, was attacked brutally: "A couple of guys who pushed me I was kicked in the head and he did.". Draw the hooked nose. "I thought, is this what is going to be? But in reality, it was the only real problem I had until I get to Scotland. "

On his journey through England, surrounding cities and outside sleeping, Gough was arrested "occasionally" by police. She wore clothing and explain what he did. Officers perplexed, they say, the grass would be off season "in secret, through the back door." Someone in the legal system, which is not to be named later tells me that the English police sometimes keep quiet Gough was a little more than one county.

In Scotland, however, found the strongest opposition. In the northeast corner was picked up repeatedly by police and convicted of violating peace. He spent four months in HMP Inverness, an experience he found "good enough". It was his first experience of segregation. "I thrived and learned a lot about myself. You do this in extreme situations. "

After his release, Gough has launched a final push to John O'Groats. It was a few days of the northern tip of Great Britain when a car stopped and a man jumped. "He said he had read about me and had me up for days. Had a flask of soup and a cake and wished me good luck." Gough reached John O'Groats, January 22, 2004 and the media were waiting. He posed for pictures on the icon displays the personal and warm hotel room gave him a bottle of champagne. "It was a great feeling," he says. "I thought it was the end."

Gough returned to Santa Maria, bought a van and went to Studland, Dorset, a town popular with fans of alternative lifestyle. He tried to write a book on the promenade, but it is beset by a nagging doubt: "I thought it had been compromised Why put on my clothes when the police arrested me I was wrong, but defeated the whole point. ?. "

Doubt grows up to be covered. It would make the trip, this time "no compromise". With his new girlfriend, Melanie Roberts, left Land's End in June 2005.

In any case, England was even easier this time. Photos online show Gough and Roberts naked in the middle of drinkers in bars and shops naked smiling at supermarkets. Relations with police were nothing more than an irritation. "He asked what we were doing, we told them and that generally," said Gough.

again, was in Scotland, who got into trouble. "We took him to Edinburgh," he said. "And I was a little hard then."

For hardcore, Gough means he refused to dress for court and pleaded guilty to a breach of the peace. Roberts, meanwhile, got dressed, pleaded guilty and was in a shelter, while Gough was two weeks in prison Saughton.

Will cause tension between them? "People should do what they want," said Gough. "I am for freedom, so I accepted his decision."

returned to his feet amid growing interest in the media. A team of documentary images captured Gough and Roberts took over a village by a bagpiper. However, Gough recalls as a "carnival atmosphere" led to more problems. Although many Scottish police has decided to ignore Gough in the past, his fame spread more difficult. For police, the mass had been reached when, once again entered the home stretch of their journey.

"It took me again," Gough said, simply. "In the prison of Inverness. Just five months."

Gough and Roberts came to John O'Groats in February 2006. Again, he finished his journey in the colder months of the year. "Pretty cold, but manageable," he said defiantly, insisting temperature is only a problem "when it stops, as it is when you start typing. The trick is to continue. "Local journalists have reported Gough and Roberts walked stoically through" rain. "

them sleep with their clothes in their sleeping bags, said Roberts. "When there is snow on the ground, it is difficult to get out of your sleeping bag, not to mention his clothes, to do a walk of 22 miles."

• made some concessions to the weather. "We wore hats, socks, gloves and hiking boots," says Roberts. "We had a lot of carbohydrates and went quickly. The more we advance towards the goal, the easier it was to forget the cold and pain. "

"There were fewer photographers," Gough said of his second coming to John O'Groats. "And the champagne from the hotel gave me was a miniature."

native

Roberts returned to Bournemouth with hearing dates, it meant that I had to return to Scotland, and with a report that far from the unique atmosphere of the walk, not working. "She felt the cause means more to me than her," said Gough.

Find best price for : --Naked----McCann----Andy----Bournemouth----Roberts----Dorset----Perth----Gough----John----Stephen----Rambler--