Stephen Peter[2] Gough (born 13 May 1959),[3] popularly known as the “Naked Rambler”, is a British activist and former Royal Marine and prisoner of conscience.[4] In 2003–04, he walked the length of Great Britain naked, but was arrested when he did it again in 2005-06. Since then he has spent most of the intervening years in prison, having been repeatedly rearrested for contempt of court for public nudity, each time within a short period after release. Gough stands 6’4″ tall and has served most of his sentences in Saughton Prison and Perth prision in Scotland.
12 years after being prisonned on numerous occassions, he was finally helped…
On 14 August 2015 Stephen Gough was released from Winchester prison. At around 6:30am he got into a car inside the prison grounds and was transported from Winchester to Sussex. On his release from prison, The Sunday Times described him as a previous ‘prisoner of conscience.’
Daniel Finkelstein wrote about Gough and his practice of unlimited naturism in The Times just before Christmas 2015:
| “ | Our standards of modesty and decency have changed so much and so rapidly that it is hard to believe that they won’t change further, making complete nudity perfectly normal. In anticipating this, Stephen Gough is not dotty, he is just slightly ahead of the rest of us. And when he puts his case to be allowed his nudity, it is hard to resist. The rest of us are the dotty ones, insisting upon dress for which there frankly isn’t a reasonable argument. Yet he should still go to jail. | ” |
In Finkelstein’s opinion: “The refusal of individuals to abide by court rulings is deeply injurious to a free society based upon law, and we have to protect ourselves against it.”
What did he do that was wrong though…. he went for a walk
Any person who stands to state
What they believe and to be their fate
Must have a right to be listened to…
I think that is correct, don’t you?
I am naked, no I am clothed
I am who I want to be, so I’m told…
I like to be naked
I like to be me
I like that I have that choice
It means something…
It’s strange but at the time that Gough was making these walks, the number of naturists I met who were against Gough and his actions were quite numerous and therefore confusing. I actually did not understand their fear – for that was what it was.
“Don’t bring naturism into the public eye! Don’t make an issue about the right to be naked! It is embarrassing and unnecessary!”
Give me a break! I firmly believe that it IS necessary for freedom of attitude, for consciousness and understanding.
If being naked is not deemed to be an act of any form of threat and is not sexually orientated and the individual is not intending any form of infringement on others, what is the ****ing problem?
I guess I shall find out this Summer…:)
My much older departed brother used to like repeating a certain quote I think from Thomas Acquinas.
“Laws are made for man not man for laws.
The laws are at our service. Gough may not be smart but he is a hero.
The opportunity – Naked in London
First go to http://www.naturist.london
I have emailed BN about trying to do in a very small way, what Paris is doing, by allocating a small garden park in the City of London as clothes optional for a short Summer period. This project for me has literally only just begun. I only write this post to suggest that maybe there are areas of parkland close to where you are that also could be suitable and for you to contact local authorities or representatives to discuss providing a clothes optional facility, based upon pre-defined times and dates for the Community.
Again any comments or thoughts would be welcomed
Richard – not only is the law an ass. At the time of Stephen’s convictions from 2005 through to 2011, the court were technically wrong with their basis of illegality. The Metropolitan police commissioner in 2001, when having to”deal” with Vincent Bethell’s arrest clearly stated that public nudity in itself was not illegal nor representing any form of threat to others. Having stated that, the laws or interpretation of the law is different in Scotland. So if Stephen had stayed in England, he should have been free for 6 years of his life.
Which brings me on to another situation/opportunity….
I composed a limerick in honor of Stephen Gough:
A man who walked naked was jailed,
All attempts to keep going had failed,
His refusal to dress
Caused the taxpayers stress,
A “Crusader of rights” he is hailed!
A lot of people disagree with Gough’s tactics. I for one think he is a complete hero.
The law is an ass, and Gough shows this clearly.