Stephen Gough

Stephen Peter Gough (born 13 May 1959), popularly known as the "Naked Rambler", is a British pro-nudity activist and former Royal Marine.

Stephen Peter Gough was born on 13 May 1959 in Southampton, Hampshire, to Nora Evelyn Gough (née Cooper, 1926 - 2017) and carpenter Kenneth Gough (1924 - 1999).

He has six siblings.

In 2000, Gough moved to Vancouver, Canada, for a year with his then-partner Alison Ward and their two children.

One day, he went for a walk when he had an epiphany.

In an interview, Gough explained his sentiments: "I realised I was good. Being British, buried in our upbringing is that we're not good or have to watch ourselves – maybe it comes from religion, or school. I realised that at a fundamental level I'm good, we're all good, and you can trust that one part of yourself."

He concluded that if he was good, then his body was good.

This self-realisation led to him frequently appearing naked in public.

Ward explained: "[Gough] has talked since about having an epiphany, but it’s not something I understand. He went to Canada one man and turned into someone else."

Upon his return to Hampshire, Gough had an intense appreciation of what nakedness could offer.

He said he questioned "things we're taught to believe are right".

He visited an Eastleigh police station and asked if it was illegal to walk naked in the street.

Gough claimed that the police "couldn't come up with an answer".

In 2003 and 2004, he walked the length of Great Britain naked, but was arrested when he did it again in 2005 and 2006.

Since then, he has spent most of the intervening years in prison, having been repeatedly rearrested for contempt of court for public nudity and imprisoned.

He has been convicted of public order offences at least 40 times.

Gough brought a lawsuit in the European Court for Human Rights, arguing that laws requiring him to wear clothing violated his rights to privacy and free expression.

Gough, an ex-lorry driver and former Royal Marine, is from Eastleigh, Hampshire, and is known for walking the length of Great Britain from Land's End to John o' Groats over 2003 and 2004 wearing only boots, socks, a rucksack and a hat.

He was arrested and imprisoned on numerous occasions during the course of his ramble.

In January 2003, Gough embarked on his first naked walk in England.

He headed from his mother's Hampshire home to Eastleigh town centre.

His second Land's End to John o' Groats ramble was in 2005 and 2006 and accompanied by his girlfriend Melanie Roberts (born 1971 or 1972).

It was the subject of Richard Macer's BBC1 documentary, One Life: The Naked Rambler (2005).

He was arrested twice in England, but was almost immediately released.

Upon entering Scotland, he was arrested several times, including an arrest for contempt of court after he appeared naked before a judge.

His website claimed that ordering him to wear clothes for his court appearance "breached Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights" – Right to a Fair Trial.

He claimed that Articles 3 and 5 to 11 had been repeatedly breached by the authorities since he and Melanie had arrived in Scotland.

He served a three-month sentence in Saughton Prison.

The walk was resumed on 12 February 2006, and was completed shortly after on Monday 20 February the same year.

The Guardian newspaper congratulated the couple on completing their journey, stating that they were practising gymnosophy in the tradition of people such as George Bernard Shaw.

Gough was involved with the public nudity advocacy group The Freedom to be Yourself.

Gough was arrested again on 19 May 2006 at Edinburgh Airport after removing his clothes during a flight from Southampton to Edinburgh and refusing to get dressed.

On 25 August 2006, he was given a seven-month jail sentence.

On 9 April 2007, Gough was cleared of charges related to his refusal to dress upon being released into Saughton Prison car park in Edinburgh.

The ruling judge, Isobel Poole, found that there was no evidence of "actual alarm or disturbance", adding "I can understand this conduct could be considered unpleasant to passers-by had there been any but there is a lack of evidence to that effect."

In November 2007, Gough lost his appeal against contempt of court convictions for refusing to wear clothes during his 2005 trial and had another 3 months added to his sentence.

In January 2008, after spending most of the previous 20 months in jail (being rearrested for nudity each time he was released and each time he appeared in court), Gough was released and told that if he went for three months without appearing naked in public he would not be returned to jail for outstanding convictions; two hours later he left the court naked and was immediately re-arrested and subsequently returned to jail.

Gough served his time in Barlinnie Prison and was released on 14 October 2008, when he was again immediately arrested for leaving the prison naked.

On 14 November, he was cleared of that offence on the grounds of insufficient evidence, but appeared in the dock naked and was rearrested in the foyer of Glasgow Sheriff Court.

His claim was rejected in 2014.