Stephen Gough Interview

The Stephen Gough Interview - Cardrona Forest . The Making of the Documentary - Behind the Scenes

This short extract is from a 50 minute "Fly on the Wall" unseen footage documentary shot in Peebles, Scotland. Stephen Gough, otherwise known as the Naked Rambler, was released from HMP Saughton Prison in Edinburgh on Friday October 5th 2012 after an unexpected late transfer from HMP Kilmarnock Prison in Ayrshire. In just 5 days, on Tuesday October 9th 2012, accompanied by a film crew, newspaper reporters, photographers and a logistics support unit from the "Free the Naked Rambler Stephen Gough Facebook Group", Stephen was able to walk the 70 miles, naked, to the English border and cross over at the tiny hamlet of Upper Hindhope, just a few miles to the north east of the major crossing point known as Carter Bar. This episode shows Stephen on his second day of Freedom entering the Cardrona forest car park on Saturday October 6th 2012 after walking 16 miles from his first overnight stay, camping in a field at Auchendinny, a few miles to the south of Penicuik in Midlothian. It was a rude awakening that second morning as Stephen lay in his camp bed. Was that the flies a buzzing or the midges at the gate? No, it was the first day of the partridge shoot season and Stephen hadn't asked the farmer for permission to camp in his field. All hell broke loose around the campfire, as the farmer's men arrived with their shotguns and one very irate gamekeeper thought that we were poachers at first sight, out to get their birds. We eventually managed to calm him down and he let us leave at our own pace in the end. How very different it all could have been if the police were called that day. Stephen would in all probability have been locked up again. This was one afternoon in the life of the infamous Stephen Gough when he stopped for lunch and opened up candidly to the cameramen and reporters about his naked walks, life in prison and his relationship with his family.

In October 2014, exactly two years after Stephen Gough was released from a Scottish prison and allowed to walk naked to his freedom, he was imprisoned again in Winchester Prison in England after breaching his Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO), forbidding him to appear naked anywhere in England and Wales but funnily enough, not in Scotland. The ASPIS Committee was then set up in order to help find an amiable solution to "Addressing Stephen's Problem In Situ." The committee has a dedicated email address, aspis-committee@outlook.com and a UK phone number 07899410337 (texts messages preferred please), for those wishing to respond with offers of assistance and opinion. This video will be replaced by a longer version in the near future. Many apologies for the very short exposure. See the Naked Rambler's support group page on Facebook here facebook.com/groups/freestephengough/