--- This post is adapted from a letter I wrote to a lovely man called Carl, who received my book A Rum Run Awry as a father’s day gift. When I came to write up the story for my blog, I realised that my letter to Carl was close to being the best summary I was capable of writing, so here it is. ---...
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After 96 intense hours, the days leading up to and including Tough Guy 2016 have finally released me from their carnival of madness. I don't have the words to describe them. I really don't. Possibly because I am physically and mentally exhausted, but possibly also because the descriptive potentia...
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Two years ago, I announced on this blog that I was "working on something". Well, it's finally finished - and you can pre-order it right here, right now! It's a 300+ page, fully illustrated adventure diary, written by me and set in the world of Darrell Thorpe's illustrations. And it looks a...
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I've been called a lot of things in my time, but "wrestling, writing stunt-musician" pretty much hits the nail on the head. Although it does sound as though I stand in for real musicians, when a gig is too dangerous... Which, for the record, sounds like my kind of thing. I'm hoping Rob Zombie wil...
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Holy shit. I have just finished three nights wrestling at York Hall, alongside some the greatest names in Lucha Libre. That included Dr. Wagner Jr., El Hijo Del Santa, Cassandro El Exotico, Magnifico, Angel Blanco Jr., Mascarita Sagrada, Ray Man, Zumbi and Heddi Karaoui. It was...indescrib...
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Some of you may have seen the new Frank Turner music video for The Next Storm. After all, it seems to be amassing about 100,000 views per day at the moment! In it, he squares off against CM Punk - the third most 'popular' wrestler in the world today. You know, based on Google stats and whatever. ...
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This weekend, Gay Bum stormed the Great British Tattoo Show and played two sets, including a brand new and never-before-seen-heard-or-written song! During the first set, at the end of a particularly energetic STAY AWAY BEARS!, I dropped to the ground and landed on my head. Unfortunately, due to h...
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This weekend, I had my debut at Wrestleforce, as Surtr and the Sons of Muspell: a team created somewhere in the back of my imagination whilst I was sleeping, and managed - on this occasion at least - by Jack Hammer. Our opponents were Italian Dan and Subject 265 (or Bacon, as he was affectionatel...
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This afternoon, Radio 1 played Love Is Not Control by To Kill a King. A few minutes ago, they played their "hottest song in the world": Distant Past by Everything Everything. As far as I know, those two songs only have one thing in common... Their music video is me beating somebody up. Dist...
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Or: HOW TO PREPARE FOR TOUGH GUY by the Guild of Adventurers The start of February marked four years since I first strode boldly (hobbled like a three-legged, drunken crab) onto the Killing Fields of South Perton Farm, to take part in the original and hardest obstacle race on the planet: Tough ...
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Just before Christmas, I had the ludicrous honour of featuring in a De La Muerte film, made for the new To Kill a King single, Love Is Not Control. I've known To Kill a King (in various forms) for many years, since they played the same Leeds music scene that gave rise to Gay Bum. Why they...
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This Friday was my debut at Lucha Britannia. As far as I'm concerned, London School of Lucha Libre is the greatest wrestling school in Europe and Lucha Britannia is the greatest regular wrestling show (even though it's technically a caberet night) in Europe, too. Having been a student of LSL...
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We started our 2014 travels in Iceland. Land...of ice. And spectacle. It seems only fitting, therefore, that we end it in the total opposite part of the word. The Sahara. By camel. Obviously. Typically, we arrive in a storm. Bad weather follows us around the globe. It's a wind st...
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We break our fast on cakes. That is the Moroccan way. Pancakes, with a side of normal cake...and bread. All smothered in jam and honey. Add to that a steaming pot of coffee and another of mint tea, a yoghurt, a cup of pomegranate, cheese, and a gallon of freshly squeezed blood orange juice...and you...
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Photos from Tough Guy Nettle Warrior 2014 have been popping all over the place over the last fortnight. They first starting appearing on Yahoo News, in which I appeared as part of their Pictures of the Week - alongside a view of the Earth from space: After that, various other pictures ...
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This weekend, the Guild gathered in Perton near Wolverhampton for the madness of Tough Guy Nettle Warrior 2014. We arrived on Saturday and spent the day marshaling: taking charge of an obstacle and ensuring that everybody made it over safely and knew where they were going afterwards. I found myse...
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The last two days have been...uncomfortable. I feel like I have been flayed. The result, however, is staggering. Day Five of My Meatshop Tattoo Having spent much of yesterday transcribing runes, Peter is keen to get as much dotwork done as possible today. In theory, that is great. In pr...
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Today, I am getting tattooed. I don't know the design yet. In fact, there isn't one. Thus, the Guild. I am also in Denmark, in a shop owned by my favourite tattoo artist: a man whose work Vikki and I found entirely independently when showing each other some of our favourite pieces whilst in ...
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Although I lost my rematch with Crazy J, the photographs make it look like I did rather well! [gallery type="rectangular" ids="5150,5156,5149,5151,5152,5153,5154,5155,5157,5158,5159,5160,5161,5162,5163,5164"] Photos by the very talented Jo Gardener....
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On Sunday morning, with hangovers that would kill lesser men, the Guild of Adventures donned our running gear (I made mine by taking a knife to my trousers), wrapped socks around our shoes to keep them on...and strode out onto the Killing Fields of Tough Guy Nettle Warrior 2013... [caption id="at...
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