Lugodoc's Personal History
1958
Born 15 minutes past midnight on Tuesday, January 28th in Oldham
Royal&
General Infirmary, Lancashire, England, via Caesarean section performed
by Dr Patrick Steptoe.
Lugodoc aged 19 days
Lived with parents over their clothes shop in Union St, Oldham.
1959 (age 1)
Lugodoc
comes 3rd in Beautiful Baby Contest
Holiday with parents in Squire's Gate Holiday Camp, Blackpool.
Broke arm trying to climb over safety gate in flat.
1960 (age 2)
Holiday with parents in Pwllhelli Butlins Holiday Camp, North Wales. It
never stopped raining.
1961 (age 3)
May 10th - moved with parents to detached house in semi-rural
Springhead, near Oldham.
1962 (age 4)
May King at local Sunday School.
1963 (age 5)
Lugodoc at infant school
Started at Springhead County Primary School.
1964 (age 6)
1 week holiday in London with parents, staying at the Garrick Hotel
near Trafalgar Square (managed by a relative).
1965 (age 7)
Lugodoc with his
class mates
1968 (age 10)
Cruise with parents aboard The Nevassa from Tilbury to Madeira,
Gibraltar, Tangier and Vigo.
1969 (age 11)
Lugodoc and
his parents
Went to Rotterdam in Holland with parents for cousin's wedding.
Started at Oldham Hulme Grammar School for Boys in Oldham.
1970 (age 12)
Mediterranean cruise with parents aboard The Queen Frederica from
Cannes to Palma, Bizerta, Messina and Naples.
1971 (age 13)
2 week holiday with parents in Gibraltar.
Lugodoc in
the Lower Fourths
1972 (age 14)
Joined RAF Cadets.
2 weeks school trip to Salamanca in Spain, including...
...1st (& last) bull-fight
...1st pub crawl, followed by
...1st killer hangover
1973 (age 15)
Atlantic cruise with parents aboard The Oriana from Tilbury to Las
Palmas, Teneriffe, Madeira, Casablanca, Malaga and Lisbon.
Lugodoc in
the RAF cadets
Summer camp with RAF cadets at Vulcan long-range nuclear bomber
base, RAF Waddington.
1975 (age 17)
Mediterranean cruise with parents aboard Oriana from Tilbury to
Athens,Izmir, Alexandria and Alicante. Entered the King's Chamber in
The Pyramid of Cheops.
Passed driving test.
1976 (age 18)
Started at Manchester University Faculty of Science studying Nuclear
Engineering.
1977 (age 19)
Volunteered for two weeks in July on archeological excavation of a
Viking settlement at Saevar Howe, Orkney, under Prof John Hedges.
1978 (age 20)
Lugodoc at Lenin's
Tomb, The Kremlin
Russian Baltic cruise holiday with parents to Denmark, Sweden, Norway,
Leningrad and Moscow.
11 weeks Summer job working for European Space Tribology Labs at
Risley.
Visited Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles for first time, with Mum.
1979 (age 21)
Graduation Party
Graduated with 2:1 Honours degree.
Lugodoc in New York
6 weeks back-packing round United States clockwise with school friend
(New York, Washington, Charleston, Orlando, Cape Kennedy, Disney
World, Tallahassee, New Orleans, The Alamo, El Paso, Carlsbad Caverns,
White Sands, Grand Canyon, Hoover Damn, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, CraterLake, Fargo (before the Cohen brothers made it
famous), Boston, New York).
September 3rd - moved to Stevenage, Hertfordshire to start work for
British Aerospace Space Division in the satellite mechanisms
department. First lodgings with a landlady.
1980 (age 22)
Moved to shared house in Hitchin.
Lugodoc in Hong
Kong
5 weeks in December and following January in Hong Kong and Phillipines
with university friend. Stayed with his family in Kowloon Flats.
1981 (age 23)
2 weeks flotilla cruise round Greek islands with friends from work
(Athens, Mycenae).
2 weeks driving around Eire with university friend.
Lugodoc in Trafalgar Square
New Year's Eve in Trafalgar square with friends.
1982 (age 24)
3 days taking notes for the Young Liberal Fact-Finding Mission to
Northern Ireland.
Moved back to Stevenage.
1983 (age 25)
Left British Aerospace.
Lugodoc at Ayer's
Rock
6 weeks solo back-packing round South-East Australia (Melbourne,
Sydney, Brisbane, Magnetic Island, Cairns, Mt Isa, Alice Springs, Ayers
Rock, Adelaide,and Melbourne
again).
Moved to Portsmouth to start work for Marconi Space Systems as
satellite mechanism designer.
Moved from guest house into shared house in Thurbern Rd, North End.
Began kick-boxing.
1985 (age 27)
April 11th - moved into Lambeth House in North End,
Portsmouth as a lodger.
May 29th - bought it off landlady - my first house (and I
lived there until 2010).
Lugodoc on Ben Nevis
2 weeks back-packing round Hebrides with friend (Callanish Stone
Circle, climbed Ben Nevis). It never stopped raining. Resolved to get a
motorbike.
1986 (age 28)
Bought and learned to ride push-bike.
Lugodoc at the Finland/Russian border
3 weeks touring Scandinavia with Trek Europa. Crossed Arctic Circle.
Saw the midnight sun.
1987 (age 29)
Lugodoc snowboards !
2 weeks learning to ski in San Cassiano, Italy, with friends. Did the
Sella Ronda. Both ways.
Bought and learned to ride 80cc Suzuki plastic-pig "motorbike".
Did BMF riding course.
Passed bike test.
1988 (age 30)
Bought 250 cc Honda CB250RS motorbike.
2 weeks biking holiday round Cornwall (Dartmoor, Land's End, Penzance,
Lundy Island).
1st re-enactment with Gallica Iron Age Celtic Re-Enactment Society
at Danebury Ring in Hampshire.
Lugodoc Rocks !
Monsters of Rock at Castle Donnington.
1989 (age 31)
2 weeks biking round Scotland and The Isle of Skye (John O'Groats,
CapeWrath).
1990 (age 32)
1 week skiing in Alpbach, Austria, with friends.
Lugodoc at Gavrinis Tumulus
2 weeks biking round Brittany with friends.
Left Gallica and helped found the Brigantia Iron Age Celtic
Re-enactment Society.
1991 (age 33)
Saw Niagra Falls during business trip to Canada.
1 week driving round Wales with friend. It would have been on the
bikes, but he totalled his and broke his shoulder blade 8 hours before
we were due to set off.
Lugodoc meets Chief Vitalstatistix
Biked to Paris with same (healed) friend for a week's holiday.
Visited "I Celti" ("The Celts") exhibition in Venice.
1992 (age 34)
1 week visiting friends in Paris.
Lugodoc Rocks Again !
Biked to Donnington Monsters of Rock Festival with friends.
1 week biking to Bethesda, Wales to visit fellow re-enactors.
1993 (age 35)
Played druid filming "The Celtic Fury" at Castell Henllys in Wales
(never finished).
Lugodoc at Mae
Dun
Brigantia organises Iron Age Celtic re-enactment at Mae Dun (Maiden
Castle) with fellow Celts for English Heritage.
2 weeks biking round Wales and Anglesey with a friend. Chilled out
at Castle Chaos in Bethesda with Mickey the Punk et al. Suddenly, the
60s made sense.
1994 (age 36)
Met King Arthur.
Lugodoc
& his tribe
Appeared on Saturday night prime-time TV show Barrymore with Brigantia.
First tattoo by Skelly of Labyrinth in Portsmouth.
Appeared in "Ancient Warriors" for the Discovery Channel.
Appeared in "Boudicca" for W.H. Smith.
2 weeks cruising Norfolk Broads with friends.
1 week biking to Northern Ireland to visit friends, including...
...Giant's Causeway
...Saw first ghost in Dublin.
1995 (age 37)
Lugodoc at Stonehenge
February 26th - Initiated as druid of The Insular Order of
Druids of Portsmouth at Stonehenge at dawn, by circle including
Dylan Blight and King Arthur.
March - 1 week in Admiralty Look-Out on Lundy Island with friends.
Bought 535cc Yamaha XV535 Virago.
Biked to Kent Custom Bike Show with friends.
Glastonbury '95. Got the vibe :-)
1996 (age 38)
Paid off mortgage on house.
March - 1 week in Hanmers on Lundy Island with friends.
May 31st - made redundant from Matra Marconi Space after 13 years.
Celebrate with 5 week biking tour of Wales and Ireland, including...
...First sweatlodge with Dongas and Earth First.
October 3rd - created The Virtual Shrine to The
Horned Gods with British internet startup Demon.
1997 (age 39)
1 week in The Castle on Lundy Island with friends.
Started HNC in Computing at Highbury College, near Portsmouth.
Lugodoc performs his first
handfasting ritual
Summer Solstice - performed first handfasting ritual, in the grounds of
The Hampshire Bowman.
Attended AHWW werewolf convention (Howl) in Aberystwyth in Wales.
1998 (age 40)
Completed HNC.
Lugodoc does The Time Warp again
The Rocky Horror Show hits Southampton, starring Nicholas Parsons.
Began work at Wessex Technology in Portsmouth.
1999 (age 41)
Resigned from Wessex Technology.
Started work at Philips Semiconductors in Southampton.
Lugodoc at Men-An-Tol
Biked on Brigantia expedition to Cornwall for the total eclipse of
August 11th. Total cloud cover, but got interviewed on Sky TV.
Performed second handfasting ritual.
2000 (age 42)
February/March - 1 month in Taiwan working for Philips.
Summer Solstice - Peace steward at Stonehenge at its first open access
since 1985. What a party !
Performed third handfasting ritual.
It's exactly what it looks like.
...Totally chimped out at Glastonbury
2000.
5 days in Aosta, Italy with Brigantia for Celtica 2000 festival.
2 weeks in Malta with friends from Brigantia, including 1st scuba dive
& 1st jet bike.
Autumnal Equinox around Avebury - including1st piercing (by Jabba,
upper right ear).
Left Philips.
Finally completed Tomb Raider III after 9 months.
Celebrated New Year's Eve in Edinburgh with friends (we blagged our way
into the Moby Concert).
2001 (age 43)
Started learning the didjeridoo.
Main mid-life crisis.
Lugodoc with his parents
at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire
Watched 9/11 live on telly. The 21st century has kicked off..
New Year's Eve in Edinburgh again with Daibh and The Stoke Possy.
2002 (age 44)
Headed 'oop North in February for big family reunion in Ashton-U-Lyne.
Finally tamed my garden by annihilating all the leylandii in it with a
chainsaw.
Spent six
lovely days in May in the French alps around Briancon for Dancliffe's
20th.
Took part with Brigantia in Celtoi 2002 in Saarland, Germany, near The
Hun's Ring.
Enjoyed a particularly pleasant Summer Solstice at Stonehenge with
The Tribe.
Lugodoc at Danebury Ring
On Saturday September 28th Lugodoc took part in the first Anti-Iraq
War March in London with Daibh and Chris and Morgan and Dougal and
Anna. I actually got a photograph of Woody Harrelson!!!.
2003 (age 45)
On Saturday February 15th I took part in the second Anti-Iraq War
March in London with Daibh and Nikki and Chris and Morgan and Dougal and
Anna. It was the biggest demonstration in Britain's history by a factor
of two, and entirely peaceful.
Spent a week in April meeting old friends in Wales.
Lugodoc relaxes in The
Alps
Took part for 5 days in Aosta, Italy with Brigantia for the Celtica
2003 festival.
On Sunday September 28th Lugodoc took part in a Crossing The Bridge
ceremony to scatter his Arch-Druid and friend Dylan Ap Thuin's
ashes at Stonehenge with The Insular Order and many others.
Performed a popular Samhain ritual as Lord Summerisle at
Rachel's Halloween fancy-dress party.
2004 (age 46)
Finally got sick of the long hair in June and asked Daibh to shave my
head.
Tuesday June 8th 10am - successfully photographed the transit of Venus
from my bedroom.
Lugodoc. Stonehenge. Summer Solstice. Dawn.
Made another Summer Solstice pilgrimage to Avebury and Stonehenge, with
Caleb from Arkansas and Anna from London, amongst many others.
Built a Theremin.
Spent a fortnight in Montreal in September with David Dixon.
2005 (age 47)
Finally sold my old motorbike (a Yamaha XV535 Virago). Now I know I'm
getting old.
Ministered my first two funerals, in Littlehampton.
On June 8th on Eastney beach I convened with two of my fellows a
special moot of The Insular Order Of Druids, and we officially
dissolved our order after thirteen years of public ritual and
metaphysics.
On Wednesday June 15th at 5 a.m. local scum torched my 5 year-old
Citroen Saxo! I eventually replaced it with a Seat Ibiza 1.2 12V.
At the Summer Solstice took pilgrims Lucie, Haydn & Pete to
Avebury, Stonehenge & Fakehenge.
Lugodoc in The
Piazza San Pietro
Spent a whole week in October exploring Rome with DD.
2006 (age 48)
Kittens Malkyn & Nyhmrod
born in Paulsgrove on April 1st, and come
to Lambeth House on May 19th.
12 hour Contact rave on Spitbank Sea Fort on August 27th.
Lugodoc in Gran Canaria
One week in
October in Club Tucanes by the Yumbo Centrum on Gran
Canaria.
2007 (age 49)
Showed friends from Arkansas round Avebury, Stonehenge, Portsmouth
& London for a couple of weeks in May.
Took pilgrims Theo & Lucie to Avebury & Stonehenge for the
Summer Solstice.
Played Max's imaginary friend Dave in Cool Banana's short and highly experimental movie The Good
Old Days.
Spent a week in late July in Aosta in the Italian Alps for a friend's
wedding.
Lugodoc on Spitbank
Did the 12 hour Overload with Contact party on Spitbank Fort out in the
Solent. That's me on the right.
Went to a lot of friends' 50th birthday parties.
2008 (age 50)
Celebrated my official half-century on Monday
January 28th
with a lovely meal at The Water Margin
oriental restaurant buffet on
Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth with friends, and the Friday 25th before
that with an evening of merry-making in The Wine Vaults (let us never
speak of it again) finishing on the following Monday with a celebratory
meal up 30 St Mary Axe (that's The Gherkin to you) in London. Fifty eh.
The big
five-oh. Hmmm....
2018 (age 60)
After several years away Lugodoc returns to Portsmouth and, abandoned by Demon, restores The Virtual Shrine to The Horned Gods to cyberspace at a new location www.lugodoc.guru with British internet firm 123-reg.
Return to the
shrine homepage