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A British man known as the “Naked Rambler” has lost his legal bid to have public nudity declared a human right.

QWho is the Naked Rambler?

A Stephen Gough, aged 55, a former Royal Marine and truck driver who stands 6ft 3in in his bare feet, although he usually wears boots when he is walking as well as a hat and gloves when it’s chilly.

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QWhy does he walk naked?

A When he was 40 and living in Vancouver he had an epiphany: “I realized on a fundamental level I’m good, we’re all good, and you can trust that one part of yourself.” He also realized that if he was good so was his body and that nudity was nothing to be ashamed of.

QAnd after that?

A He started going to breakfast naked before his relationship broke down and he moved back to Eastleigh, Hampshire in England. He graduated to walking into town naked and then started criss-crossing the country nude.

QWasn’t he arrested?

A Some police forces ignored him, others moved him on and some started to arrest him. But his real troubles began in May 2006 when he stripped off on an aircraft. He was jailed for four months, beginning a cycle of incarceration that has seen him jailed for more than five years since May 2006 — usually for breaking court orders that insist he not walk naked in public. “I [walk naked] because I want to. I don’t know why the police and authorities have such a problem with it. I’m not hurting anybody,” he said in an interview with the Daily Mail.