"Dedicated to the King of Peterborough " a Peterborough Travel Page by sourbugger

Whilst sourbugger was born here (the city not the bus shelter) in the dim and distant past of 1968, this page is not about me.

The most famous celebrity in Peterborough is without a doubt Nobby the Tramp. He has his own website (ghost written) and has hit headlines all over the world - just try putting Nobby the tramp into google.

My 4-year old Nephew, without prompting started referring to him as the "King" after passing by the shelter several times. Its a refreshing way to look at our class-ridden society, so I will adopt his usage.

The King of Peterborough most recently hit the headlines over supposedly agreeing to play playing in a professional golf tournament. Most of the reporting went something like this :

"A PETERBOROUGH tramp has fooled a newspaper into running a story saying he was playing in a professional golf tournament. The Peterborough Herald & Post's executives had reportedly also agreed to help fund his trip to the North West of Ireland Open at Ballyliffin. Nobby was given a set of clubs earlier in the year and regularly practises his swing behind the bus shelter he calls home. Herald & Post editor of content, Steve Rose, said: "It was an agreement between Nobby and ourselves. We spoke to him in good faith." But Nobby, whose real name is Michael Ross, told The Evening Telegraph he had never expected his wisecrack to make it into print."

This real story, which some believe to be true is that the guy was genuine, but with tickets and everything paid for the paper forgot to send a car for him and so he never went. There are rumours that something maybe organised for him next year.

Taken from hs website which can be found at
www.fisheries.freeserve.co.uk

In one of the more exclusive residential areas of Peterborough lives one of the city's most public figures, Nobby the tramp.

No one seems to know his name (Sourbugger : complete rubbish this bit its Mr Ross) or where he came from, some say he is a fugitive, some say he is on the mafia's hit list, the most popular theory is that his wife died in a fire nearby some years ago and he just wants to be nearby.

(Sourbugger, I believe the reason is that he can no longer face living in a closed environment - after all the local parish council offered him a flat for free, and he refused them)

He first started dossing in his bus shelter home sometime in the early 90's and soon won the affection of local residents who make sure he has warm clothing in the winter and often drop off gifts of food and tobbaco, Christmas day at Nobby's house has to be seen to be believed. The fact that he does not drink and keeps himself to himself is perhaps one of the reasons he is still there, indeed attempts to evict him were met with stiff opposition from locals and now the council has decided to let him stay there and they intend to build another bus shelter.

(Sourbugger : this is no lie, you would not believe the amount of presents he recieves from people at Christmas time, all wrapped up in Christmas paper and left unopened)