John Hegley was born in 1953 in Newington Green, and moved to Luton at an early age. After leaving 
school he worked as a bus conductor and social security clerk, until he went to Bradford University, 
teking out his grant by working as a nurse in a local mental hospital. He has worked with two 
children's theatre groups,'Interaction' and 'Soapbox', and began his highly successful career at 
the notoriously tough comedy store in 1980. His first notable media exposure was the John Peel 
sessions (Radio One) with Popticians in 1983/4, with songs about spectacles and the misery of human 
existence. After publishing 'Glad to Wear Glasses' in 1990 another six titles followed filled with 
verse, prose, drawings drama and photographs of potatoes, and the CD/Cassette 'Saint and Blurry'. 
In 2000, John received an honorary Arts Doctorate from Luton University and had his most notable 
live engagement in a women's prison, Medellin, Columbia. 




Greek Translation  
(Greek translation not included)

In the myth
he went to find the minotaur
in the deep-down maze of the cave.
He took a reel of twine,
and a trick to trapse the return trip
to the world of sense and sunshine.
A link
back to the brink.
Sound thinking with resonance
for all – be enticed by new chance 
and challenge
but keep in touch
with your place of origin
Don’t let your past be lost
or it will cost you your future.