Executive Summary

  - Born working-class

  - Bourgeois education

  - Aristocratic taste & appetite

  - Has since become lumpenproletarian

(& proud of it!)

  - Resists wage slavery

  - Subsists on welfare when necessary

(poor man's arts council grant)

  - Gives very good value for money!

(This is the Bottom Line)

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TOWARDS AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL RÉSUMÉ

(dry bones & a little proud flesh,

'a few faint clews & indirections')

****

- 1951 Born a short walk from the grave

of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, in Birchington-on-Sea

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['I have been here before' -Sudden Light]

 

 

was born upon this spinning planet

in a place they call the Isle of Thanet

- early success in fancy dress competitions

- first verse published aged 9

product of post-war baby boom

grew up beneath the shadow of Atomic doom

 

 

- performed in Gang Shows

& school productions, inc.

psychedelic version of 'Alice

in Wonderland' (Press notice:

'the turned-on Dormouse with the

John Lennon look')

- Father, Namur King, died prematurely, aged 53 (same age as Rossetti, above) in 1968, when I was still only 16. In last letter to me wrote:

'Always, cling to your convictions although it will be difficult at times in this cynical & mercenary world and you will find no little adversity in the practice of propounding a belief or adopting an unconventional attitude.' (Namur King)

This invaluable advice has guided me throughout my subsequent life.

- became Vegetarian

- made 2 short 8mm films (long before digital video & YouTube etc)

- expelled from school

for allowing hair to grow...

- 1971 Conducted Anarchist anti-exams campaign

(along with Dr Brian Butterworth et al.)

at University College London. Told by Prof.

Frank Kermode 'this isn't Utopia', asked 'Why not?'...

1973 - became Page 3 pin-up in Daily Mirror!

Look

- (1972 - 5) Attended Stirling University, Scotland,

at time of Queen's visit Demo & subsequent Occupation,

arrested for being 'in clandestine possession of a boat',

(now there's an anecdote!), charge later dropped

dropped acid, smoked dope, ate magic mushrooms etc,

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began meditating...

(never quite finished!)

as long-haired students do or used to,

(also read a lot of books)

studied with Norman MacCaig,

crossed (s)words with Hugh MacDiarmid,

began live performance of own  material

(at various venues), later culminating in hour-long solo shows...

****

Fed at least 5000

as Militant Guerrilla Wholefood Cook

(trained by French Sufi J.C.,

who cooked miso soup & pumpkin pie for John Lennon in Toronto!)

Macrobiotic phase

Started Wholefood Co-op

Planted Trees

Recycled Paper

- Appeared as Extra in Monty Python & the Holy Grail

(together with cast of thousands!) 1975

Over the years, various, impermanent, intimate personal relationships,

(loving & leaving/ being left)

which remain strictly private

- no salacious revelations

or risqué exposés here!

Sorry...

[If it's sensationalist smut you're seeking, try this.]

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from late 1970s

thru 1980s

- Modelled for Life Drawing Classes

(cf. Quentin Crisp)

- Taught English as a Foreign Language

& attempt to write it as such...

Temporary work in Fields, Factories &

Shops, Offices, even door-to-door...

 

Experienced long-term unemployment,

being surplus to requirements

on an over-populated island

1990s Community activism,

started LETS group,

named alternative currency

(In the Cornish town of Falmouth, there are many Palm trees, so I named the new, virtual currency “Palms”

- which neatly refers to the idea of helping hands as well as the so-called, mythical  “Money Tree”)

Nevertheless, remained broke if not quite broken...

wouldn't compete

in the capitalist game

 

failed to achieve

either fortune or fame

 

believed each & all

should be valued the same

 

an anarchist ethic

could well be to blame

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"Unprofitably travelling towards the grave..." (Wordsworth)

 

2001: 50th Birthday

20/02/2002 : Creation Date of Domain Name davyking.com
 

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'man & mobile' (animated self-portrait, October 2005), displaying then-new tech. See  how soon these things date. Wait for the next new thing?

2020 update:

Davy King now lives quietly with partner & young son, creating this website & cultivating garden

"Quietly", though sometimes making rather too much noise for my liking!

I jokingly refer to us as "We 3 Kings"

 

 

Between Bookshelves & Kitchen Sink (March, 2019)

 

With All Love

& Rebellion against Extinction

 Davy King

XXXR

 

Brief Literary Bio

Autobiographics (photos)

Anecdote (Meeting a Famous Man)

A - Z

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(To be continued & expanded...)