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When someone's memoir begins with standing up for laughs at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland during the troubles, you know you're in for a rollercoaster ride.
Doug Hudson, long-time announcer for the Gills - will be back in action with the team tomorrow at Priestfield - the folk singer and stand-up comic, did what many of us meant to do during lockdown.
With time on his hands, the self-confessed tall tale teller and troubadour, put pen to paper and wrote a book about his music (and other) escapades, kicking off with his 'Will I make it out of here alive?' anecdote about doing stand-up in the Maze (he did).
Have You Stopped Being Funny? is a memoir packed full of music, memories and mishaps from his early days at school in Medway up to more recent events, and also includes plenty of Gills anecdotes.
Doug, who now lives in Broadstairs, said: "I'd been considering doing it for a number of years but with doing 200 gigs a year I never had the time. So when the pandemic hit it meant there was plenty of time to work on it. I started in March last year and worked on all my scribblings, notes and diaries I'd kept and tried to put together something that wasn't just chronological but had some thread of something running through it.
"It was, I have to say, great fun going over those various stories and getting in touch with people I hadn't seen for ages. I didn't really get stuck but had to decide what would be interesting to any readers with a mild knowledge of folk music, football, travel and comedy."
His folk music days began in the early 70s in Medway, forming folk band Tundra with his ex-Gillingham Grammar School chums and first wife Sue, and whose first recording is, Doug says, a collectors' item today as only 250 were made.
His early days' stories include fellow local boy David Frost opening the grammar school fete in 1963 after being invited by adoring old school headmaster John Hicks, and early gigs at Medway Folk Club - though it missed out on one.
"One hopeful singer/songwriter who turned up for a spot at club was told that the singers' list was full," Doug writes.
"He was touring American 22-year-old Paul Simon. Apparently he took it well and didn't complain too much. It didn't seem to affect his future career."
A developing love for the Gills, and an early position as a steward, Doug can now display, like most fans, an encyclopaedic knowledge of the team's form through the years, including the time when they scored eight goals one weekend, and 10 the next*.
And the first game under floodlights - against Bury on Wednesday, September 25 - which he watched from his back garden in Canadian Avenue. "It was electric... it's still on my mind today."
Being a fan has proved eventful over the years. While doing stand-up in the United Arab Emirates, he was introduced to 'Noddy' who claimed to have scored a hat trick at their first game under floodlights.
Doug wrote: "'Did he really?' I enthused, knowing it to be completely untrue... I wasn't going to ruin his dining out story though I could see the fear of being found out in his eyes. He must have thought his story would never have been questioned in the sands of the UAE."
His position as Gills announcer came about in the mid 80s after a pretty short interview with one of the club's directors, Steve Graham.
Doug writes: "He asked me one question. 'Where do Lincoln City play?' 'Sincil Bank,' I replied. 'OK, you've got the job.'"
Changes behind the scenes meant a change for Doug the announcer.
When Paul Scally bought the club, he told him to do the announcing from the pitch. Doug says he told him: "'I see you as Deadly Doug, running up and down the touchline'...It was a better move for me and I enjoyed being in front of the crowd."
The Gills also cropped up in his personal life, including his wedding to second wife Nicole in 2010 on a Friday when he 'forgot' to tell her their trip to the airport for the honeymoon would include a visit to the ground. "I could have sworn I'd told her we would be stopping in Priestfield on the way to Gatwick..."
His musical exploits are also documented, from gigs at the Medway Little Theatre to travelling to Russia on the Trans Siberian Railway in 1982, playing cricket along the way.
Doug writes: "According to my Thomas Cook International Railway timetable, the train did actually stop at 52 stations for between 10 and 20 minutes. 'That's enough time for a quick game of cricket' I thought... I decided to go in my cricket whites."
He also recounts being asked to perform the Spice Girls' Wannabe while dressed as a minstrel at Leeds Castle - one occasion he had to disappoint his audience.
A round the world ticket for £99 a few years later also left him with a tough decision. "'Do you want to go round the world for £99?' he said to me. I checked my diary and saw that I would have to miss a Wild West Hoedown at the Pentagon in Chatham; the Three Mariners pub in Rainham and a PTA ceilidh in Eastbourne. What would you do?"
His gigs with the Hot Rats, his folk band continuing today, are also well documented, including their biggest gig - the Dranouter Festival in Belgium, with an audience of 80,000 and acts including Sinead O'Connor, The Levellers and Suzanne Vega.
The performance with bandmate Peter Learmouth, however, was at 3am in the beer tent, to 5,000 late night revellers - after an evening of having to (mostly) avoid the performers' free bar.
Long-time performer at the Broadstairs Folk Week, which opens tomorrow, he will be doing a book reading and signing at the Sailing Club in Harbour Street on Monday, August 9 at 11am.
And he will be announcing at the Gills' season opener this weekend.
Bitten by the writing bug, Doug's also now working on a second opus - about his cricket exploits on the Trans Siberian railway.
And no, he hasn't stopped being funny.
The book costs £10.99 on Amazon. Find out more here.
* Gillingham v Southend 8-1 and Gillingham v Chesterfield 10-0 (1986/7 season).
