Pop culture echoes
Trigger warning: ⚠️This post touches on my deep pride and love of my loyalist culture and traditions and if this is not of interest or offends you , please feel free to continue scrolling.
Who Do You Think I Am?
It’s a question that divides opinion, and I’m acutely aware that many people’s first impressions of me are shaped by their political, religious, or cultural background. Those impressions are also influenced by the way my life story has been portrayed in my book and across mainstream and social media. I make no secret of my deep and abiding love for my loyalist culture and background. I know that is a deeply polarising issue, but in my experience, most people I take the time to engage with show me the same respect I give them.
See: The Evolution of My Loyalist Identity
The simplest answer, of course, is that I’m John Chambers. But depending on who the question is aimed at , I can be seen in very different ways:
- To some, I’m the bloke who wrote the bestselling book A Belfast Child.
- To others, I’m that loyalist fella who appeared in Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland.
- To republican fanboys and haters, I’m an orange bastard, a planter, a bigot, a racist, a neo-Nazi, they know nothing!
- To many who follow me on X and through my website, I’m a blogger who shares interesting content, epic music, and random banter whenever the mood takes me—often fuelled by copious amounts of alcohol and the occasional spliff.
- To my family and close friends, I’m Stephen
But anyone who takes the time to know me properly will find there is far more to me than the stereotype of a Belfast loyalist with a love of music and popular culture.
What lays beneath
Beneath that exterior, I’m passionate about social justice and deeply curious about history, politics, current affairs, science, and much more. I thrive on deep, meaningful conversation. There are many layers to my character that are not obvious to the casual—or biased—observer. If I’m honest, I see myself as one of the good guys: someone with a deep, and at times painful, empathy for people who have been dealt a hard hand by fate, as I was in my younger years. If you’ve read my book you’ll understand that statement .
Can You See the Real Me?
Although I was christened John Stephen Chambers, after my da and grandda, I’ve always been known as Stephen—with a P—by my family, friends, and the tribal community I grew up in, for reasons lost in the corridors of time.
Throughout my life, I’ve been known by many different names. At times, that caused confusion with official documents and introductions and led to mix-ups at school or later when I entered the job market and had to produce my National Insurance number or passport. Still, the variety of names has added a distinctive twist to my story, making my personal history even more interesting—if occasionally complicated.
The Names That Shaped Me ?
A Boy Named Sue
Apparently, it’s quite common across the UK and Ireland to be known by a middle name, and to be honest I never gave it much thought until I was older and had to show official ID as I entered the adult world. To add to the confusion, I have a younger cousin also called Steven (Pickle), so within the family and community we became Big Stephen and Little Stephen. As a child, my family nick name was Big Bird—not because I was yellow, but because I was tall—and, to my bemusement and annoyance, some of my cousins still call me that. Yes, Linda, I’m looking at you.
Mostly, though, my family call me Our Stephen, and I’m perfectly happy with that.
One of my childhood friends and closest mates, Belfast mod legend Jay McFall, has always called me simply Chambers, and has done so since we were kids growing up in the crazy 80s. I’ve no idea why. Later, when I became a mod and started spending time in the pubs and clubs in the city centre and beyond, most people on the scene called me Chambers too. It became just another name added to the long list I’d collected throughout my life, along with all the bemusement and occasional bewilderment that came with it.
Honouring My Da
As I grew older and wiser, I came to embrace my official name, John Chambers—not just as the name on official documents, but as a way of honouring my da and keeping his memory alive. Over time, it became more than a formality. It became a small but meaningful connection to where I come from and to the man whose name I carry—someone I have missed every day since he died fifty years ago.
To carry on that legacy, I named my son Jude John Chambers, and my brother David did the same with his son, John Chambers.
My dad’s name will live on. Perhaps one day, when I am dust and long gone, a distant descendant tracing our family history will come across my book or this blog post and, for a moment, feel they have found me. Perhaps through these words they will come to know the real me, and understand not only who I was, but where I came from and what mattered most to me.
Link to: Why Are Names Important
London Calling
By my late teens, I had grown weary of Belfast and the chaos that shaped my daily life, so I made the life-changing decision to move to London and start over. There were many reasons for leaving, but at the heart of it was a deep unhappiness with the life I was living and a profound despair at the unending violence and brutality that surrounded me—and Belfast more generally.
I was living in the heartlands of loyalist Ulster, and there was no escaping the sectarian madness that ruled and ruined our daily lives. By then, I had started mixing with and dating Catholics, and that opened up an entirely new universe to me—one that had previously been out of bounds.
That may be difficult for people outside that world to fully understand, but throughout my childhood and teens I had been segregated from my Catholic counterparts. Apart from those I met during my many hospital stays, I had never really socialised with Catholics or had Catholic friends.
I was on a voyage of discovery, and Belfast had become too small for me. So I packed my bags and my dreams, boarded a plane for the first time, and stepped into a new and exciting chapter of my life—a never-ending party fuelled by alcohol and drugs.
See: Why I Left Belfast
Before you go
- Belfast & Meath trip starts tomorrow
Evening all , Im heading home to Belfast tomorrow for the Easter period and hopefully a trip down south to visit my bro and his family in County Meath , depending on a few factors which are out of my control 😜 Belfast will always be my home and although I look forward to visiting … Continue reading Belfast & Meath trip starts tomorrow
A few of my favorite choons about names
- Jolene’ by Dolly Parton
- Sweet Caroline’ by Neil Diamond
- A Boy Named Sue’ by Johnny Cash
- David Watts The Kinks/Jam
- ‘Lola’ by The Kinks
- Eleanor Rigby’ by The Beatles
- Come On, Eileen’ by Dexy’s Midnight Runners
- Maggie May’ by Rod Stewart
- ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ by Janis Joplin
- Layla’ by Derek and the Dominos
- ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ by The Beatles
- ‘Gloria’ by Laura Branigan
- Proud Mary’ by Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Mrs. Robinson’ by Simon & Garfunkel
- Hey Jude’ by The Beatles
- My Sharona’ by The Knack
- The Wind Cries Mary’ by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
- Who Are You’ by The Who
- Ruby Tuesday’ by The Rolling Stones
- Valerie’ by Amy Winehouse
See: 100 Classic Songs With People’s Names in the Title
belfastchildis.com 