Being King Arthur follows Johnny Rothwell, a former soldier and biker who believes he is the reincarnation of King Arthur – and has spent decades living as him.
His realisation came in 1986, in a friend’s squat in Basingstoke. That same year he legally changed his name to Arthur Uther Pendragon, renounced worldly goods, and rode his motorcycle to Stonehenge in search of Excalibur. On the way back he stopped at a shop where the original sword from the 1981 film sat in the window. The owner would only sell it to King Arthur himself. Rothwell produced his ID and walked out with it.
Since then, dressed in full battle robes and carrying his broadsword, he has fought for truth, honour and justice – from road protest frontlines at Newbury to two failed attempts at Parliament, and years of battles against English Heritage over Stonehenge. By 1998, the five major Druid orders of Britain had named him the Raised Druid King of Britain. He has been arrested thirty times, spent time in nude solitary confinement rather than remove his robes, and eventually won the right for Druids to wear their robes in prison.
He is under no illusions about how he is perceived. His relationship with the wider Druid community has grown complicated over the years – many of the rights he fought for have made others complacent, and some Druid forums now consider him too extreme. At Stonehenge, he has fought for free access to the site, the reburial of excavated bones he views as Druidic ancestors, and successfully convinced the Ministry of Defence to alter plans for new barracks to preserve the path of sunlight at the solstice. “It’s not when Britain needs him most,” he says of the legend, “but when the land needs him most.”
Filmed with exclusive access over the course of a year, Being King Arthur is one of the most unlikely and compelling portraits of modern Britain you will encounter.
