So, as you may have seen elsewhere... last week I went down a bit of a rabbit hole, and at the bottom of it, much to my surprise, I found out the true identity of that most elusive of ex-Pulpers, Captain Sleep.
His real name was Terry Baker, and he'd played in a number of bands in the early '80s, in Manchester then Sheffield, before getting involved with Pulp towards the end of 1986.
Sadly Terry died in 2013, while living and teaching in China. However, I'm now in contact with his brother Andy, who seems to be very much up for sharing his story - which, having already chatted a bit, seems to be much more interesting than the thumbnail sketch that we've had for all these years.
Hopefully Andy and I will be able to catch up properly in the near future, and I'll be sure to post here with any updates.
I've updated his Pulp Wiki page with a bit more info too.
Do you know where in China? I was also living/teaching there in 2013.
Not yet, sorry!
And we now even have a photo:
https://pulpwiki.net/Pulp/CaptainSleep
Excellent work, Mark. Look forward to hearing more.
Sad to hear the most mysterious member of Pulp's past is no longer with us, though.
I wonder if he would have been happy to talk about his time in the group in the years before he died.
Yes, definitely bittersweet in that sense. I didn't even pick up a hint of a lead on him while I was doing the book, and only a few bits in the aftermath. If his brother hadn't happened to reply on a Facebook thread a few months ago mentioning his brother Terry was in Mooksie Hoot, I'd never have got anywhere. It's a strange thing - things come to the surface when they want to I guess, which isn't always when we'd choose. Rather like Havenhand getting in touch a few weeks after the book came out!
Quote from: Sturdy on Oct 06, 2026, 08:37 PMYes, definitely bittersweet in that sense. I didn't even pick up a hint of a lead on him while I was doing the book, and only a few bits in the aftermath. If his brother hadn't happened to reply on a Facebook thread a few months ago mentioning his brother Terry was in Mooksie Hoot, I'd never have got anywhere. It's a strange thing - things come to tbe surface when they want to I guess, which isn't always when we'd choose. Rather like Havenhand getting in touch a few weeks after the book came out!
Isn't this all what 2nd editions are for?!
Not in my case!