Seasons2019-20Everton News
Speedo Mick gets hero's welcome at Land's End

“Speedo Mick”, the Everton fan who has gained national fame for the admirable charity effort he has undertaken over the past few weeks, has completed his 1,000-mile walk from John o' Groats to Land's End… in his “shreddies”!
Mick Cullen, who has been a regular sight at Everton games for years raising money dressed only in a pair of blue swimming trunks, socks and shoes, braved some of Britain's foulest weather, including storms Ciara and Dennis, and a blown calf muscle to journey the length of the country to raise money for disadvantaged people.
By the time he reached England's south-western most point, escorted by a marching band playing Z-Cars and welcomed by a cheering crowd, as Mick had raised over £300,000.
"Doing it in the winter, obviously in a pair of knickers, is very challenging,” he said on BBC Breakfast, admitting that he had plenty of doubts that he would be able to complete the walk and that at times he was just running on adrenaline.
Mick has raised £30,000 swimming the English Channel and another £50,000 walking from Goodison Park to Wembley in the past, all driven from the desire to do something positive and worthwhile after pulling himself out of his own doldrums.
"For a long time, I was in need of that very same help and support that I am now offering to others,:” he explained.
"I have been the homeless person you see in the shop doorway, the addict, the alcoholic, the hopeless case that had made so many bad decisions that there was surely no way back."
Speedo Mick's long walk may be over but you can still donate to support his efforts here.
Reader Comments (39)
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2 Posted 22/02/2020 at 16:58:47
"Why, what have you heard, read?"
"Nothing, I just know it".
3 Posted 22/02/2020 at 17:01:06
4 Posted 22/02/2020 at 17:09:14
"You just watch. It's going to be all over the papers", he said.
A super-forecaster, no doubt.
9 Posted 22/02/2020 at 17:41:51
10 Posted 22/02/2020 at 17:47:18
11 Posted 22/02/2020 at 18:18:30
12 Posted 22/02/2020 at 18:51:55
I can only imagine the guts and determination it takes to do what Mick has done 'coz I know I ain't got it!
13 Posted 22/02/2020 at 19:04:05
14 Posted 22/02/2020 at 19:08:44
A fantastic achievement.
15 Posted 22/02/2020 at 19:35:57
I've been following Mick's blog lately – the man is a saint! He's replaced big Nev (sorry Nev) as my all time Everton hero! Super Mick!!
16 Posted 22/02/2020 at 19:38:00
17 Posted 22/02/2020 at 19:43:34
Brent #2. Wasn't Tony Marsh was it?
18 Posted 22/02/2020 at 19:48:31
Mark, I'm too big a wimp to have chinned him.
19 Posted 22/02/2020 at 19:49:16
20 Posted 22/02/2020 at 19:53:49
21 Posted 22/02/2020 at 19:54:37
22 Posted 22/02/2020 at 20:21:56
23 Posted 22/02/2020 at 21:37:37
Each day he has made me smile with his antics along the way. From the fantastic landscapes in Scotland to dancing with the Police, Firemen and ladies in the hairdressers.
He has people smiling and enjoying his company the length of the country.
Surely at least a job working for EitC must follow or is he too big a personality for that now?
Take a bow, Mick, a true Everton legend.
24 Posted 22/02/2020 at 21:42:52
Even better that he's a blue.
Well done, Mick.
Let's get those donations to over ٣ mill and see if the red press give any coverage.
25 Posted 22/02/2020 at 21:51:01
“Surely at least a job working for EitC must followâ€.
That's a great idea. How about suggesting that to Everton?
26 Posted 22/02/2020 at 21:51:05
Proper true grit, passion and sincerity, every time. Well done, Mick, you should be made a freeman of the City and you're already part of Everton Folklore.
Well done, Mick, proud to be a Blue Nose!
27 Posted 22/02/2020 at 21:52:54
31 Posted 23/02/2020 at 00:58:16
It's not easy to turn your life around and this guy should be commended and held up as an example.
I salute you, Mick. Well done, sir.
32 Posted 23/02/2020 at 05:01:45
Who draws up the list of nominations? They need a little word in their ear.
33 Posted 23/02/2020 at 06:32:50
A little bit bewildered as to why people would mar it by regaling us with shite like post 2, but I'll gloss over it and raise a glass to a sensational comeback, made by possibly our greatest ambassador.
34 Posted 23/02/2020 at 07:53:26
https://www.gov.uk/honours
35 Posted 23/02/2020 at 10:10:44
36 Posted 23/02/2020 at 11:39:52
He has not only become legendary Nationally, but Globally too, and it can't have done any harm to the brand that is Everton in the process.
Brent, Brian W, Mike G and others, it is a sad but nevertheless true fact, that people generally would rather accept bad news than good news, and it travels faster too.
Mud sticks, and all that, an ill-conceived and erroneous story can do more damage to a person's character, than had it been true and some take an awful lot of convincing that is the case.
Well done Speedo Mick, you will be a hero in my book for years to come!
Makes you proud again to be a Blue.
[BRZ]
37 Posted 23/02/2020 at 14:13:03
Speedo Mick Cullen's completion of his marathon walk and Tyson 'Gypsy King' Fury cleaning up of Deontay Wilder.
Both had to rebuild their lives having been knocked down and left on the canvas with demons dancing in their heads from drug and alcohol abuse.
The physical preparation and pain they went through to achieve their respective goals is already on a higher plain than most people are prepared to commit to.
But the greater achievement both have attained for me is winning the mental battle.
For Speedo Mick, walking to and attending Everton matches throughout the season is chicken feed compared to his north to south walk the length of the British Isles in the depths of a British winter.
I cannot begin to comprehend the mental strength that entails to face such brutal elements.
Fury is the same. Ridiculed, laughed at, dismissed as a loud-mouthed clown, he has shown himself to be not only an extremely talented boxer with the ability to adapt to many a different training regime and fight plan, but a hugely entertaining and decent human being.
Huge, huge respect to them both for what they've achieved in the last 24 hours.
38 Posted 23/02/2020 at 14:24:13
39 Posted 23/02/2020 at 14:32:57
41 Posted 25/02/2020 at 12:13:11
42 Posted 25/02/2020 at 12:16:52
43 Posted 25/02/2020 at 16:37:44
His Speedo's will need a boil wash.
44 Posted 26/02/2020 at 07:55:09
Good putting a link to donate, in article. I have just done so from sunny Portugal!
45 Posted 26/02/2020 at 08:20:48
The man must have raised more than half a million pounds since he started on his mission, and he's earned every penny of it by swimming channels, and walking nearly naked in the rain – especially after having the guts, and the will, to beat his biggest fight, and climb back up from the bottom of the well, a truly fantastic achievement!
46 Posted 26/02/2020 at 08:48:42
47 Posted 27/02/2020 at 06:28:05
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1 Posted 22/02/2020 at 16:43:05