Meet the Dudley man behind THAT Glastonbury Wolves flag
He’s left the lead singer of Reef star-stuck, been heckled by Billy Bragg and spotted in a festival crowd by Robert Plant. But who exactly is Glastowolf?
For 33 years Glastowolf has been waving the flag of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club high above the crowd at the legendary Glastonbury Festival.
Glastowolf is John Holding, aged 50, from Gornal in Dudley. The former Redwood Avenue resident attended Sycamore Green primary school in his youth, before studying at Mons Hill Secondary School that closed in 1990.
John moved to Bath with his wife and two sons aged 13 and 17, and works for the Ministry of Defence as a project manager.
Every summer however, he leaves his home life behind and makes the pilgrimage to Worthy Farm for five days with his closest friends at Glastonbury Festival. And with him goes his distinctive Wolves flag.
He said: “The first Glastonbury I attended was in 1984, and I have gone to every one since.
“I go with my friends, it’s what makes it fun. But the last few years I have been taking my eldest son who now brings a load of his friends. The group we go with is just getting larger and larger.”
John missed out on a ticket one year, but he simply wrote to Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis with a picture of the flag, and his team let him have a pass instantly.
It was a spark of genius in 1993 that launched the phenomenon that is the Wolves flag at Glastonbury, involving some unlikely household items.
“It all began back when we first started to go to Glastonbury. There was a big group of us from around Dudley, Sedgley and Wolverhampton who were predominantly Wolves fans.
“One thing about Glastonbury is that the crowds are massive, and then maybe you’ve had a beer and nip to the loo or you go to see a band at another stage, then you all get separated. Back then we didn’t have mobile phones, so it was a problem trying to find everyone again.
“One year after we had pitched the tents we had a tent pole left over for some reason. So I tied my Wolves towel I had brought with me to it, and we’d wave it around in the crowd so that our group could find each other again.
See John in action at Glastonbury
