Pints, politics and sport: YouTuber Thogdad tells all about his time as a Durham student

Stephen Ogden, known more commonly as ‘Thogdad’ is one half of the dynamic and popular Thogden YouTube channel. The Thogden channel has over 1,750,000 subscribers and has received over 625,000,000 total views.

From going viral when shouting “this tastes like promotion” to exposing violent hooliganism in Bulgaria, Stephen is a genuine icon of the YouTube football community who needs no introduction to anyone invested in it. Raw, authentic and articulate, he has paved his way to fame by quite simply being himself.

While the channel is owned by his son, Theo, Stephen is a regular contributor. With a cult following behind him, the Thogden channel would not be what it is or where it is without the presence and input of Stephen. Its content focuses primarily on football ; not just talking about the game, but about understanding the intricacies of fan culture, while travelling around the globe to document under covered derbies.

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Before finding fame, Stephen studied economics and politics at Durham University from 1986-1989. A member of St. Hild & St. Bede College, Stephen discovered himself at Durham and developed the confidence to live the exciting and mainstream life he now leads.

From nights out and drinking culture, to sporting prowess and student politics, read on to discover how the man, the myth and the legend was moulded by his experiences at Durham.

Settling in at Durham

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“The eighteen year old Stephen was smart, but very shy – and now I’m on YouTube”. Stephen came to Durham still in his shell and fairly introverted. Already finding it challenging to engage in conversation in large groups, he found his first year challenging at times. Coming from Lancaster in Lancashire, Stephen was something of an outsider as a northerner and having not attended public school was not accustomed to some of the culture at Durham.

However, he soon found his feet and threw himself into college life. “I would be up at 8am every morning – I loved going down for my breakfast, talking to everyone and having a full day lined up for me”. A prominent face in St. Hild & St. Bede college due to his sporting prowess and personable nature, Stephen was quickly a respected figure who grew in confidence and really found himself at Durham.

Nights out

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More into pubs than clubs, Stephen was unfortunately unable to reveal much about Klute’s heyday, but was indeed disappointed to see it shut its doors. Stephen’s favourite pub in Durham was the Dun Cow Inn, located nearby Elvet Riverside. Back in his day, there was a notorious Dun Cow challenge, in which students would attempt to drink every pint across the bar in order, as quickly as possible. Iconic drinks included Green Death (half lager, half cider and a blue shot), while Tetley’s and Newcastle Brown Ale were popular beers of choice. Stephen told me that “the going rate for a cheap pint in a college bar was 66p”. Jealousy is strong.

Stephen would additionally often go and drink with locals in Gilesgate. Having befriended some local mature students during his first year, Stephen spent some time up in the Queen’s Head. Despite this, he told me that “I wish I had immersed myself more in the local community – there was definitely a divide between town and gown”.

On the topic of divide, clashes and violence between locals and students were also more common in Stephen’s day. Stephen recalls an incident he found himself involved in; while he believes that this was an exception and remembers the locals fondly, it is brutal nonetheless.

“There was one night when I got attacked on the way back from an event at the Durham Union, where a bunch of locals met me on the toepath (by the river, between Elvet Bridge and Maiden Castle). One of them launched a boot into my stomach, and I thought, right, this is where I run, and I just outran them. This was an isolated event, but it is indicative of how some of the locals felt about students”.

University and college sport

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Quite the athlete in his day, Stephen represented DUAFC 3’s during his first academic year, playing as a striker. Stephen loved away days; the coach ride back was a particular highlight, as the players always stopped off at a pub in Wetherby for a social. “You’d go in there, someone would order 33 pints of Tetley’s and you’d play some drinking games”, Stephen told me. Drinking rules in 1987 were not too different to in 2024; only drinking with your left hand was a big rule, and if somebody broke a rule “they’d just do a couple of fingers”. Nothing has changed and you love to see it.

However, as he was not allowed to play both university and college football, Stephen dropped out of DUAFC in second year in order to play for Hild Bede AFC, captaining the side in both his second and third year. Stephen was not the only current celebrity in this team, with ex-England test cricket captain Nasser Hussain also featuring. Stephen and Nasser were good friends who bonded over their love of sport. Stephen commends Nasser not just as a university friend but also as someone who inspired self-confidence. This Hild Bede team of the late 80’s featured a talented Nasser up top, who reportedly would score at least twice a game, while Stephen pulled the strings in midfield. Genuine football folklore and heritage. When asked about college rivalry, Stephen said “we didn’t like Hatfield – you always wanted to beat them when you played them”. Iconic.

Student politics

Despite working as a Conservative councillor and describing himself as “somewhere in the middle” nowadays, Stephen was a left leaning political activist back in the day.

Matriculating in 1986 just a year after the end of the miner’s strike, Stephen came into a city adapting to the demise of its traditional mining employment. Making friends with mature local students who had previously been miners, Stephen was galvanised and went down to London to campaign against the policy to eliminate university grants. He also campaigned ardently against the apartheid state of South Africa.

Academic life

While Stephen associates his university days more with his drinking, sporting and political activity, he fondly remembers his degree. “Economics was the subject I was best at at school, and I’ve always loved politics throughout my life so it felt like quite a natural fit”, said Stephen. Stephen applied first, like many of us did, for PPE at Oxford. However, he told us that “Durham was a very close second”. Better off with us anyway, when’s the last time someone from Oxbridge got over 1 million views on anything other than opening their A-level results? Probably never.

Life after Durham

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After graduating, Stephen went on to take a year abroad working and travelling in Australia and South-East Asia. Then, he became an auditor at KPMG in Manchester, where he was quickly transferred to the Moscow office just years after the collapse of the USSR. Encapsulated by Russia, Stephen returned back and opened his own vegetarian café, the first of its kind in the country, after a short stint in New York City.

Upon the birth of his two children, Stephen moved back to the U.K., working as a councillor in Altrincham while running foreign property businesses in Istanbul and Prcanj remotely. In 2013, his son, Theo, set up the Thogden channel. Ever since, Stephen has played an integral role in producing content. Whenever Theo covers a major tournament or game, Stephen is almost always in tow, with his articulate speech and more serious commentary contrasting Theo’s excitable and energetic approach.

Both Theo and Stephen are out in Germany following Euro 2024 at the moment, hoping like the rest of us that it is coming home.

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