Gregor Edmunds - Background

Background

Edmunds was born in 1977 to Moira and Douglas Edmunds and grew up in the south of Glasgow. Strength runs through the male line. His paternal grandfather, John Morris from Fife is said to have been part of a gang of fervent Scottish nationalists, that included the poet Hugh MacDiarmid, which planned to steal the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey. Such was John Morris' strength that he was to be responsible for carrying the stone, and trained for this task by lifting a heavy steel ingot at his work at the Beardmore forge in Glasgow. The family changed the name from Morris to Edmunds because John was convicted of bigamy and desertion. Gregor Edmunds' great-grandfather, also called John Morris, fought for money in boxing booths. Gregor's father, Douglas was the World Caber Tossing Champion in the 1970s and wrote an autobiography titled "The World's Greatest Tosser". Douglas was also a founder of The World's Strongest Man competition. Despite being immersed in strength sports Edmunds initially asked for a skateboard for his tenth birthday but was given a shot putt. Following in his father's footsteps, he began training for Highland Games events and at the age of 17 he was Junior Highland Games World Champion. Additionally, he studied and completed an HND in Sports Therapy and in October 2008 began a Degree in Strength and Conditioning Science at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham.