Mark Robert Pullen

Mark Robert Pullen

Mark Robert Pullen

aka Marko Pulenović

aka Big Pull

aka Mark Ovull

Once Upon a Time

Born 1976 and raised in Rovers-land, industrial east Hull, East Yorkshire, Humberside, England, Great Britain, the UK (all one place).

Educated (quite well) at Thanet Primary and Junior schools, before being educated (extremely poorly) at Andrew Marvel comprehensive industrial hellhole High, Hull.

Fled a fruitless life on income support, and wasting time in various 6th form colleges, in order to seek other forms of informal education.

Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Left for the Middle East in August 1995. Lived on a kibbutz in northern Israel, where secured employment in the banana fields carrying 40kilo bunches of bananas and found fun avoiding donkey-launched Hezbollah rocket attacks in an alcohol-stocked bomb shelter. Left after a month.

Spent the next year living in Tel Aviv youth hostels and working as a construction labourer on various building projects in Israel and the then occupied territories (where it seemed only weird Mancunian Orthodox Jews and their Russian pals were living), before returning to the UK for some respite:

Worked as a seasonal park ranger in Hull (“get your bike out of the paddling pool, you little git!”);

Worked as a ‘sorter’, in an industrial laundrette (“is that a lump of chocolate stuck to that hospital bed sheet?” Oh no…);

Worked as a midnight shift security guard protecting industrial machinery from protestors during the construction of the Newbury Bypass (“Get away from my digger you hippy twat! Come back in half an hour when I’m on my cig break”); 

Worked as a live-in barman in London (“for the hundredth time, no I’m not Irish”).

Relocated to Cape Town, South Africa, in March 1997 with then partner Debbie. 

Became the first white construction labourer in the Cape Province.

Decided a university education could not be put off any longer (one can’t mix cement in the developing world forever).

Back in the Game 

Returned to the UK to study.

The one-year AHEAD Foundation Course at Hull College of F.E. was followed by a three-year BA (Hons) Journalism Degree from JM University in Liverpool.

Employment stints with the Press Association Sport in Leeds, the Hull Daily Mail, The University of Humberside in Hull (now sold, renamed ‘The University of Lincolnshire’ and largely relocated south of the Humber), and ASSCO (Humber) Ltd. shipping agency were followed by a mid-20s’ crisis decision to relocate to Belgrade, Serbia (why not?) in August 2002.

Velkum turist. Vi spik Inglish

Worked on the organisation of several pointless international conferences in Belgrade with the Club of Madrid (who still owe me money, by the way). 

Did some private tutoring that didn’t pan out (‘you what? Present perfect participle? ‘Aven’t gorra clue mate’), before working as part of the editorial team of B92’s English language online news service and providing freelance editorial and proof-reading services.

Joined the CorD magazine (www.cordmagazine.com) editorial team in February 2004, first working as a proof-reader and staff writer, before serving as deputy editor to successive CorD editors Biljana Stepanović, Dragan Bisenić and Tanja Jakobi. 

Appointed Editor-in-Chief of CorD magazine in February 2006.