| 2010 |
Gordon Brown, United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, gives evidence to the Iraq Inquiry |
| 1997 |
Tommy Lasorda, Nellie Fox and Willie Wells for Hall of Fame |
| 1996 |
Earl Weaver and Jim Bunning, elected to Hall of Fame |
| 1995 |
21st People’s Choice Awards: Tim Allen wins |
| 1995 |
Estonia Centrumlinkse Coalition party wins parliamentary election |
| 1995 |
Graves of czar Nicholas and family found in St. Petersburg |
| 1995 |
Marc Velzeboer skates world record 3 km short track (5:00.26) |
| 1994 |
Dottie Mochrie wins Chrysler-Plymouth Tournament of Golf Championship |
| 1994 |
Largest milkshake (1,955 gallons of chocolate-Nelspruit South Africa) |
| 1994 |
PBA National Championship won by David Traber |
| 1994 |
Singer Grace Slick arrested for pointing a gun at a cop |
| 1993 |
Boston Celtic Larry Bird undergoes backfusion surgery |
| 1993 |
Fokker 100 crashes at Skopje Macedonia, 81 die |
| 1993 |
Former Washington D.C. Mayor Marion Barry divorces his wife Effi |
| 1993 |
Marlins beat Astros 12-8 in their 1st spring training game |
| 1992 |
Ethic committee votes to reveal congressmen who bounced checks |
| 1991 |
Iraq repealed its annexation of Kuwait |
| 1991 |
Reggie Miller (Indiana) begins NBA free throw streak of 52 games |
| 1989 |
19th Easter Seal Telethon raises $37,002,000 |
| 1989 |
Blains McCallister wins Honda Golf Classic shooting 266 |
| 1989 |
Elly Verhulst runs world record 3000 m indoor (8:33.82) |
| 1986 |
“Today” tabloid launched (Britain’s 1st national color newspaper) |
| 1985 |
New York Islander Mike Bossy is 1st to score 50 goals in 8 straight seasons |
| 1984 |
Supreme Court (5-4): city may use public money for Nativity scene |
| 1984 |
U.S. accuse Iraq of using poison gas |
| 1983 |
Bob Hawke (Labour) defeats Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser (Cons) |
| 1983 |
NSW beat Western Australia by 54 runs to win Sheffield Shield |
| 1982 |
Gaylord Perry (with 297 wins) signs with Seattle Mariners |
| 1982 |
Russian spacecraft Venera 14 lands and sends back data from Venus |
| 1981 |
“Bring Back Birdie” opens at Martin Beck Theater New York City for 4 performances |
| 1981 |
Ice Dance Championship at Hartford won by Jayne Torvill and C Dean (GRB) |
| 1981 |
Ice Pairs Champ at Hartford won by Irina Vorobieva and I Lisovski (URS) |
| 1981 |
Men’s Figure Skating Champions in Hartford won by Scott Hamilton (USA) |
| 1981 |
U.S. government grants Atlanta $1 million to search for black boy murderer |
| 1980 |
Earth satellites record gamma rays from remnants of supernova N-49 |
| 1979 |
Voyager I’s closest approach to Jupiter (172,000 miles) |
| 1978 |
“Hello, Dolly!” opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater New York City for 152 performances |
| 1978 |
Landsat 3 launched from Vandenberg AFB, California |
| 1976 |
British pounds falls below $2 for 1st time |
| 1974 |
“Candide” opens at Broadway Theater New York City for 740 performances |
| 1974 |
Ralph Stewart failed in 2nd Islander penalty shot |
| 1973 |
Yankee pitchers Peterson and Kekich announce they swapped wives |
| 1972 |
Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis leaves Communist Party |
| 1970 |
Edison Theater opens at 240 W 47th St. New York City |
| 1970 |
Nuclear non-proliferation treaty goes into effect |
| 1970 |
SDS Weathermen terrorist group bomb 18 West 11th St. in New York City |
| 1969 |
Gold reaches then record high ($47 per ounce) in Paris |
| 1969 |
Gustav Heinemann elected president of West-Germany |
| 1969 |
Joe Orton’s “What the Butler Saw,” premieres in London |
| 1968 |
U.S. launches Solar Explorer 2 to study the Sun |
| 1967 |
WEDN TV channel 53 in Norwich, CT (PBS) begins broadcasting |
| 1966 |
75 MPH air currents causes BOAC 707 crash into Mount Fuji, 124 die |
| 1966 |
Bob Seagren pole vaults 5.19m indoor world record |
| 1966 |
Player reps elect Marvin Miller, as executive director of Players’ Association |
| 1966 |
U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| 1965 |
1st performance of Walter Piston’s 8th Symphony |
| 1965 |
Ernie Terrel beats Eddie Machen in 15 for heavyweight boxing title |
| 1964 |
Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr., announces a baseball team is moving there |
| 1964 |
Emergency crisis proclaimed in Ceylon due to social unrest |
| 1963 |
Beatles record “From Me to You” and “Thank You Girl” |
| 1962 |
U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| 1960 |
Elvis Presley ends 2-year hitch in U.S. Army |
| 1960 |
Ice Dance Championship at Vancouver won by Denny and Jones (GRB) |
| 1960 |
Ice Pairs Championship at Vancouver won by Wagner and Paul (CAN) |
| 1960 |
Men’s Figure Skating Championship in Vancouver won by Alain Giletti (FRA) |
| 1960 |
Worlds Ladies Figure Skating Champions in Vanc won by Carol E Heiss (USA) |
| 1959 |
Iran and U.S. sign economic / military treaty |
| 1958 |
Explorer 2 fails to reach Earth orbit |
| 1958 |
KDUH TV channel 4 in Scottsbluff-Hay Spring, NB (ABC) 1st broadcast |
| 1957 |
Eamon de Valera’s Fianna Fail-party wins election in Ireland |
| 1957 |
Sergeant Bilko satirizes Elvis Presley (Elvis Pelvin) |
| 1956 |
“King Kong,” 1st televised |
| 1956 |
Mickey Wright wins LPGA Jacksonville Golf Open |
| 1955 |
WBBJ TV channel 7 in Jackson, Tennessee (ABC) begins broadcasting |
| 1954 |
“Girl in Pink Tights” opens at Mark Hellinger New York City for 115 performances |
| 1952 |
Terence Rattigan’s “Deep Blue Sea,” premieres in London |
| 1949 |
Bradman plays his last innings in 1st-class cricket, gets 30 |
| 1948 |
Actor Eli Wallach marries actress Anne Jackson |
| 1948 |
U.S. rocket flies record 4800 KPH to 126k height |
| 1946 |
Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech in Fulton, Missouri; nothing has ever happened in Fulton, Missouri, before or since he spoke there. |
| 1945 |
Allies bombs The Hague, Netherlands |
| 1945 |
Generals Eisenhower, Patton and Patch meet in Luneville |
| 1945 |
U.S. 7th Army Corps captures Cologne |
| 1945 |
U.S. Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Gretchen Merrill |
| 1944 |
1st performance of Walter Piston’s 2nd Symphony |
| 1943 |
Anti fascist strikes in Italy ultimately lead to collapse of Mussolini and Italy’s realignment with the Anti-Fascist Allies, spelling ultimate doom for Hitler’s Germany. |
| 1943 |
RAF bombs Essen, Rhineland, Germany |
| 1942 |
Tito establishes 3rd Proletariat Brigade in Bosnia |
| 1942 |
Dmitri Shostakovich’ 7th Symphony, premieres in Siberia |
| 1942 |
Japanese troop march into Batavia |
| 1936 |
Spitfire makes it’s 1st flight (Eastleigh Aerodrome in Southampton) |
| 1935 |
1st premature baby health law in U.S. (Chicago) |
| 1934 |
Mother-in-law’s day 1st celebrated (Amarillo, Texas) |
| 1933 |
Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims 10-day bank holiday |
| 1933 |
Germany’s Nazi Party wins majority in parliament (43.9%-17.2M votes) |
| 1931 |
Gandhi and British viceroy Lord Irwin sign pact |
| 1928 |
Karl Zuckmayer’s “Der Hauptmann von Kopenick,” premieres in Berlin |
| 1927 |
1,000 U.S. Marines land in China to protect American property |
| 1924 |
Computing-Tabulating-Recording Corp becomes IBM |
| 1924 |
Frank Carauna, becomes 1st to bowl 2 successive perfect 300 games |
| 1924 |
King Hussein of Hedzjaz appoints himself kalief |
| 1923 |
1st old age pension plans in U.S. established by Montana and Nevada |
| 1922 |
“Nosferatu” premieres in Berlin; Vampires of the World Unite! You have nothing to lose but your Crypts—you have a World of Cinema and Television shows and popular cultural immortality (“immortality”, a Latin rooted word = “athanati” in Greek = “undead” in English). |
| 1919 |
Louis Hirsch and Harold Atteridge’s musical premieres in New York City |
| 1917 |
1st jazz recording for Victor Records released |
| 1912 |
Spanish steamer “Principe de Asturias” sinks NE of Spain, 500 die |
| 1910 |
Ramon Inclan’s “La Farsa Infantil de la Cabeza del Dragon,” premieres |
| 1910 |
Stanley Cup: Montreal Wanderers beat Ottawa Senators, 3-1 |
| 1908 |
1st ascent of Mount Erebus, Antarctica
| 1908 |
Rex Harrison, born in England, actor, My Fair Lady, Dr. Doolittle |
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| 1907 |
1st radio broadcast of a musical composition aired |
| 1903 |
Definitive treaty for construction of Baghdad railway drawn |
| 1900 |
American Hall of Fame found |
| 1899 |
1st performance of Edward MacDowell’s 2nd Concerto in D
| 1898 |
Zhou Enlai, Chinese Statesman |
| 1897 |
Mei-ling Soong, Madame Chiang Kai-shek |
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| 1896 |
Italian premier Crispi resigns |
| 1896 |
Italians governor of Eritrea, General Baldissera, reaches Massawa |
| 1894 |
Seattle authorizes 1st municipal employment office in U.S.
| 1893 |
Emmett J. Culligan, founder of water treatment organization |
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| 1877 |
Rutherford B. Hayes inaugurated as 19th U.S. president; he was the First United States President until George W. Bush in 2000 who was neither fairly elected in the popular vote nor electoral college. The real winner of the election of 1876 was Samuel J. Tilden, previously Mayor of New York City and Governor of New York, prosecutor of “Boss Tweed” and general White Hat Good Guy Democrat who promised the restoration of civil order and White Rule in the South after the atrocities of Reconstruction and the War Between the States. President Ulysses S. Grant was suspicious of Tilden and most Republicans were simply unwilling to accept Tilden as President under any conditions. Constitutional collapse was averted, as it was in 2000, by a massive subversion of the constitution and thwarting of popular will expressed through the ballot. The “Compromise of 1877″ led to the Inauguration of the defeated Republican Candidate Rutherford B. Hayes and the withdrawal of United States Troops from the South, returning de facto and de jure power to White Supremacist (formerly Confederate) majorities throughout the South. Samuel J. Tilden retired to endow, build, and develop both Central Park and the New York Public Library. He is one of the unsung heroes of American History. He could fairly easily have started a second Civil War (with New York this time squarely on the side of the South—there were pro-Southern and anti-Union Draft riots in New York during the four year conflict) but instead Tilden accepted the corrupt result of the Compromise of 1877 to avoid the further destruction to which war would inevitably have led. |
| 1872 |
George Westinghouse, Jr. patents triple air brake for trains
| 1871 |
Maria do Carmo Geronimo, Brazilian lives to be at least 126 |
| 1870 |
[B] Franc[lin] Norris, U.S., writer, McTeague, Octopus |
| 1870 |
Rosa Luxemburg, Polish Activist |
| 1869 |
Michael von Faulhaber, cardinal and archbishop of Munich |
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| 1868 |
Arrigo Boito’s opera “Mefistofele,” premieres in Milan |
| 1868 |
Stapler patented in England by C. H. Gould; plain white paper would never be safe again from repeated stabbing and mutilation. |
| 1868 |
U.S. Senate organizes to decide charges against President Andrew Johnson; this was not the only idiotic impeachment trial ever actually held in the United States. The charges against Andrew Johnson were basically that he was being too kind and lenient to his crushed homeland—the Southern United States, after the failure of Constitutional government led to secession and “Civil War” between the States in 1861-65. As preposterous and unjust as the charges against Johnson were, the charges against William Jefferson Clinton tried in January-February 1999 were even stupider, arising from the President’s dalliance with White House Intern named Monica Lewinsky. The people of the world for the most part simply looked at the idiots who put Clinton on trial and shook their heads. The only socially important result of the Clinton Impeachment/Monica Lewinsky trial was that fellatio (female-to-male oro-genital sex) has been generally defined as “not sex” in American culture. This preposterous result rests on the heads of Bill Clinton and his lawyers, and on his wife Hillary, who is now Secretary of State. |
| 1864 |
1st track meet between Oxford and Cambridge |
| 1862 |
Union troops under Brigadier-General Wright occupy Fernandina (on Amelia Island), in far Northeast Florida (Nassau County, north of Jacksonville, next to the Georgia Border). Fernandina Island has one of the most bizarre histories in the South, as the site of a “Republic of Pirates” in the early years of the Nineteenth Century and many expeditionary exploits relating to U.S.-Spanish relations and the Independence Movement (and U.S. “Manifest Destiny”) in Mexico, Central, and South America. Amelia Island/Fernandina was a major port for the slave-trade (officially abolished by law, and pursuant to the Constitution, in 1807). |
| 1856 |
Covent Garden Opera House destroyed in a fire; it was rebuilt in order to serve as the opening setting for “My Fair Lady” starring Rex Harrison, born on this day in 1908….. |
| 1856 |
Georgia becomes 1st state to regulate railroads; it is not clear whether General William Tecumsah Sherman violated any of the Georgia State Railroad regulations during his March to the Sea and burning of Atlanta in the fall of 1864, or whether the trains continued to operate pursuant to those regulations at all during the Yankee occupation….. Georgia railroads are shown in the movie “Gone with the Wind” but whether or not this portrayal is accurate no evidence of regulation is used as a plot device. It seems likely that Sherman may have slowed railroad commerce in Georgia appreciably, thus defeating the purpose of the regulations. |
| 1849 |
Zachary Taylor sworn in as 12th president |
| 1845 |
Congress appropriates $30,000 to ship camels to western U.S. |
| 1836 |
Samuel Colt manufactures 1st pistol, 34-caliber “Texas” model—this was during the Texas Revolution, 3 days after the Texas Declaration of Independence at Washington-on-the-Brazos and one day before the Fall of the Alamo on March 6, 1836.
| 1824 |
James Merritt Ives, lithographer, Currier and Ives |
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| 1821 |
Monroe is 1st President inaugurated on March 5th, because 4th was Sun |
| 1820 |
Dutch city of Leeuwarden forbids Jews to go to synagogues on Sundays
| 1817 |
Austen H. Layard, British archaeologist and diplomat |
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| 1807 |
1st performance of Ludwig von Beethoven’s 4th Symphony in B |
| 1795 |
Amsterdam celebrates Revolution on the Dam; Square of Revolution |
| 1795 |
Treaty of Basel-Prussia ends war with France |
| 1783 |
King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski grants rights to Jews of Kovno |
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| 1770 |
Boston Massacre, British troops kill 5 in crowd was the culmination of civilian-military tensions that had been growing since royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768. The soldiers were in Boston to keep order in face of the growing discontent with the heavy taxation imposed by the Townshend acts. But townspeople viewed them not as order keepers but as oppressors and threats to independence. Brawls became common.In 1768, the Commissioners of Customs, who acquired their jobs in Britain and drew their pay from what they collected in America, were so intimidated by the resistance they met in Boston that they demanded military protection. Boston’s fifteen thousand or so residents were clearly the worst malcontents on the North American continent. It was imperative that they be put in their place.
General Thomas Gage (Commander In Chief of the British Army in America) agreed and ordered the regiments (under the command of British Lt. Colonel William Dalrymple), the “14th West Yorkshire Fuseliers,” and the “29th Worcestershire,” to Boston, which would arrive from Halifax in September. Six weeks later the “64th” and “65th” Regiments, with an addition of a detachment of the “59th” Regiment and a train of artillery with two cannon — in all about 700 men — arrived from Ireland to protect the men who collected customs duties for the King of England. To the people of Boston the coming of the troops was outrageous. They had been fighting for years against infringement by Britain of their right to tax themselves.
In one of the most famous and elaborate of Paul Revere’s engravings, Landing of British Troops at Boston, it shows the arrival of the red-coated British troops. Revere wrote that the troops “formed and marched with insolent parade, drums beating, fifes playing, and colours flying, up King Street. Each soldier having received 16 rounds of powder and ball.” Troops of the 29th, unable to secure lodgings in town, pitched tents on the common. The stench from their latrines wafted through the little city on every breeze.
When Colonel Dalrymple requested that all of his men be assigned to the homes of citizens, the Boston council took a firm stand. It declared that citizens were not required to furnish quarters until all the barracks space was filled, and Castle William, in the harbor, had plenty of empty berths. Besides, British Redcoats had already made a deep impression upon Americans during the French and Indian War. These career soldiers were widely regarded as being surly, brutal, and greedy; and no man of any sense was ready to see even one of them put into the house with his wife and daughters.
Governor Bernard, however, had counted upon dispersing the troops into the homes of malcontents as a way of putting pressure upon them. He declared that concentrating soldiers at Castle William would thwart the decisions made in London. The Boston councilmen held firm and refused to budge. Desperate, the governor designated empty factory buildings and small, empty buildings throughout the city to the troops.
Even under normal circumstances the presence of General Thomas Gage’s troops (nearly one for every four inhabitants) would have led to trouble. Now, the imposition of an occupation force on a city already torn with strife, made bloodshed a foregone conclusion.
By 1770 Boston was an occupied town. It had been compelled to accept the presence of four regiments of British regulars. For eighteen months they had treated the inhabitants with insolence, posted sentries in front of public offices, engaged in street fights with the town boys, and used the Boston Common for flogging unruly soldiers and exercising troops (then acting governor, Lt. Governor Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts, refuted these allegations).
It began when a young barber’s apprentice by the name of Edward Garrick shouted an insult at Hugh White, a soldier of the 29th Regiment on sentry duty in front of the Customs House (a symbol of royal authority). White gave the apprentice a knock on the ear with the butt of his rifle. The boy howled for help, and returned with a sizable and unruly crowd, cheifly boys and youths, and, pointing at White, said, “There’s the son of a bitch that knocked me down!” Someone rang the bells in a nearby church. This action drew more people into the street. The sentry found himself confronting an angry mob. He stood his ground and called for the main guard. Six men, led by a corporal, responded. They were soon joined by the officer on duty, Captain John Preston of the “29th,” with guns unloaded but with fixed bayonets, to White’s relief.
The crowd soon swelled to almost 400 men. They began pelting the soldiers with snowballs and chunks of ice. Led by a huge mulatto, Crispus Attucks, they surged to within inches of the fixed bayonets and dared the soldiers to fire. The soldiers loaded their guns, but the crowd, far from drawing back, came close, calling out, “Come on you rascals, you bloody backs, you lobster scoundrels, fire if you dare, God damn you, fire and be damned, we know you dare not,” and striking at the soldiers with clubs and a cutlass.
Whereupon the soldiers fired, killing three men outright and mortally wounding two others. The mob fled. As the gunsmoke cleared, Crispus Attucks (left) and four others lay dead or dying. Six more men were wounded but survived.
Captain Preston, the soldiers, and four men in the Customs House alleged to have fired shots from it were promptly arrested, indicted for murder, and held in prison pending trial for murder in the Massachusetts Superior Court, which prudently postponed the trial until the fall, thus giving the people of Boston and vicinity from whom the jury would be drawn, time to cool off.
All troops were immediately withdrawn from town. John Adams defended the soldiers at their trials (Oct. 24-30 and Nov. 27-Dec. 5, 1770); Preston and four men were acquitted, while two soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter and released after being branded on the hand.
The calm with which the outcome of the trials was accepted doubtless was attributable in large measure to the evidence at the trials that the soldiers had not fired until they were attacked. But another important factor was the withdrawl of the troops from Boston immediately after the “Massacre.” The sending of British warships and troops to Boston for the protection of the American Customs Board and the “Massacre” resulting from the prescence of troops there were, however, ultimately of great significance in the movement toward the revolution.
The “Massacre” served as anti-British propaganda for Boston radicals and elsewhere heightened American fears of standing armies. |
| 1766 |
Don Antonio de Ulloa takes possession of Louisiana Terr from French, three years after formal transfer of Louisiana West of the Mississippi from French to Spanish ownership in 1763. His governorship was so ineffective and unpopular that there was a rebellion against Spanish Rule in 1768 which exiled Uloa and briefly restored French “Independence” from New Orleans to St. Louis, but this state of affairs lasted less than nine months (October 27, 1768-July 19, 1769) and ended when Irish-Spanish “Wild Goose” Count Alejandro O’Reilly, born in Dublin in 1722, arrived from Cuba with 2000 Spanish troops, arrested, tried, and executed five of the French Leaders of the short-lived rebellion. It was a little known and rare occurrence for the White Creoles of the New World to rise up against their Colonial Masters, and this little episode in Louisiana history has gone largely ignored and forgotten for its lack of socio-historical progeny—and for the economic success Spanish “Luisiana” after O’Reilly’s repression of the French Creole uprising. O’Reilly himself spent less than a year in New Orleans. |
| 1760 |
Princess Carolina marries General Charles Christian van Nassau-Weilburg |
| 1750 |
1st American Shakespearean production-”altered” Richard III, New York City |
| 1746 |
Jacobite troops evacuate Aberdeen, Scotland, so hurriedly that they left a large stock of muskets and gunpowder which fall into the hands of the British and are no longer part of the arsenal in support of Bonnie Prince Charlie which met its final defeat one month and 11 days later on Culloden Muir just outside of Inverness to the east on April 16, 1746. It was not the sort of withdrawal that makes its way into heroic ballads—one of the Jacobite officers is said to have left his pet cat sleeping in front of the fireplace. (But history does not appear to record what disposition King George’s Government might have made of the feline aligned with the maligned malcontents who maladroitly miscarried their miniature move towards reverse (anti-Hanoverian) regime change. |
| 1743 |
1st U.S. religious journal, The Christian History, published by Thomas Prince, Pastor of Boston’s Old South Church throughout , Boston to report on the revivals sweeping America and Europe. One who notably and memorably wrote to Prince in relation to “The Christian History” was Connecticut’s (and Yale University’s) “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”/”The Ends for Which God Created Earth” preacher (and Vice-President/Killer of Alexander Hamilton—Aaron Burr’s Grandfather) Jonathan Edwards, who described the “Great Awakening” and changes taking place in Northampton (Massachusetts): “There has been vastly more religion kept up in the town, among all sorts of persons, in religious exercises, and in common conversation, than used to be before: there has remain’d a more general seriousness and decency in attending the publick worship; there has been a very great alteration among the youth of the town, with respect to revelling, frolicking, profane and unclean conversation, and lewd songs: instances of fornication have been very rare: there has also been a great alteration amongst both old and young with respect to tavern-haunting. I suppose the town has been in no measure so free of vice in these respects, for any long time together, for this sixty years, as it has been this nine years past. There has also been an evident alteration with respect to a charitable spirit to the poor.” The Christian History ran only two years. However, it’s founder, Thomas Prince was so influential that Prince Street and Princeton, Massachusetts were named after him. Francis Asbury, famed Methodist bishop, described reading the work with profit. Jonathan Edwards died while President of the College of New Jersey, which also later became known as “Princeton”. |
| 1684 |
Emperor Leopold I, Hapsburg Holy Roman Kaiser, the Kingdom of Poland, and the Republic Venice signed the “Holy Alliance of Linz”, whereby these three countries would form an alliance against the Turks, who were storing way too much gunpowder in the Parthenon, leading to that beautiful temple’s tragic destruction, but the truth is that the Ottoman Empire by this time was already stagnate and posed little real threat to Europe, especially compared to the events of the 15th-16th century, the time of the Conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the life of St. John Capistran (San Juan Capistrano), and finally the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 which the “Holy League” of Austria, Spain, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, Savoy, the Republics of Genoa and Venice, and the Papal States turned back the Muslim tide, preventing Europe from becoming an Islamic Continent. Since 1948, ironically enough, England and other European Countries have been inviting/allowing so many Muslim immigrants into Western Europe that the results of the Battle of Lepanto could well be nullified completely before the 500th anniversary of that event which will happen 60 years, seven months, and two days from the date of this blog on October 7, 2071. Increasingly it seems that Pakistanis are the most vibrant ethnic group in England, Turks dominate German labor, and Algerians and Moroccans now control their former colonial masters in France. Where, if anywhere, will it all end? Today in the wake of the rebellion against Mohamar Ghaddaffi, Italy is being flooded with immigrants from its own former (albeit short lived) colony of Libya.
| 1658 |
Antoine Cadillac, french colonial governor of America—he probably never owned an expensive automobile by a publicly owned General Motors might look like nor imagined what “Body by Fisher” would have meant three hundred-to-three hundred fifty years later. My Louisiana-Frecnh born grandmother Helen loved Cadillacs (the GM cars) and knew something about the history of Antoine, Sieur de Cadillac, but how few others remember him? |
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| 1651 |
South Sea dike in Amsterdam breaks after storm
| 1637 |
John van der Heyden, Dutch painter and inventor, fire extinguisher |
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| 1623 |
1st American temperance law enacted, Virginia |
| 1616 |
Copernicus’ “de Revolutionibus” placed on Catholic Forbidden index; it was in EXCELLENT company of course and the words “Imprimatur, Nihil Obstat” written down by books approved by the Catholic Censors have become synonymous with the prior restraint which is expressly forbidden by the First Amendment. |
| 1579 |
Betuwe joins Union of Utrecht |
| 1558 |
Smoking tobacco introduced in Europe by Francisco Fernandes (pardon my French but WHAT AN F-ING DISASTER!) March 5 should be a day of mourning for the millions of lung-cancer victims killed in Europe and the Americas as a result of this introduction. I have little or no sympathy for smokers of tobacco in modern times, no more than I do for people who shoot themselves in the head or slit their wrists. Smoking tobacco is basically an abomination without EVEN as much arguable benefit as smoking Cannabis Sativa L. |
| 1528 |
Utrecht governor Maarten van Rossum plunders The Hague |
| 1496 |
English king Henry VII hires John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) to explore. Cabot sailed across the North Atlantic to Newfoundland, Labrador, and what is now Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, explored the St. Lawrence River and opened up the great Western North Atlantic/Newfoundland fisheries to English fisherman—one of the greatest food resources ever exploited, paving the way for eventual English Colonization of these areas. |
| 1461 |
Henry VI was deposed by Edward IV, coincidentally also the Fourth Duke of York, during War of the Roses; Edward IV was also was the 7th Earl of March, the 5th Earl of Cambridge, the 9th Earl of Ulster, and the 65th Knight of the Golden Fleece. He reigned for Nine Years until he died in 1470 and was then succeeded by Henry VI who returned from but reigned only briefly before being dying under somewhat historically obscure circumstances. Edward IV’s younger brother Richard became Richard III, the last King before Henry VII instituted the “Tudor” dynasty from Wales and ended the war of the Roses. Second only two Henry V, “Richard III” is probably the best known of Shakespeare’s history plays and schoolboys, such as the author of this blog, were required to memorize “Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this Sun of York, and all that glowered upon our house, in the deep bosom of the ocean buried” Soliloquy for approximately 400 years. Should I recite it all in print here from memory? You’ll pass? Oh well, another time. ”Henry VI, Parts I , II, and III” together form Shakespeare’s longest and least memorable of the history plays, with no Jack Falstaff, no Harry Hotspur, no John of Gaunt, in short none of the wonderful characters that made Shakespeare’s other trilogy, Henry IV, Parts I, II, and III, not only tolerable but memorable.
| 1326 |
Louis I, the Great, King of Hungary, 1342-82, Poland, 1370-82 |
| 1324 |
David II Bruce, king of Scotland, 1331 – 1371 |
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| 1179 |
3rd Lateran Council (11th ecumenical council) opens in Rome. March 5 was the first day of the Third Lateran, Eleventh Ecumenical Council. But this day does not a great event in Christian history but arguably one of key events providing the reasons why the Universal Church failed to stay “universal”, and why the Pope in Rome was for many years seen to be the enemy of good religion and rational social policy. Just for example, for the first time in Christian history (but in a tradition continuing to the present), priests were forbidden to marry or have friendship with women—even the sometimes apparently misogynistic St. Paul wrote in one of his foulest moods: “It is better to Marry than to burn”. The logic and morality behind a Celibate Clergy is simply incomprehensible in light of Christ’s teachings in the Gospels and Paul’s letters, not to mention the reality of human life—but it happened, at least “de jure” (never of course, “de facto”). Sodomy was also forbidden and punishments provided, although how this prohibition was consistent with or supported the prohibition on priests having normal heterosexual relations to procreate is quite mysterious to the rational human mind. Other “highlights” of the Third Lateran Council were increasingly oppressive laws against Jews and Muslims and “heretics” living in Christian Countries and provided automatic excommunication for anyone who lent money at interest (then known as “usury” without regard to any legal rate). The Vatican City in Rome could do well to expunge and reverse all of these ordinances of the 3rd Lateran Council, although some charitable and educational and rational financial measures were also included (most notably positive was the prohibition on charing money for administration of any sacrament). |
Can somebody please insert the Lulu song. My internet connection is slower than a striking slug in the dead of winter. Thank you.
Howzit sipu, you back in the Mother City?
Having two daughters and perhaps a slightly more conservative view (old fashioned perhaps) to family life than some, I’d shoot anyone who left the country with one of my 15 year olds.
Yes, I’d track him down, (and if I couldn’t, I’d pay others to) this in my view is completely unacceptable and I’m afraid when people start thinking that for 30 year old men to ‘elope’ with 15 year olds is anywhere approaching normal behaviour the world will be in a sorry state.
There, got that off my chest
Hi Soutie, yup, I have been back here for a few weeks.
While I understand your perspective, it does not answer the question about what is best for your daughter. Were she to be involved in a relationship, similar to that of Ms Stammers and Mr Forrest, it might do you a power of good to shoot him, but would it do her any good?
If a river is going to flood your town, you don’t try and stop it completely by damming the flow, because the dam could break and wreak even more damage. Rather, you build levees and dykes to guide the water along a less hazardous path. I suggest a similar strategy would be better applied in dealing with this type of relationship. Over reaction by protective parents and/or the law, usually backfires.
It always strikes me as bizarre that so few people learn from the Romeo and Juliet parable.
Sipu, interesting perspectives from you and Soutie. I would guess this relationship (she and the teacher) is fuelled by passionate nights rather than a love of poetry and I guess to this is why the law seeks to protect a vulnerable girl from – in this case – an experienced maths teacher, though I doubt whether in this case he really knows what 2 + 2 come to. I take on board everything you say and can agree in part; I do think the media attention is unhelpful here. You make good advice in your comment no.3.
I would say it is reasonable for her parents to expect some confirmatory news from their daughter but so much media attention has probably dashed that hope as any attempted signal may well lead to the discovery of their location.
Sipu; I have to disagree and invoke the laws and conventions of my profession. There are, of course, too many rules and common sense is often indistinguishable from the insanity of the rule book. But teachers are in loco parentis; this is what we are told before we ever set foot in the classroom, and this sort of carry on is in breach of all that.
Ja well, I know what’s not best, flitting off with a married man, who I assume is now unemployed and perhaps unemployable is certainly not best. Do they even have any money? Perhaps he’s filled her mind with so much drivel that they’re going to do a Bonnie and Clyde!
Is this Forrest divorced or separated?
Was Romeo married?
I had to go and find out about this story. In my mind, this post is somewhat similar to Sheona’s post “How young is too young?’.
I know all about the laws and conventions (Claire) and the emotions and natural reactions of parents (Soutie) – but I have to say that arbitrary age limits do not take account of the differences in the way individuals mature.
I recall my grand-daughter’s birthday party, where my son-in-law had to seek the protection of my daughter and me from one of her friends – an incredibly knowing and predatory nine year old… I have no doubt that the press, the law and everyone else would have been quite horrified when she, as I see it inevitably, got involved with an older male. Her mother, who I met, obviously had no idea what her daughter was like and the poor guy who got caught up with her would have been slaughtered by mother, press, public and police alike…
Then there were my fourteen year old students who tried to get me to accept a drink from their 30+ year old ‘boy-friends’ in a local pub. They were bright, vivacious young girls – and all I could do was point them in the direction of the local Marie Stopes Clinic. I knew I couldn’t stop them ‘dating’ older men – the least I could do was make sure that they didn’t suffer the ultimate penalty for what they were doing… I got a fair amount of criticism from some teachers, who asked me how I’d feel if someone gave my daughters that advice. I asserted that I’d be delighted for someone, anyone, to provide my daughters with sound advice if they felt they couldn’t talk to me.
And then, I remember my 29 year old female co-teacher who, having married some six months earlier, eloped with one of her 17 year old male students.
Life is messy – because individuals are individuals. It would all be so easy if the Little nine-year-old Lolita and my students had not matured so early – or had had parents who guided them better.
Of course, it would have been better had my 29 year old friend and Mr Forrest controlled themselves – but life isn’t like that. And no one seems to ask how the 17 year old, that my friend eloped with, or Megan Stammers behaved…
Don’t get me wrong. I do think that people, male or female. in positions of authority, like teachers, should understand and be sufficiently mature, not to abuse their positions. But, I also acknowledge that there are two sides to every story .
Thank you Boadicea for such a balanced and experienced view. I know a girl, now about 23, who when she was 15 was extremely precocious and had boyfriends well into their 20s, which shocked many of her friends and their parents more so. Her own, single-parent mother realised that she had no hope of preventing such behaviour and so rather than fight it she accepted it, thus allowing the girl to trust her. The daughter has turned out rather well albeit with some quite scary edges. She is as bright as anything with a sharp tongue. She dumped her long time boyfriend and now dates men closer to her in age.
The deal is, that the man was a teacher at the girl’s school. Relationships are therefore a no-no. Full. Stop.
Four daughters. At fifteen absolutley sure they knew their own minds about everything. Would I have ‘allowed’ them to go off with a teacher? No. Would they have gone? Possibly. Which other laws should I have ‘allowed’ them to break?
Hi Claire, I fully accept and understand the conventions and rules by which you must do your job. In no way am I encouraging this sort of behaviour, but by the same token nor do I believe that everything in life is absolute. In attempting to protect the girl, there is a real danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. There is no way that anybody can guarantee that by separating her from this man, she will turn out to be any happier and better balanced than if she had been allowed to continue the relationship with considered, sympathetic advice and guidance. Of course the teacher should have stopped it at the first sign, but people, even mature adults, do not always behave rationally when it comes to affairs of the heart. I am sure we all know of and have maybe even experienced situations where apparently happily married adults have been prepared to walk away from their spouses based on a moment of realisation or belief that somebody else loves them. And it can be just that, a single moment that is a switch. It takes considerable self-control and possible sacrifice to prevent it from going any further even requiring changing jobs and relocating. But if it is not nipped in the bud, the damage can be great and no amount of reason can undo it. Love does not do reason. These two have made a huge commitment to each other. I doubt it can be undone without tremendous hurt. In attempting to resolve the problem, it is not the letter of the law that should take precedence but its spirit and that is to the best for as many people as possible,
Regardless of how one feels about the teacher, he too is a human being and if we are going to care about others, we should care about him as well. He should not be written off because of what he has done. He is foolish and weak, but he is not evil. (I assume that based on what we have been told so far.)
In my opinion. the police should stay out of it and should leave it to the respective families to deal with. The families care about the people. The police only care about statistics and their record.
When push comes to shove primal feelings will overpower the law every time.
BTW am I allowed back as a blogger ?
Hi Bravo, I think I understand how your history and background have influenced your views with regards to the law. You have had to uphold it for most of your working life, or so I believe, and so you hold it with more sanctity than I do. For me the law is a tool to help society thrive, it is not and should not be an end in and of itself. The law is often wrong and that is why laws are often changed. In an evolving society where the rules governing propriety and personal freedoms are becoming increasingly blurred, many laws are unquestionably anachronistic and inappropriate. Add to that the fact that there are grey areas and mitigating circumstances and it becomes clear that the letter of the law is not inviolate.
I am not saying that teachers should be allowed to date their pupils. The school and the authorities should do what they can to prevent such a thing happening. But they did not stop it in this case. It happened, so now they have to deal with it. Forcing the pair back to Britain, throwing him in jail and attaching a Sexual Offenders Order on him, and ensuring he never works as a teacher again, all of which I suspect will happen, will achieve very little that is positive and a great deal that is negative, not least of which will be immense damage to the girl and her relationship with her parents, her school and the police. Her loyalty is to the teacher and likely to remain that way, especially when he is arrested and punished. Unless she realises of her own accord, what a mistake she has made, no amount of police intervention is going to make her change her mind.
Just because she is 15 and he is her teacher it does not mean that the relationship can not work out well.
PapaG, I agree the self-serving nature of the media is pretty appalling. The Daily Telegraph has become every bit as trashy as most other red tops. Sky News is Murdoch at his worst.
Hi Jazz, welcome back.
The part I see as really wrong is that he is her teacher and in a position of trust.
As for running off with an older man I feel that the age limit is rather silly. She is 15 now, but if she was 16 then it is okay? is sex/love whatever down to age? I know some people who are not mature enough at 30 to have a relationship or sex.
The other thing that makes me smile in all these cases are the photos in the press. It started with a photo of a very mature looking 15 year old, then a slightly less mature one in school uniform and in today’s Telegraph one of her when she was about 12/13. Is this just to make people aware that she is a minor; what next one of her as a baby to build up hatred against the teacher?
Now if it was my daughter then like Soutie I would track him down and convert his dangly bits into Christmas baubles.
1. He was in loco parentis
2. Married and only a year ago, therefore an adulterer.
3. Removed a minor from the country without written permission of the parents.
4. Statutory rape
5. Previously contributed to the moral delinquency of a minor.
How many more offences are you willing to overlook?
Also it strikes me that the girl is at best precocious and at worst a tart, pictured with dyed hair and plastered with slap, hardly the product of a good home!
I have no objection to the age difference alone. When I was 16 and a half I embarked on a two year affair with a single 32 year old airline pilot! After two years I refused his offer of marriage, left him and went off to University! I rather think in retrospect my parents felt sorry for him. The more uncharitable probably think he had a lucky escape! I found him immature and intellectually unchallenging but I rather liked the sports car he left with me whilst he was flying (Which I drove without a license)
I do agree that the media hunt is likely to be more damaging than anything else and I feel particularly sorry for the abandoned wife, excessively humiliating for her. I suggest she drags all his possessions into the garden and sets fire to them in public. I would! (Actually I set them alight in the car park but that’s another story!)
Had they had any sense at all they would have allowed the affair to discretely go along for another year and then, subsequent to his leaving his wife and her leaving that school, set up together and all would have been satisfied legally. Don’t have the sense of a frozen pea between them. I have no time for such stupidity and as such they deserve everything that will be thrown at them.
Ha CO, I am glad that we don’t see eye to eye on everything. I think that I would really enjoy getting drunk with you and arguing the night away, agreeing on some things disagreeing on others, but maintaining a healthy sense of humour throughout.
I don’t know what it is about me, but I just don’t understand the need to punish people for punishment’s sake. The purpose of punishment must be to stop them from repeating the crime, but if re-offending is not likely to be an issue, then what is the point? I understand the principle of Voltaire’s ‘pour encourager les autre’ but I have never been convinced of the moral rectitude of such a position. Were this man acting deliberately with an ulterior motive such as grooming the girl in order to sell her sexual services, then yes, punishment might well work to dissuade him from repeating. Incarceration would of course prevent him physically from repeating and that I understand. But to punish a person because you are cross with him seems silly.
You have listed a number of crimes and misdemeanours (to use the Yank expression) that can be summed up in one phrase. The chap screwed up. He is not evil. He did not plan this. Of course I am assuming a great deal here, but when he met and married his wife, one has to believe that he did not know that he would soon meet and fall in love with a girl half his age. When he entered the teaching profession, I can readily believe that he would have had no idea that he might at some point jeopardise his entire career by abusing the trust placed in him as a teacher. Does anybody really believe that if he ‘gets away this time’ he is likely to re-offend?
What society should seek from this is for the girl to grow up into a happy and well-adjusted woman. Ideally the teacher will revert to a life where he can contribute to society as a maths teacher which is something I suspect Britain needs. What society actually seeks is that the couple gets holed-up in an adobe house in the bad-lands of Mexico with a posse of gun-happy vigilantes rapidly advancing.
Hi Rick, yes, he did wrong. He was in a position of trust, not just as far as the girl was concerned, but the parents, his colleagues, other pupils and society generally. But this was not anticipated. It was not deliberate. I am sure that we have all had infatuations and that we can all agree that infatuations are not renowned for any rational actions associated with them.
You are right about the press. While I understand that some people can be bought or have low morals, what baffles me is that intelligent, people who profess to be honourable would allow themselves to be associated with newspapers that publish such crap. Boris Johnson for example apparently has aspirations of becoming Prime Minister. How can he continue to write for the DT, a newspaper that has become a lurid rag like all the other tabloids? Really, I do despair about western society. People have become so unpleasant.
Forgive me a moment of righteous indignation.
Ah, yes, Sipu.
“People have become so unpleasant.”
I think this is the crux of the matter. I agree with the fact that a teacher is in a position of responsibility, but then the profession as a whole is given no respect whatsoever. There may be good reasons for this, but then neither are the police, politicians, doctors or nurses, they are all subject to the same criticisms, as are parents when they stray.
So, yes, I agree with much of what you say, we really cannot have it both ways, and I don’t see how punishing the teacher with prison is going to help anyone, including the girl. Press involvement has made this situation much worse than it need be, and that sadly is not going to help resolve this sad situation
Arra, you can join Christine and me in our alcohol-fueled discussions.
It’s not the law, Sipu, it’s bleedin’ obvious why there are non-fraternisation rules between teachers and their pupils. The one is in a position of authority over the other. Positions of authority can be abused. Whether or not that is the case in this particular instance is beside the point – let it go and you open the door for it to happen – quoting this instance as precedent. Similar rules, of course, apply in all institutions where one person is placed in a position of authority over others particularly where minors are concerned.
Saying, ‘he didn’t mean it,’ patting him on the head and letting him walk away is symptomatic of the decline in moral responsibility evident over the last few decades. If the guy in question lacks the moral fibre to conduct himself in an honourable manner, and the way we expect someone in a position of such responsibility to behave and the character to see what is wrong in his actions, then he deserves everything he gets. In spades.
Like Soutie, were it my daughter, I would be in France right now…
Just kindly pour me another drink!
Bravo, over the years I have come to like and respect you though I certainly do not always agree with you. This is a case in point. I think your rigidity is not a characteristic to which anyone should aspire. I certainly do not expect the parents to give up on their daughter, but nor do I believe that hunting down the teacher for retribution would serve any purpose. That seems to be a strategy that you Soutie and Rick would all wish to pursue. Your daughters would not love you for it.
Oh Bravo, yes in the world in which you and I grew up, your view is quite right, and even today the majority of teachers are still dedicated responsible professionals, but the school were aware of the problem and did not take any action. Teachers are reviled by pupils, society and parents alike. They are paid peanuts and reviled, but yet they are still expected to behave like angels.
And this is as usual widely reported by the press, and on blogsites. Of course he is going to lose his job, but it could and indeed should have been handled differently.
As a mother of two daughters, I appreciate your viewpoint, but things change, and children grow up earlier, as others have said.
Sipu, sorry but I do not feel we should hunt down the teacher for retribution. We do not know the entire story as to why the girl went off with him, if she had an affair then fine, though teachers should know better. My last comments were if it had been my daughter, not because of the affair but that they had run off.
It appears form the press (if you can believe them) that his marriage wasn’t that great, but what made the girl go off, surely not just “love” there must have been something missing at home.
If she had a really happy home life then it would just be an affair or infatuation, but if something was amiss then she would be more susceptible to leaving
Soutie, Araminta et al – is it then your view that it is OK for one in a position of authority to abuse that authority?
Is it also your view that someone who does abuse their authority should not be subject to some sanction?
Is it also your view that because the majority of people in a particular profession are professional enough to adhere to the standards of conduct expected of them it is OK to excuse any who are not?
Is it also your view that others who might not be so professional and hard-working might not take the view, ‘well, he got a way with it…?’
I suggest that failure to require that all adhere to the standards expected of them goes a long way to explain the decline in moral standards that is so often remarked upon in these pages.
On top of any strictly moral argument. He is someone in a position of trust and He. Broke. The. Law.
I am highly surprised and greatly saddened by the misguided laissez faire attitude of some Charioteers.
This guy is an untrustworthy, contract-breaking paedophile who has abducted a minor. Never mind the morality of the matter or the slavering of the journos, this immature plonker has broken the law, as Bravo correctly reminds us.
The girl cannot be blamed, for whatever she has done to attract the prat, she legally remains a child. Most blokes have had at least one chance encounter with the overblown hormones of a precocious young female, but almost all have had the sense to either ignore the temptation, or to say, “No!”.
Cut his goolies off.
Bearsy: I will kindly disagree with your assessment. Cut his goolies off and then hang him, draw him, and quarter him!
Howzit Bravo, I’ve made my view absolutely clear (see comment #2) You must be confusing me with somebody else
Sorry Rick if I misunderstood you.
I find it extremely ironic that all those suggesting a bit of vigilantism or simply extreme punishment are in fact responding to their own intense emotions, the very crime they are accusing Mr Forrest of being guilty. Come to Cape Town and join your like-minded comrades in a spot of necklacing. I am sure you will enjoy yourselves.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/cape-man-necklaced-in-playground-1.1390286#.UGPzQ00sng8
Soutie, senior moment. I did, of course, mean the estimable Sipu
CO and Bearsy:
“1. He was in loco parentis
2. Married and only a year ago, therefore an adulterer.
3. Removed a minor from the country without written permission of the parents.
4. Statutory rape
5. Previously contributed to the moral delinquency of a minor.
How many more offences are you willing to overlook?”
Exactly. If my daughter were involved I’d be ready with the pruning hook
That’s it then folks.
The majority go for hanging,drawing and quartering!
When you think about it idiocy and thinking below the waist ought to be a capital crime really
Probably my final comment on the subject. I note that the French police are not looking for the couple since the age of consent in France is 15. It really just shows the arbitrariness of man-made laws.
PS the idea that we should respect the man’s feelings is more than risible. And in the homogenous EU there is a country where minors can roam at will, encouraged by a pervert.
Mmm. Behave self-indulgently and irresponsibly. OK. Betray a trust. OK. Apply sanctions for self-indulgent and irresponsible behaviour and betrayal of trust. Not OK.
Hmmm.
PS. Article 227-27 of the French penal code prohibits sexual relations with minors over age 15 (aged 15, 16 or 17) ” 1° where they are committed by a legitimate, natural or adoptive ascendant or by any other person having authority over the victim; 2° where they are committed by a person abusing the authority conferred by his functions.”
‘…any other person having authority over them…’
Bravo, I credited you with more intelligence. Read what I have written
Bearsy.
Regarding your comment #28.
In English Law he is not a paedophile as the girl in question has, I presume, reached puberty. He is not guilty of rape, but he is guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse. The two are very different.
He is most certainly guilty of professional misconduct and he had a duty of care to the girl. He most certainly will lose his job and it is unlikely he will be allowed to teach again, and he may well go to prison.
Sorry Araminta, but you are wrong. Not that it matters in the larger scheme of things, but …
Pre-pubescence is not (to most authorities) a necessary prerequisite – the term paedophilia usually encompasses attraction for both pre- and recently-developed minors. If you want to play with words, the teacher is probably more accurately described as a hebephiliac, but that is a term that is rarely used.
Legally, intercourse with a minor is defined as statutory rape, although I didn’t describe him as a rapist in my earlier comment, just as a kiddie-fiddler, but using a big word rather than staying with the vernacular.
I apologise for terminating my comment with my favourite Mel Smith quotation, but that’s just me, I’m afraid.
Bearsy.
There is no precise definition of the term paedophilia in English Law. It is covered by the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The activity is either rape or sexual assault of a child under thirteen years of age:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/part/1/crossheading/rape-and-other-offences-against-children-under-13
Oops, I seem to be having problems with WordPress this morning.
Similarly “statuary rape” does not exist as such here either. It is seems to be age dependent as well.
http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/sexual_offences_unlawful_sexual_intercourse
Well, Araminta, you’re right that statuary rape doesn’t exist, but statutory rape certainly does, in many countries. I will admit that I was mixing up Australian and UK law in the terms I used, but both appear to agree the definition -
“The term “statutory rape” generally refers to sex between an adult and a sexually mature minor past the age of puberty. Sexual relations with a prepubescent child, generically called “child molestation”, is typically treated as a more serious crime”
Although I find that there are specific terms for specific acts in your neck of the woods, they all come under the generic (‘blanket’, ‘portmanteau’) term of statutory rape.
But arguing about nomenclature and jurisdictional niceties is ultimately nugatory. The man’s a waste of oxygen, gets his jollies with females under the age of consent who are half his age and within his care, and deserves no sympathy from anyone.
Time for bed for Bears.
Sipu, it appears that you can stop worrying about “the expense of tracking them down”. The French police are not looking for the couple since the teacher has committed no crime under French law. The British police cannot go wandering round the continent looking for them, so that’s that until the girl decides to contact her parents.
Yes thanks, I saw that Sheona
But the newest headline, Sipu, now suggests that the French police will sort of look for the pair, as will the Spanish police when they can spare the time from thumping demonstrators. It’s the European Arrest Warrant that’s sprung into action
Back to your usual ad hominem stance, I see. Totally unacceptable
sheona, you must have missed my No 38 about Article 227-27 of the French penal code…
I read your #38, bravo, but the French police are sticking to “abduction of a minor”.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9570194/French-confirm-they-will-arrest-runaway-maths-teacher-for-abduction-of-Megan.html
Bother, Bearsy re your #44. I seem to be having a problem with spelling as well!
I am not aware that he has done this before so perhaps “jollies with females under the age of consent ” is again somewhat inaccurate.
Strictly speaking, there is an assumption but it only an assumption that this is a sexual relationship between the two.
Araminta, this is why the arrest warrant is for “abduction of a minor”, since at the moment there is no proof of a sexual relationship.
Precisely, Sheona.
As indeed there is no proof of statutory rape or paedophilia yet! (you’re asking for PROOF? You’re just not keeping up with the times, are you???? What kind of old fashioned fool are you, anyhow?)
I have really enjoyed reading all of the contributions by my fellow Charioteers.
I must admit that I am very much of the hanging, drawing and quartering persuasion myself in this case. Provided, of course, that the teacher has had a fair trial first and that hanging, drawing and quartering are available punishments upon conviction.
There has to be a trial because he has clearly committed an offence or two. That’s what trials are all about. The law is one thing but sometimes the facts of a case, tested in a proof by trial, allow the possibility that breach of a particular law can be forgiven or, at least, condoned.
Bring Mr Forrest to trial, not by the media or the blogosphere but in a formal setting. If he persuades a judge and/or jury of his case, let him walk free, hand in hand with his beloved. If not, punish him, not to discourage anybody else, but simply because that’s the way it should be in a civil society.
Obviously, nobody should make up their mind about the man until all the facts have been adduced in open court. I have to say, however, that I would have to disqualify myself as a member of any prospective jury on one ground alone.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2208850/Megan-Stammers-missing-Married-maths-teacher-Jeremy-Forrest-tattoo-girl-arm.html?ITO=1490
I try not to ever make my mind up about anything at all without possession of as many facts as possible but, if he has chosen to tattoo himself in the manner alleged and then display it on Twitter, I would find it very difficult to have an open mind about his motives. I could be wrong.
As a matter of interest, JM, if the couple managed to stay abroad undetected until the girl reached her sixteenth birthday, would that nullify any of the charges against him?
Sgeon, I await JM. view, but I don’t think that would be like crossing a state line- yah boo, etc!
We read abut all of this while in Madeira. It does seem to me that the teacher was a bit of a naughty boy, and if anyone had tried this with my daughter when she was fifteen, i think I might have indulged in a few underhand front row tricks on the guy. Even if the law was stupid, which I do not think it is in this case, then presumably, it would be alright if I were to punch a Green politician in the face if he came calling at my door, given how much they are trtying to destroy the world.
BTW, he has just been nicked and she has been placed into protection in France.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19756698