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Topics - Dudley

#1
News / Pat Mills in The Times
05 September, 2021, 03:36:16 PM
QuoteAbusive monks were my model for Judge Dredd
The creator of the violent comic-book lawman drew dark inspiration from his Catholic upbringing. Now he too is seeking justice
Catherine Pepinster

Sunday September 05 2021, 12.01am BST, The Sunday Times

For more than 40 years a rampaging, ultra-violent lawman called Judge Dredd has stalked the pages of British comics, as well as featuring in films, novels and video games. A television series is even in the pipeline.

Yet behind the blood-spattered fiction of a ruthless enforcer lies a very different story: that of a vulnerable schoolboy who has never forgotten the abuse he says he suffered at the hands of the Roman Catholic monks who ran his school.

The man whose childhood misery inspired him to create the Judge Dredd character is now fighting for a public reckoning of his own.

As a boy, Pat Mills, a writer and publisher often described as the "godfather of British comics", attended St Joseph's, a private school in Ipswich that at the time was run by monks from the De La Salle order.

"Judge Dredd causes fear and terror, and those were the feelings we had around the De La Salle brothers," Mills, 72, said last week. "Dredd was a composite bogeyman of all my recollections of fear of my teachers."

Mills has spent years accumulating evidence from fellow former pupils who claim to have suffered sexual or physical abuse at St Joseph's. A group of old boys is now calling for an inquiry into the way the school was run and the manner in which children were mistreated from the 1960s to the 1990s.

Appeals to Catholic authorities to take action have already resulted in the suspension of Brother Laurence Hughes, a former St Joseph's teacher who currently heads the De La Salle order.

The Rev Des Bill, chairman of the Catholic Church's Safeguarding Commission for Orders in Education (SCOE), said Hughes had been suspended pending an independent investigation "to ensure recommendations and actions taken are objective and not influenced by any person within SCOE or the De La Salle congregation". The matter has also been reported to the police.

Mills says he was sexually abused by priests and witnessed the physical abuse of other boys. He believes he was targeted as the child of a poor widow whose fees were waived because he had agreed that he had a vocation to the priesthood.

"I don't know if I really did ... but they knew my life was difficult and I didn't have a father figure," he said. "It is easier to admit to yourself physical abuse, but sexual abuse is more intimate. I blocked that out until my forties, and then the memories came flooding back."

He began recording his experiences on a blog eight years ago. Other former pupils have added their own stories.

Among the accusations levelled against teachers were of boys being lashed with cat-o'-nine-tails and hit repeatedly with other objects. Some of the most serious sexual charges were levelled against one teacher, Brother James Ryan, who is now dead.

Ryan was "renowned for his savagery", said Mills. "I would draw on his anger — particularly for Judge Dredd." When the judge set off to punish the fictional town of Repentance in one of Mills's stories, he said, "Brother James was very inspiring."

Mills also claims to have been abused by the school's chaplain, the late Father William Jolly. Another monk allegedly involved in the abuse was the late Brother Solomon, who left to start a short-lived singing career as "the swinging monk".

Founded in France in 1680, the De La Salle order has four communities in Britain, where it owned several voluntary-aided schools. Accounts submitted to the Charity Commission show that the order set aside £7.7 million in 2015 to settle a case of alleged abuse of pupils at the St William's Institute, Middlesbrough, between 1958 and 1992.

The abolition of time limits on childhood abuse cases in Scotland has also left the order facing 60 claims, five of which have been settled at a cost of £762,000.

The order is no longer involved with St Joseph's, which counts the musician Brian Eno and the Labour MPs Chris Mullin and John McDonnell among its former pupils.
#2
General / Rile 2000AD fans!
28 April, 2021, 09:06:25 AM
Challenge: write a headline that would piss off the most 2000AD fans in the fewest number of words.

#3
Film Discussion / Everything Wrong With Dredd
28 March, 2019, 07:58:30 PM
https://youtu.be/ADevT0j2sFk

CinemaSins does Dredd.
#4
Film & TV / SPLIT
24 January, 2017, 06:52:47 PM
Well, that is a rather good movie.  Shyamalan back on form after what must be the longest losing streak ever enjoyed by a director who still managed to get work.

Do NOT click on spoiler tag if you haven't seen the film.  Seriously.

[spoiler]So, anyone else see this?  What to make of the final diner scene?  Is this going to be a trilogy?[/spoiler]
#5
Games / Go 8-Bit
31 August, 2016, 08:29:59 AM
I'm probably a bit invested as I've watched a mate develop this over the past 4-5 years, but even with that bias I reckon some forum members might enjoy this.  New series devoted to old skool games, on Dave, starting Monday (but first episode is here - http://uktvplay.uktv.co.uk/shows/dara-o-briains-go-8-bit/watch-online/).
#6
Books & Comics / Doctors and hospitals in comics
26 January, 2015, 12:28:21 PM
Hi -

Can anyone think of stories or scenes from comics (any comics) that involve a trip to the doctors or a trip to hospital?  I'd be particularly interested in any that either show off a futuristic space hospital environment or really deal with the weirdness of the doctor's/hospital environment.

It's for a course I'm teaching in Medical Humanities so, honestly, any and all suggestions are very welcome :)

J
#7
Off Topic / They're officially on my list
16 October, 2014, 09:33:10 AM
People who think "Haters gonna hate" is a meaningful contribution to discussion.
#8
News / 2000AD in The Spectator
02 July, 2014, 12:53:29 PM
"A recent issue of 2000 AD, I noticed, contained a picture of the Queen and Prince Philip as naked, preserved corpses. Darkly funny? Shocking for shocking's sake? Utterly profane? Whatever your position, it's worth noting that this punkish, ambitious art form isn't restricted to galleries and museums. It's one you can buy into for £2.45 an issue."

http://www.spectator.co.uk/arts/exhibitions/9247091/bob-monkhouses-giant-penises-rub-shoulders-with-the-occult-at-the-british-library/

I reckon "'Darkly funny? Utterly profane' - The Spectator" would make for a cracking strapline.
#12
General / You know you've read too much 2000AD when...
29 November, 2013, 11:26:15 AM
...you attempt in all seriousness to play "SQUAXX" on a triple word score in Scrabble...
#13
Off Topic / The Richmond Clements lookalike thread.
18 July, 2013, 06:40:32 AM
The original...


The contestants...








and, of course,



Any more contestants?
#14
Off Topic / Auld Trout
10 May, 2012, 10:18:48 AM
Happy milestone birthday, fishy overlord! 
#15
Film Discussion / Rob Schneider to cameo in Dredd
16 August, 2011, 03:21:31 PM
What could be better than a Rob Schneider cameo?  Surely it's not too late for Rebellion to suggest this?

If you had 1 minute of Schneider in the film, what do you think should happen to his character?  What other cameos might make the film even better?
#17
Film & TV / Film encyclopaedias
29 November, 2008, 09:02:31 AM
Turning to the board for Xmas present help...

Wanted: suggestions for a really good reference book on film.  

Requirements:
- Should be really encyclopaedic, with good coverage of world cinema, early cinema AND Hollywood blockbusters.
- Should actually give some idea of the quality of each film.
- Should be so good that the person won't need to buy another reference work for many years.

Any ideas gratefully received.
#19
General / Region 1, Region 2, DVD
28 November, 2007, 11:13:35 AM
Dear techno geeks of questionable morality (I've read the Demonoid threads, don't try that look of wounded innocence).

I am told that there is a way of watching Region 1 DVDs on my computer, and of copying them and turning them into Region 2 DVDs to play on my home DVD player.  Is this true?  Where might I find out about such a thing?
#20
Links / Lost in the Static
19 November, 2007, 02:16:40 PM

Link: http://silverspaceship.com/static/" target="_blank">Very good PC game