Modern Day Freakshow

Well, I have been grumpsville USA today due to a slight ruck with W late last night. I got somewhat drunk and emotional afterwards and woke up this morning with big puffy eyes. I'm not usually prone to the boo hoos so puffy eyes is not a look I'm familiar with, nor one I would recommend.

To give myself something nice to look forward to, I have ordered Little Lady Fauntleroy from play.com. It is a documentary about my favourite modern day freakshow, James / Lauren Harries. James was the dreadful, precocious little brat who used to be on Wogan talking about antiques. He refused to go to school because the other children and teachers "weren't ladies and gentlemen", he was truly dreadful. He then re-appeared years later having had a sex change and is now called Lauren.

The documentary is not a sympathetic one, it's a morbid but fascinating study of the Harries family and their complete detachment from reality and total unshakable belief in the fictional world they have created for themselves.

Their home is described as "mock Tudor". It is, in fact, a house at the corner of a Council estate in Wales. They have simply nailed a few planks to the wall and painted them black and white to produce a cheap tudor effect!

On the walls of the house they have certificates for various college degrees and doctorates. These they have presented to themselves in their role as a self determined educational establishment. (While James was referred to as a child genius, he actually left school with only 3 GCSEs, which is below average.)

I read an article somewhere that said that James showed all the signs of severe autism. Applying this diagnosis to the rest of the family, it certainly starts to make some sense of the situation. As entertaining and compelling as the documentary is, you kind of have to hope they stop breeding.