Friday 1 October 2010

Living with Friends at Broadmoor: Paynel Savitude

I'd have thought 'the pain that is Jimmy' ('Jimmy The Pain'?) would have lived somewhere more fitting - somewhere civil - like Savile Row. But Broadmoor! It's closer to 'death row'. So now we know, Jimmy and friends live at Broadmoor. What a lineup? What a Savile row? And despite endless appeals to the 'Surreal Attitude', Jimmy and friends are still serving Paynel Savitude.
The Broadmoor 'criminal lunatic asylum', as it was called, was opened in 1863. Jimmy's in good company, other famous Broadmoor residents (past and present) include: Richard Dadd, painter of the Victorian era - noted for his depiction of fairies and other supernatural subjects -, who made his best work whilst incarcerated in Broadmoor; Thomas Cutbush, Jack the Ripper suspect; Roderick MacLean, failed to assassinate Queen Victoria; Peter Sutcliffe, the ‘Yorkshire Ripper’; Ronnie Kray, gangster with strong homosexual tendencies, convicted of killing Jack 'The Hat' McVitie; Ian Brady, 'the Moors murderer', and Charles Bronson (not the actor and star of Death Wish), a bank robber. Bronson holds world records for feats of strength and fitness, and when he's not up on the roof protesting, performs 3,000 press-ups a day.

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