James Hobley
I wrote a post on 15 year-old James Hobley recently which has been one of the most read posts ever on this blog. His story is incredible, overcoming problems with autism and going on to study ballet and recently being awarded a place at the English National Ballet's School and he will transfer from the north to live in London to begin his studies at the School after the summer.
Now, unfortunately, I am writing an angry post as poor James has been assaulted and is in hospital awaiting surgery. With his character he will surely get over yet another hurdle and reach the finish line winningly, but it is difficult to fathom the mentality behind such cruel actions.
Get well soon James.
UPDATE: 1 May
James was beaten around the head by a school bully and has had 4 stitches in his nose. Tomorrow morning he will have surgery on his eyelids. Bullying was a reason for which he began home schooling with his mother when he was younger. Sad…
Bullying information and support at BullyingUK and the Anti-bullying Alliance
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.
Wishing him the very best! I hope he can forgive his assailant.
I read the profile about James last week and it seems awful that this has happened to a young man who has had to deal with so many things in his life. As a Mum of a slighter older ‘boy’ who was bullied I am glad to see such articles to show the world what a serious problem this is. Nobody should have to suffer in this way, especially a child. Disgusting. Get well soon James.
I am sorry that the bully that attacked James felt so insecure about his masculinity he tried to prove it by attacking James. But I am utterly dismayed that James had to suffer his cowardly attack. James is such an appealing, hard-working and deserving boy. We wish him a rapid and complete recovery from his injuries.
Where do these sadists come from? Are they so insecure that they have to attack anything they don’t understand? I hope they were properly charged and punished. Has James recovered? I hope he knows that there are people in the arts world who support him and his talent and are disgusted by the behaviour of the bully boys who attacked him. I wish him all the best in his future career.