Chloe Hadjimatheou

So what do you want to get out of this?

The truth is a good starting point for me too. But also, why are people so reluctant to talk? And why was this teacher allowed to have sex with a child without ever facing any consequences? Could it have something to do with the fact that the abuser in this case was an attractive woman? I'm Chloe Hadjimotheou, and from Tortoise, this is Lucky Boy. Episode one, Gareth. It's 1986.

The truth is a good starting point for me too. But also, why are people so reluctant to talk? And why was this teacher allowed to have sex with a child without ever facing any consequences? Could it have something to do with the fact that the abuser in this case was an attractive woman? I'm Chloe Hadjimotheou, and from Tortoise, this is Lucky Boy. Episode one, Gareth. It's 1986.

We still get our music news from magazines like Smash Hits and Melody Maker. And every Thursday evening, we're glued to Top of the Pops on TV to see who's leading in the charts. The nightly comedy offering on the BBC is Benny Hill chasing big-breasted half-naked women around parks.

We still get our music news from magazines like Smash Hits and Melody Maker. And every Thursday evening, we're glued to Top of the Pops on TV to see who's leading in the charts. The nightly comedy offering on the BBC is Benny Hill chasing big-breasted half-naked women around parks.

If you arranged to meet someone and they didn't show up, you went back home again and you used your turn-dial landline to call their landline.

If you arranged to meet someone and they didn't show up, you went back home again and you used your turn-dial landline to call their landline.

The same kind of landline that Margaret Thatcher used to call into Radio 4's Today programme whenever she heard something that surprised her. IRA bombs seemed to be going off every other day, and most kids around the country were fixated by only one North London secondary school, Grange Hill on Kids TV.

The same kind of landline that Margaret Thatcher used to call into Radio 4's Today programme whenever she heard something that surprised her. IRA bombs seemed to be going off every other day, and most kids around the country were fixated by only one North London secondary school, Grange Hill on Kids TV.

In which every issue under the sun seemed to be playing out all at the same time. Although the writer's imagination didn't stretch as far as an affair between a young boy and his female teacher. Back in the real North London, a new term's just started at Christ College and boys in dark blue uniforms are tumbling out of buses, flocking loudly into the school.

In which every issue under the sun seemed to be playing out all at the same time. Although the writer's imagination didn't stretch as far as an affair between a young boy and his female teacher. Back in the real North London, a new term's just started at Christ College and boys in dark blue uniforms are tumbling out of buses, flocking loudly into the school.

The three-storey red brick building's more than 150 years old and it really stands out because of its huge tower, more like a turret on a castle really, with little arched windows spiralling up in line with a narrow staircase on the inside. The tower's where the science labs are.

The three-storey red brick building's more than 150 years old and it really stands out because of its huge tower, more like a turret on a castle really, with little arched windows spiralling up in line with a narrow staircase on the inside. The tower's where the science labs are.

And this term, there's lots of commotion up there because the school has a new young chemistry teacher, Sally-Anne Bowen. This is her first teaching job, not long out of training. She's 27, with long blonde hair, and like loads of the boys, 13-year-old Gareth can't help staring at her.

And this term, there's lots of commotion up there because the school has a new young chemistry teacher, Sally-Anne Bowen. This is her first teaching job, not long out of training. She's 27, with long blonde hair, and like loads of the boys, 13-year-old Gareth can't help staring at her.

Gareth's birthday is in May, so he's pretty young for his year, but he's a bright kid, athletic, with wavy brown hair.

Gareth's birthday is in May, so he's pretty young for his year, but he's a bright kid, athletic, with wavy brown hair.

He's fiercely proud of his dad being a journalist. He teaches his son never to blindly accept what he's told. Question everything, he says. Of course, that doesn't always go down well with Gareth's teachers. Precocious and lippy is probably what they would have called him. But his dad's also an alcoholic and he can be violent.

He's fiercely proud of his dad being a journalist. He teaches his son never to blindly accept what he's told. Question everything, he says. Of course, that doesn't always go down well with Gareth's teachers. Precocious and lippy is probably what they would have called him. But his dad's also an alcoholic and he can be violent.

Sometimes he beats Gareth with a belt and when he's drunk, he goes after his mum too, until she can't take it anymore and leaves.