Russell Brand's was first convicted of a sexual offence after a bizarre episode in which he stripped at Piccadilly Circus - and was prosecuted for indecency.
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he → convict → indecency
An account of the provocative pseudo protest is given in his 2007 memoir My Booky Wook, extracts from which were used as evidence against him in his rape and sexual assault trial this month.
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extracts → give → trial
Revelling in his own exhibitionist conduct, Brand's book featured not just a photograph of his public stripping but an image of his Met Police charge sheet for two instances of outraging public decency.
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book → revel → decency
Brand gives a detailed account of exactly what he did on May Day in 2002 that saw him hauled up at Bow Street Magistrates' Court.
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him → give → Court
Around 5,000 anti-Capitalist protesters had gathered at Piccadilly Circus for the 'Mayday Festival of Alternatives' - an initially peacefully demonstration that, by the evening, had warped into something darker as activists clashed with police.
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activists → gather → police
There in the middle of all the violence and arrests was Brand who had dragged two friends along to, in his words, 'start a revolution and then film it'.
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who → drag → it
Determined to make himself 'the main event', the then 26-year-old began 'dangling sex toys through the windows of police vans' before climbing the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain and stripping naked for all to see.
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all → make → Fountain
'Thrilled' by how 'vulnerable' he felt the Met Police officers looked, Brand wrote: 'On this occasion, my tendency to get overexcited manifested itself in a plan to take all my clothes off by the statue of Eros.
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tendency → thrill → Eros
'The police were saying, 'Look, don't strip naked, or else you'll get done,' but I was showing off.
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I → say → ?
'I pull down my pants, will you lot overthrow the government?'.
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lot → pull → government
A photograph of the moment convicted rapist Russell Brand exposed himself to crowds in Piccadilly Circus on May 1, 2002, was included in his 2007 memoir My Booky Wook
Brand also included the charge sheet handed to him by the Met Police after he stripped naked twice in London on May Day 2002 during protests
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he → convict → protests
It's a common mistake, but in this instance it could be seen as ironic that Brand mistook what is actually a statue of Anteros, the Greek god representing mutual respect, accountability and justice in love, for his mischievous older brother Eros, the chaotic god of sex and impulsive desire.
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what → see → sex
According to him, 'the mob recognised that they were witnessing the dawn of an age of freedom' and cheered at the sight of his genitals when he pulled down his pants which were emblazoned with the face of Che Guevara.
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which → accord → Guevara
However, when the ring of angry officers surrounding the monument stepped in to remove him, Brand saw himself as the victim of 'casual brutality'.
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Brand → surround → brutality
He proceeded to pretend he was having an epileptic seizure only for officers to see straight through his act and arrest him as he lay naked on the ground.
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he → proceed → ground
Stood on a step in a theatre doorway being questioned, he describes how the police 'looked all small' before they de-arrested him, which he accredits to them being 'moved by my eloquence'.
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them → stand → eloquence
Prophetic, but perhaps not in the way he dreamed of, Brand then hauntingly declared to his readers: 'But they should ne'er have unarrested me, for I was an immediate recidivist.'
Still determined in his endeavour of maximum public exposure, he moved to nearby Wardour Street where a parade of flag-bearing sex-workers were campaigning for the legalisation of prostitution.
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parade → dream → prostitution
Again, Brand placed himself above everyone by climbing on top of a van where he received more cheers from a crowd of women, he claimed.
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he → place → women
He wrote: 'I thought, 'I'd really better do something.'
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I → write → something
So I began to strip.
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I → begin → ?
'People like stripping, and this march is for sex-workers, it is a befitting tribute.
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it → like → workers
'
'A tribute that would not have altered had it been a march for orphans.'
He and his friend fled the scene again when a security guard began climbing up the van.
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guard → alter → van
Officers later stopped and questioned the pair in the street as they came out of a cemetery nearby before letting them go.
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them → stop → cemetery
Around two weeks later police tracked him down and charged him for his May Day crimes.
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police → track → crimes
'I had to go to court for indecent exposure - which sounds terrible - and criminal damage, because while on top of that van I'd smashed up that satellite thing a bit for my encore.'
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I → have → encore
A Metropolitan Police officer grips the then 26-year-old Brand's arm as he waves to demonstrators
But 'one consolation' for him was that his hearing took place at his 'favourite' Bow Street Magistrates Court where he had already been held 'so many times' for shoplifting and being drunk and disorderly in a public place.
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he → grip → place
It is unknown what the outcome of the hearing was or if Brand received any punishment.
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Brand → receive → punishment
What is clear is that it had no bearing on his roles as a presenter on BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4 Big Brother's Big Mouth when the memoir containing his confession and charge sheet were published in November 2007.
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memoir → have → November
Brand was jailed for ten and a half years for rape and sexual assault yesterday.
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Brand → jail → rape
The Aporia
