Lauren?!?

[JesusA (imported)]

Two pieces retrieved from the Internet today. Is there someone in the UK who can watch the BBC2Wales show and let us know if Lauren/James is as flakey as the conjunction of these two articles suggests?

From the Wikipedia article: ". . .Initially he thought himself to be gay and tried the gay lifestyle but didn't fit in. After someone in a supermarket approached him and said they thought he should become a woman, he came to the realisation that he was transsexual, and transitioned to become a woman in 1998. In 2001 Harries had sex reassignment surgery.

In 2004, Channel 4 broadcast a documentary Little Lady Fauntleroy made by actor Keith Allen in which he interviewed the Harries family. They told him they were marriage counsellors with a sideline in private investigation. They also claimed to have many qualifications demonstrating their abilities in those fields, the entire family being Doctors of Metaphysics.

Allen discovered that many of the qualifications had been purchased on the internet and that Harries' own mother had overseen Harries' counselling on the psychological aspects of gender reassignment. A number of other aspects of the family's life did not bear scrutiny. . . ."

Imagine that! The supermarket diagnosis and the mom therapist!

‘I was a boy that turned into a butterfly’

Jul 25 2007

by Laura Wright, South Wales Echo

CELEBRITY transsexual Lauren Harries is unveiling an extra layer in an in-depth documentary to be screened next week.

The eccentric 29-year-old from Cardiff will bare all in a frank and open insight into her life in the hope that it will help her to be better understood.

Lauren found fame when she was just 10 years old as James Harries, the curly-haired, bow-tied child antiques “expert”.

The revealing documentary Where Are They Now? was filmed in one busy day by North Wales company Chwarel TV.

It will track the many changes that Lauren has experienced in the last two decades, from finding fame with Terry Wogan to having a sex-change operation six years ago. Lauren, of Rumney, Cardiff, said: “I’m completely honest. I go as personal as it takes. I’m always straight from the hip, if I’m asked a question, I’ll answer it.

“Nobody knows me properly, nobody understands what I have been through. This is my opportunity to show people me as a woman and as a person. It’s something people need to see.

“I hope they’ll learn I was a boy that turned into a butterfly.”

Lauren is now writing her life story and hopes the documentary will reach out to others. She said: “In the television industry they always want someone who’s safe and easy. When you’re a transsexual they don’t know what to do with you.

“I’m confident this documentary will enlighten people. I wanted people to see I’m just an ordinary, happy, beautiful woman. There’s nothing abnormal about me.”

Lauren, who has her own fly-on-the-wall internet show called laurenharries.tv (www. laurenharries.tv), has no idea of where she’ll be in another decade. She said: “I might be in television, abroad by the sea, being happy on my own or maybe with a live-in lover. [The website is mostly a pay one, but there are some free sections, including photographs of Harries.]

“I don’t want to be a prima donna or the most famous, I’d just love to have a little television job.”

Where Are They Now? will be screened on Monday, July 30, at 8.30pm, on BBC2Wales.

[email protected]

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news ... _page.html

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Lauren Harries

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lauren Charlotte Harries (formerly James Harries), was born in Surrey, England in 1978 and is a disputed (see below) child prodigy who became famous in Britain after appearing on Wogan, Terry Wogan's chat show in 1988.

On the programme the ten-year-old boy appeared to demonstrate a knowledge about antiques far beyond his years and this, combined with a striking appearance, dress sense (bow ties and formal attire), blonde curly hair, and his precocious manner of speaking caught the nation's attention.

Self-promotion was something of an obsession with James's father. His ambition was to get into The Guinness Book of Records. In 1977, he cooked a 26ft red, white and blue Yorkshire pudding to celebrate the Silver Jubilee. The stunt helped promote his business.

In 1991, the book Rags To Riches was published by the family publishing company Adviser and Weekly News. Writing was credited to James, with illustrations by his brother Adam. The book was a light hearted look at jumble sales written from real life experiences of James and his family. It purported to be a guide to making money by spotting bargains, and contained a reference guide to aid with identification of antiques. It did not sell in very large numbers and is quite hard to obtain nowadays, although it sometimes comes up for sale on internet auction sites.

Once he faded from the public eye, James was employed in a series of low paid jobs but by his own admission usually didn't last very long before being fired or quitting. Occasionally he would resurface on TV shows and expressed an interest in starring in a soap although nothing came of this.

Initially he thought himself to be gay and tried the gay lifestyle but didn't fit in. After someone in a supermarket approached him and said they thought he should become a woman, he came to the realisation that he was transsexual, and transitioned to become a woman in 1998. In 2001 Harries had sex reassignment surgery.

In 2004, Channel 4 broadcast a documentary Little Lady Fauntleroy made by actor Keith Allen in which he interviewed the Harries family. They told him they were marriage counsellors with a sideline in private investigation. They also claimed to have many qualifications demonstrating their abilities in those fields, the entire family being Doctors of Metaphysics.

Allen discovered that many of the qualifications had been purchased on the internet and that Harries' own mother had overseen Harries' counselling on the psychological aspects of gender reassignment. A number of other aspects of the family's life did not bear scrutiny.

Contrary to the perceived wisdom of the time, Harries may not have been a child prodigy at all. On Allen's documentary Lauren Harries revealed that she had been given stock, impressive sounding answers that could be used if asked a question she could not understand. Harries also received an unorthodox, home-based education and passed only three GCSEs (a below average, some might even say poor, academic record).

The documentary was released on 4 July 2005 as a commercial DVD.

Since Harries' childhood the family, who live in Cardiff, Wales, have been persecuted by neighbours who take exception to Harries' "transvestitism" and the perceived snobbery of the family. Cabbages are often thrown at the windows of their house. On July 8, 2005, a gang of five to seven young men attacked Lauren, her father and her brother. One 17 year old boy was later fined and given a supervision order for his role in the incident.

In October 2006 Lauren appeared in a Channel Five television series Trust Me...I'm A Beauty Therapist, which was filmed on location in a Beauty Therapists in Swansea, Wales.

Lauren was recently rumoured as being a housemate in the 5th series of Celebrity Big Brother, which started in January 2007. She reportedly failed the psychological test that all prospective housemates have to take and was replaced by Cleo Rocos.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Harries