Maurice Boland and the Court of Public Opinion

Maurice Boland and the Court of Public Opinion
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By h.b. - Sep 26, 2010 - 10:17 AM
No doubt I will be criticised for offering my opinion, in the same way I have been criticised for not running with this as a news story but...

Maurice Boland

I have known and worked with Maurice Boland for more than fifteen years, and feel the need to write a few words in the man’s defence as I see him being hung, drawn and quartered in the Court of Public Opinion that is the Internet.

Quite what happened over the past two months to lead him to have an affair with a sixteen year old girl, I cannot imagine and, of course, I cannot and would not try to excuse. Some cables must have crossed in his head, or he must have been thinking with other parts of his anatomy in a mist of a dramatic middle age crisis. I trust that, with her parents care and support, the girl will be allowed to get on with her life, and quickly put the whole messy episode behind her and move on.

When Boland first started doing interviews on the radio, the guest heard more about Boland than we did about the person he was interviewing, but overtime Boland did manage to keep his massive ego under control, put a brake on the name dropping, and develop a personal conversational style. He was a personality broadcaster, and that implies that he would not be to everyone’s taste, but he was a hard worker and always awarded his guests the respect of doing proper research beforehand.

His ego was always there, of course, but that is why the man could do what he did for charity. After a regular twelve hour day in the heady days at the start of his REM radio adventure, he would still find time to host or support some gala or evening event which made up part of the Marbella social calendar.

I’m of a completely different make of course, and hopeless at the celebrity bit, but Maurice was the tireless showman, and that ego was needed for him to do what he did so effectively.

It is only because he was so free with his own views and opinions on air that the Boland castle has now come crashing down so dramatically. But you can be sure that he talked endlessly on air about his charity work, family, grandchildren, and faith, as they really are the most important things in his life. Not that long ago he told me that he got more satisfaction from his charity work than the radio. Now he has lost the lot.

If he had worked in the local estate agency, or furniture store, he would still have his job. If he had broken any laws he would have had the right to put his own defence in court. As it is the man is being hounded off the coast.

Boland is not a bad man, of which there are many on this coast. Boland is a good man who has done a very bad thing. He will survive. Marbella and the Costa del Sol is a very small pond at the end of the day, but those who are currently hounding him away would do well to remember that if was not for Mr.Boland the Cudeca cancer hospice in Benalmádena would probably still be without a roof.

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Howard Brereton
Howard Brereton is the editor and owner of Typically Spanish.com.

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