Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Superdad delivers ...again!
Two girls born at home
A HANDS-ON dad delivered both of his daughters at home – despite hating the sight of blood.
Matt Davis, 29, sprang into action for the births of his two children almost a year apart after paramedics twice failed to arrive on time. The electrician helped wife Emma deliver baby Aria in their bedroom in July 2019.
And he was called to lend a hand again when baby Thea arrived in the living room 51 weeks later – in just 17 minutes. The couple, from Walton-onthe-naze, Essex, are sharing their story for the first time to give hope to people who are expecting during the pandemic.
Civil servant Emma, also 29, said: “If you ask any woman would their husband be capable of delivering their baby they would say, ‘Nope!’
“And I would have thought the same about Matt – I never thought I’d be able to do it alone either.
“It is pretty special we managed to get through it twice and when we tell people they are absolutely shocked. I hope our story can give people hope. If we can do it twice it is possible.
“Now I’m looking forward to telling my daughters how they were born. We still can’t believe it ourselves.”
Proud Matt added: “It honestly feels amazing knowing I brought both of the girls into the world.
“Well, helped, because obviously Emma did most of the hard work.”
THE European Space Agency is looking to recruit the world’s first disabled astronaut.
Until now any budding spaceman or woman with a significant disability has been barred from the physical and psychological selection processes.
But the ESA’S latest recruitment drive for astronauts – or parastronauts – is inviting all European citizens to apply for a job that could send them to Mars.
It has asked the International Paralympic Committee to advise on selection and will adapt any space hardware for disabled crew members.
So all with the right stuff will be considered.
Candidates, who will have two months to apply from March 31, will have at least a master’s degree and three years’ experience in natural sciences, medicine, engineering, mathematics or computer sciences.
They must also be fluent in English and calm under pressure.
British astronaut Major Tim Peake said: “Space exploration will become even more exciting as we travel back to the moon and even further to Mars.
“For space missions to succeed, they require highly motivated people from diverse backgrounds.”
Major Tim, who spent 186 days on the International Space Station in 2015, hopes fellow Brits will apply.
He said: “UK citizens have so much to offer the world. So I would encourage anyone who has ever dreamt of pushing the boundaries...to take this opportunity to be part of ESA’S future cohort of space pioneers.”
UK citizens have so much to offer the world MAJOR TIM PEAKE ON ASTRONAUT JOBS
Conceptual artist Allan Bridge was troubled by his past. After moving to New York in 1977 and before turning to his creativity to make a living, he had struggled to make ends meet as a carpenter – but would supplement what little money he made by shoplifting.
Years on from his pilfering he felt burdened by his petty crimes and wanted to atone for his misdemeanours.
He often worried others could sink too easily into a similar life and decided he could also help to ease their burdens.
In 1980, he posted flyers around Manhattan encouraging people to call a mysterious helpline where they could apologise for what they had done.
“Attention amateurs, professionals, criminals, blue-collar, white-collar. Get your misdeeds off your chest,” they read, promising callers a way to “apologise for their wrongs… without jeopardising themselves”.
He planned for the recordings to become part of an interactive art project, giving a voyeuristic insight into New York’s most troubled minds.
Cheating spouses, child runaways, racists, robbers, rapists and even a serial killer all called the hotline.
Everyone was greeted with an answer machine message telling them not to leave any identifying details as Bridge intended to make the recordings public.
Now, the confessions are being revealed in a new podcast that has become a smash hit.
Listeners learn about such people as Ritchie the serial killer and Bernie, a wannabe murderer who vowed to hunt Bridge down to execute him.
The series, The Apology Line, is hosted by Allan’s widow, Marissa, who recounts how the once-promising idea ended up consuming her husband until his untimely death.
Discussing how he was carrying a burden from his petty criminal past, she explained: “It was a problem that he’d had since he was a kid.
“He started to think about how he could do something that would help other people.
“And then he came up with the idea of the phone and an answering machine as a way to give people the opportunity to apologise, to let go of the guilt and pain they were feeling for their misdeeds.”
Allan set up a machine-answered phone line that was secretly connected to his loft.
Each caller was assured it had no connection to police, the government or any religious organisation. The phone began to ring immediately and within a few years it was receiving 100 calls a day.
Eavesdroppers could call in and listen to recorded sessions but only ever knew Bridge as “Mr Apology” as he concealed his identity.
Some recordings would be played in a message on the phone’s answering machine, so callers could respond and give advice.
“In the very beginning, callers talked about seeing murders,” said Marissa. “The first few weeks of the line, someone called and they said that they robbed and killed homosexuals, which corresponded to what was actually happening in New York City at the time. That bothered him from the very beginning.”
Marissa, 64, who still lives in New York, said Allan’s line was set up during a “very rough time” for New York as the city was almost bankrupt and in the middle of a crime pandemic.
It proved to be the tip of the iceberg. In the podcast, listeners are introduced to Ritchie, a self-confessed serial killer who phoned in for five years. Others included a man a listener called “Johnny the D*** of Death” would knowingly infected sexual partners with HIV and a son who admitted to killing his mother.
One confession started with the usual “I want to apologise,” before detailing how, while in Israel, he had been part of a Jewish hit squad. “I don’t know if even what I did was wrong or right, but when I was in Israel for six months, I killed six Arabs at night with a gang of other Jewish settlers.
“At the time, we thought, I believed, we were fighting for our homeland to keep it from the Arabs. But perhaps now I’m here in America, I realise that maybe killing is not the right way, and I want to apologise.”
Another said he was sorry to “the 15 or 20 people I’ve stolen money from, and mugged and robbed and frightened”,
SAYING SORRY Callers knew Allan as just ‘Mr Apology’ before adding he had murdered one of his neighbours.
Callers hid behind the same anonymity as Allan, calling themselves such names as Hard Time, Candy Ray and Mr D.
And then there was Bernie, who Marissa said “really upset me” as he threatened to murder Bridge for running the phone
FLYER Line was set up as a New York art project
line. Once, police contacted him for information about a confession from a man who admitted to battering and robbing gay men.
The description they had matched an unsolved killing.
But Allan refused to break his promise to callers to keep their confessions anonymous. Instead, he allowed the interview to be aired during a radio show so police could listen in.
Occasionally, he would feel compelled to pick up the phone, often answering calls from someone who sounded suicidal. War
Artist rapist
I want to apologise.. I killed six Arabs in Israel MYSTERY CALLER TO THE APOLOGY LINE
veterans of would a the “really horrible in the line of duty.
Allan felt commit but according to Ma 1984, it would grow
“He was 35 at the she said, explainin excited and dedicat
She added: “He d it so he had to s carpentry. And ove took a
“Th burde unplu when
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Those calls were a heavy burden.. how can you unplug when people really need you? MARISSA ALLAN’S WIDOW ON THE STRESS FROM HIS WORK
tted to The Apology Line, arissa, who he married in w to “consume” him. e time when I met him,” ng he “was young, super ted to it”. didn’t make money from support himself doing er the years, it certainly a toll on our relationship. hese calls were a heavy n to carry. How can you ug something like this people really need you? wasn’t just murderers weigh heavy, people had any problems. Everything ould possibly imagine, e brought to The Apology
Line. Broken hearts, broken families – all kinds of tragic things were happening to people. Allan believed in his work. And I wouldn’t have ever told him to stop.”
Allan was killed in 1995 at the age of 50 during a jetski accident.
Marissa said he had been struggling to cope with the overwhelming demand of running what became three telephone lines.
“He was in a down place,” she said. “He wasn’t as happy-go-lucky as he once was. At that point, he was struggling under the burden of trying to do all this work pretty much by himself.”
Marissa said Allan had grown increasingly frustrated by the number of people who “showed no remorse” while friends began to distance themselves from him. “It took up his whole life. He slept very little and worked minimally at carpentry,” she said.
Bridge was scuba-diving in Long Island when he was hit by a man on a jetski. Despite
his death being widely covered at the time, the jet skier was never caught.
“I would hope that they would apologise,” said Marissa. “It was an accident. It was not their fault. It was an accidental death, but I’m sure that person carries around a lot of pain about it. And if they did come forward to apologise, I think it would be very healing for them. And for me.”
Marissa hopes her podcast will help others understand the power of apologising.
“We’re all the same under the surface,” she said. “We all have problems. We all have pain. In spite of all the difficulties Allan faced in running the line, he really believed in what he was doing. And I hope that comes across in this. If something is important to you and you believe it, do it. Do it well.”
The Apology Line is available for streaming through Apple Podcasts.