Summer in February!
It’s hotter than Mexico as Britain basks in temperatures topping 19C
picnics instead of parkas, sunglasses rather than scarves... this can’t be February, can it?
As temperatures topped 19c (66F) yesterday, most of Britain could be forgiven for thinking the clocks had already gone forward – to May.
Blue skies and balmy weather drew hundreds to spots like Brighton seafront, where the pebbly beach was packed with sunseekers glad to shake off the winter blues.
it couldn’t be a greater contrast to last year, when the country was bracing itself for Arctic conditions as the Beast from the East rolled in. Twelve months on and parts of Britain were basking in temperatures a shade hotter than Mexico city, which was 19c at midday yesterday.
And the good news is the very unseasonal weather is set to continue – until Thursday, at least.
A plume of hot air from Morocco is behind the May-like temperatures, which reached 19.1c (66.4F) in Gogerddan, near Aberporth, West Wales yesterday – close to the UK monthly record of 19.7c (67.5F) recorded in 1998. parts of the UK were hotter than most of Europe, including Greece, italy, spain and portugal, and even warmer than Bermuda.
Britons flocked to parks, where daffodils, crocuses and snowdrops – tricked into thinking spring has already arrived – are already in full bloom. Beaches were also packed with day-trippers, including some brave souls who even ventured into the water in Dorset.
Forecasters said temperatures are likely to stay warm today, tomorrow and Wednesday, which could help February become the hottest since records began.
But overnight chills mean many commuters could face fog and mist this morning. By Thursday rain will sweep into much of England and Wales and strong winds will cause temperatures to tumble to between 9c (48F) and 11c (52F).
Becky Mitchell, a forecaster at the Met Office, said: ‘Wales and scotland have already beaten the record for their warmest February day on record and i wouldn’t rule out the UK record falling over the next couple of days either.
‘The exceptionally mild weather will continue this week, with the best of the sunshine in northern scotland, north-west England and north Wales. But on Thursday the rain will return and temperatures will tumble towards the weekend.’
Miss Mitchell added that the contrast in weather from last year proved how much wind direction influenced Britain’s weather. This time last year temperatures struggled to get above freezing in London and forecasters warned it could feel as cold as -15c (5F) as icy air from siberia brought the country to a standstill.
‘The very cold weather last year was caused by easterly winds from siberia and Russia, whereas the winds bringing the warmer weather are coming from a more southerly direction,’ Miss Mitchell said.
LOOKING awestruck as he meets his hero for the first time, five-year- old Wade Robson shakes Michael Jackson’s hand in a 1989 photo.
The little boy, who had a passion for dancing, had won a competition to meet the superstar after perfecting his routine to Thriller in front of the television.
Only two years later, however, the singer would start subjecting him to horrific sexual abuse, Robson has alleged.
The image is among several seemingly innocent pictures seen for the first time today which feature in a new documentary that alleges the late star was a paedophile.
They show Jackson visiting Robson’s home and posing for photos with his parents and sister, while others depict Jackson with another alleged victim who claims he was abused from the age of ten.
Robson, now a 36-year- old choreographer, says Jackson befriended him and his family before molesting him in a bedroom with a ‘do not disturb’ sign at the star’s Neverland Ranch in California.
In the Leaving Neverland documentary, to be shown next week on Channel 4, Robson says the star would force him to perform sexual acts while his parents slept nearby.
He was even left to stay at the predator’s home for several days while his family travelled round America – and he was made to engage in sexual activity every night.
Speaking about Jackson, Robson said: ‘ He was one of the kindest, most gentle, loving, caring people I knew. He helped me tremendously, he helped me with my career, he helped me with my creativity, with all of those sorts of things. And he also sexually abused me for seven years.’
Other images show Jackson throwing money in the air with another of his accusers, James Safechuck, now 40.
He first met Jackson when he was nine years old when the pair appeared together in a Pepsi advert. He claims Jackson started sexually abusing him a year later when he was ten and says it went on for years. He alleged Jackson would reward him for performing sexual acts with jewellery, as well as staging a mock wedding between the two.
One picture shows Jackson smiling and holding a football as he sits on the bed of Safechuck’s childhood bedroom.
Director Dan Reed said that he saw his fourhour documentary as being a film about those who were abused, rather than about Jackson.
‘I’ve always approached this film as a film about Wade Robson and James Safechuck, not a film about Michael Jackson – it’s about Wade, James and their families,’ he said.
‘That’s the story that I set out to tell and the fact that it’s about Michael Jackson gives it extraordinary reach and I think it will open up a lot of people’s eyes to the way that child sexual abuse and this sort of grooming Michael Jackson practised, how it all actually played out, the attachment between the victims and the abusers.’
Reed said that although Robson and Safechuck briefly crossed paths as children, they did not speak again until 2014 when they were both at the offices of a law firm.
‘Wade and James met for the first time while Jackson was alive when they were kids,’ he said. ‘I don’t think they spent much time together or chatted that much.
‘The first time they met after that was in 2014 at the offices of the first law firm that Wade had gone to make his claim against the estate. When James joined that case they met at the offices of the lawyer. They met briefly.’
Reed said that the two then had no further contact until the day before the documentary was screened at the Sundance film festival earlier this year.
He added: ‘They spent some time together. It’s been great watching them because they get on really well. They kind of just get each other. It’s been a delight to watch, it’s been very emotional for them as well.’
He said he believed that Safechuck’s parents had been fooled by Jackson and had been manipulated into letting their son spend time with the singer.
‘Stephanie [his mother] got him into commercials, but I don’t think she was particularly pushy,’ Reed said. ‘I think she saw what pleasure and enjoyment her son got from being with Michael and what fun it was and Michael came round and it’s their little house.
‘ They were just an ordinary family. As she said, “We were nobody”, and suddenly here’s the biggest star in the world literally coming and hanging out, having dinner with them, and staying overnight and inhabiting their private space with them. It cancelled out all her normal reflexes, I think, and it blew away the caution and scepticism she and any other parent would have had, I think.
‘It’s not as if she allowed Jackson to sleep [share a room] with James straight away. There was a time where she said, “No, you can’t do that”. The whole thing, it was just overwhelming, she said it was like a fairytale, it was overwhelming and she said, “Both my husband and I got sucked into it”.’
Robson and Safechuck share graphic details of the sexual abuse they allegedly suffered, which they say predominantly took place at Neverland and in hotel rooms.
Both men share details of the sexual acts they were forced to perform on the singer, and the acts he performed on them, which left them in significant pain. The Michael Jackson estate has strongly criticised the film and is attempting to sue co-producers HBO for £77million.
It maintains the star’s innocence, claiming the film is ‘an outrageous and pathetic attempt to exploit and cash in’ after his 2009 death.
Leaving Neverland: Me And Michael Jackson airs on Channel 4 on March 6 and 7.
‘Staged a mock wedding between the two’