Rugby commentator Mark Robson kept Bangor Grammar School abuse secret

Mark RobsonMark Robson says that mountain operating has helped his recoveryMark Robson has one of the vital recognisable voices in rugby commentary.To outsiders, he has been dwelling the dream – travelling the world masking a sport he’s obsessed with.However in actuality, he was suppressing a darkish and distressing secret.He was abused at Bangor Grammar College by the prolific paedophile Lindsay Brown.The vice principal served two sentences for abusing boys on the County Down faculty – seven years in 1998 for a listing of abuse between 1968 and 1982 and for an additional eight months for comparable offences in 2021. He died in 2023.Warning: This text accommodates distressing content material”He had a kind and I used to be it: blonde hair and blue eyes,” Robson advised the BBC’s The State of Us podcast.”I did not inform anybody, not even my schoolmates. I assumed I used to be the one one.”Talking on the podcast, Robson has revealed publicly for the primary time the extent and affect of the abuse he endured from Brown. ‘I used to be in denial’Robson describes Brown as a charismatic and extremely popular instructor. “All of the mother and father liked him, all of the workers liked him,” he stated.”The boys who weren’t being abused liked him.”His grooming method, which I am not going to disclose as a result of I do not need to give anybody any concepts, was extremely intelligent and extremely devious as a result of he made me really feel that he liked me.”Not telling anybody was a part of Robson’s try to cope with what had occurred to him. That continued till he was properly into maturity.”I liked my life as a result of I refused to just accept this had ever occurred,” he stated.”I used to be in denial, I buried it.”Lindsay Brown was a non secular research instructor at Bangor GrammarWhen he was 28, Robson obtained a telephone name that modified the whole lot.”It was the then (police) vice squad they usually stated, ‘We hear you have been one among Lindsay Brown’s boys’. I will always remember the phrases the lady on the telephone used.”The impact on me was catastrophic.”It was solely then I realised what had occurred to me.”The commentator was about to go to New Zealand to cowl the Commonwealth Video games for the BBC. “I went fully nuts in New Zealand,” he stated.”We broadcast all day and drank and partied all night time – that was my manner of making an attempt to drown away these ideas that have been in my head.”When he got here again, he developed signs of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and stated he went into “full psychological and bodily freefall”.That lasted for nearly 20 years.By the point he was 40, he had left his job at Sky Sports activities and got here dwelling to Bangor to stay along with his mother and father.”I grew to become non-verbal for 2 years and I used to be confined to the home – I disappeared,” he stated.”I did not see the purpose in talking. My head at the moment was filled with white noise. I had no room for phrases.”Disclosing to his mother and father what Brown had achieved was troublesome. Neither had any concept their son was one among his victims.When he was in poor health and housebound, Robson stated his father grew to become his rock and cared for him day-after-day.”He would inform me to stand up off the bed and have a cup of tea – and he was proper. If I did that, it was a profitable day.”Whereas his restoration has been gradual, he’s now again working as a profitable commentator.”For the final 15 years, I’ve been properly,” he stated.”I nonetheless have this burning anger – largely directed on the world. I am offended about him and what occurred and it impacts my character.”His escape, he stated, has been train. He enjoys fell operating in mountains all over the world and sea swimming near dwelling in Bangor.”It releases endorphins and has helped me to recuperate,” he added.You possibly can hearken to the complete interview on The State of Us podcast on BBC Sounds.In case you have been affected by any of the problems raised on this story please see the BBC’s Motion Line for teams and sources which might be able to assist.