The friend of a member of Oxford University's exclusive Bullingdon club has told a student paper that members did burn £50 in front of a beggar as part of their initiation last year, seeming to confirm a long-standing rumour.
The unnamed friend of Orme Alexander Clarke, who is alleged to have taken part in initiations, described to the Oxford student the initiation ceremony as "involving him having to burn a £50 note in front of a tramp."
The accusations, reported in the Oxford Student (http://oxfordstudent.com/2013/02/21/bullingdon-club-back-with-a-bang/), came as one alleged member of the controversial society was questioned by police in connection with letting off fireworks inside The Bridge Club in Oxford.
Although no one was hurt and no property damaged in the incident, the prank took place on 8th February, a week after a fire at a nightclub in Brazil killed 239 when outdoor fireworks were used indoors.
Thames Valley Police (http://www.cherwell.org/news/oxford/2013/02/14/fireworks-set-off-at-oxford-nightclub) said in a statement released at the time: "A 20-year-old man was given an £80 Fixed Penalty Notice for letting off a firework in a public place."
David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson once belonged to the aristocratic society, renowned for its drunken vandalism and generally obnoxious stunts.
Rumours of Bullingdon club members burning money in front of homeless people is not new grist for the mill.
The alleged prank was reported in the New Statesman and in Ephriam Hardcastle's (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2251388/EPHRIAM-HARDCASTLE-Oxford-Bullingdon-Clubs-distasteful-initiation-ceremony-.html) column in the Mail in December.
But this is the first time the name of the student has been leaked to the student newspaper after Clarke (http://www.cherwell.org/news/oxford/2013/02/14/fireworks-set-off-at-oxford-nightclub), apparently told unnamed acquaintance of his Bullingdon 'antics.'
Via: HuffingtonPost