Lookout, that I'm not taking Jeremy OUT of this sibling rivalry equation, doesn't, on it's own, put him INto a scenario for murder.
I'm trying to see Sheila as she and her exploits MAY have been seen through the eyes of her younger brother. That he "played it differently" from Sheila doesn't mean he didn't FEEL the same as her. It is said that, to a child, ANY attention, no matter how negative, is better than NO attention. If Jeremy saw his parents' constantly being attentive to Sheila's needs it would mean that he felt HIS needs were being ignored.
(I have very dear friends whose son, in his late 40's has only recently told them how much he'd hated boarding school and how miserable he'd been the whole time he was there. Horrified and feeling guilty, they asked him why he'd never told them. He said there'd have been no point, all their attention was given to his sister. They admitted to me that this was probably true. He had been a "good" child. In their eyes, not requiring their attention. She on the other hand had been difficult and demanding of attention. My late partners two sons, individually, told me exactly the same story)
It strikes me as odd that, despite their expensive educations, neither Sheila nor Jeremy qualified for anything -in a world of less money, their lives would certainly been far less comfortable if they'd had nothing to rely on save the wages of unskilled work- one reason for this MAY be that they had both been pushed down roads inappropriate for them. For similar reasons, I too, left school with no qualifications - more correctly,that I was permitted to make use of.
We know that at LEAST 50% of the Bamber children was not cut out for life in the country. ONE managed to escape. The other toed the line. I'm inclined to think the line finally ran out.
It also occurs to me that I've spent MOST of my time on this forum focusing on Sheila. THIS may have been the story of Jeremy's childhood.
April, what I will say is that both children were given equal chances as regards education and one wasn't treated any different to the other so far as that was concerned,so it was down to the children to either make or break.
In our household,it wasn't deemed as important for the daughter to be as encouraged in the education department as it was for the son,so as a consequence my brother received the most encouragement and also rewards when he gained his 11+ exam to grammar school. All this outpouring of " favouritism " towards him didn't make a scrap of difference to how I felt,as I wasn't the sensitive type. It was clear to everyone both within the family and outsiders that my brother was the shining example in the family,and just where I came in,I didn't know,but as I'd said,I wasn't particularly bothered either. At the time,anyway.
However,as I got older,I rebelled and did the opposite to what mum wanted me to do. Her idea was for me to leave school and " just get a job " ! That wasn't what I had in mind as I'd studied anatomy and physiology at school,as well as biology so my intention was to go straight to college,which I did.
In my late teens,for the first time,I'd heard that mum went into care at 10 years old after her mother died and she was left looking after a very sick father.She was going out scrubbing steps to earn a crust as there was no money. So the upshot of the way her mind worked was that she wanted me to work as hard as she had done and bring some wages in. No way. Dad was working and so was she in between going to her Sistership whatever that was. My life wasn't my own.
What I'm saying is this mother/daughter thing seemed to be something in the 60's and 70's and by no means did it always involve those having been adopted. It was a mentality that was carried from years previous,where a lot of mothers didn't " move with the times ". There were times when I did bubble up with rage,and I'm sure that if I hadn't been the level-headed and laid-back person that I was,I too could have done damage.
It's other people who drive you mad,not necessarily that there was anything amiss,mentally, in the first place. Sheila had reached the end of her tether as she had more issues in such a short life than many of us have in a lifetime.
