When students from Sale High School were asked to dress up as their favourite literary figures for World Book Day, people were expecting some kids dressed up as Harry Potter or Tom Sawyer perhaps.
But 11-year-old Liam Scholes gave his teacher and classmates quite the shock when he came up dressed as the sadistic and bondage-loving Christian Grey from E.L. James' bestselling novel Fifty Shades of Grey.
Scholes was wearing a dapper suit and tie and even carried a blindfold and cable ties. And while regular onlookers might have mistaken him for a well-dressed kid, the character he was portraying left much to be desired.
This prompted school officials to exclude Scholes in the day's activities, Manchester Evening News reported.
Scholes said that he dressed up as Grey "just to have a bit of fun." He was the one who came up with the idea of dressing up as Grey, and the more he and his mother Nicola Scholes discussed it, the more they liked the idea.
"At first we laughed it off but then we discussed it with a few friends and saw the funny side and decided it was quite a good costume idea," said Nicola, who was upset that her son was not even allowed to appear in photographs with his classmates.
"Me and the teacher agreed to disagree and it's not being taken any further but I was disappointed for Liam that he'd been stopped from taking part and that he's had a dressing down," she said. "If it was a primary school I could understand but it's a secondary school and the book and the film have been everywhere - it's one of the most famous books in recent years and it's not like the pupils will be unaware of it."
She said that it was very unfair since one of the teachers went dressed as the serial killer Dexter from the Showtime series. "I don't see why sex is seen as more offensive than murder," she said.
