Man broke ridiculous old UK laws in front of police to see if he would still be punished for them
A bloke decided to test whether the police in the UK are up to their former standards by breaking a bunch of old and rather ridiculous British laws in front of officers.
Comedian Max Fosh has built a reputation for his jokes and pranks - he's the guy who put a 'Welcome to Luton' sign outside Gatwick Airport so people coming into land would think their travel plans were going wrong.
He also whipped out an Uno reverse card when he got booked during a charity football match, while the poor chap once fell foul of a computer glitch that meant he only sold three tickets for a gig but carried on the show regardless.
Over on his YouTube channel, Max put up a video of his attempts to break silly laws in full view of the police.
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First up was his attempt to ride a penny farthing, that big bike where the front wheel is comically larger than the back one, in front of the police.
However, before he could do that he had to learn how to actually ride one first, and once he got the hang of it, he zoomed past a group of police officers who lifted not a finger to stop him.
Sadly, there's a very good reason for that, and it's because poor Max has actually got this law wrong, and I'd best not let you go without a proper education on the legal developments of the Victorian Britain.
The Red Flag Act he talked about was actually brought in 1865 and required someone to be walking in front of a car with a red flag.
The penny farthing he was riding is not a 'self-propelled' machine since it requires a set of human legs to propel it, and the law he was talking about breaking was actually repealed in 1896 and replaced with one that raised the speed limit to a nifty 14mph, and got rid of the need for someone to walk in front with a red flag.
Given the increase in speed limit they'd only have been run over anyway, and the whole thing was done away with in 1930.
If he really wanted to break the law by going over 4mph these days, then he'd need to be driving a mobility scooter on a pavement or footpath.
Anyhow, his next attempt at lawbreaking was on steadier ground, as he committed the heinous crime of bringing a plank of wood along a footway without the intention of loading it into a vehicle.
He had now become a menace to society, but was not brought to justice and went to try and talk to a Post Office worker for too long, thus delaying these messengers as they went about their duty.
The comedian saved perhaps the most vile of crimes until the last, being drunk in charge of a cow.
This is from an 1872 law which prohibits Brits from being inebriated in charge of cattle, a horse or a steam engine, with Max taking a trip to the pub to get himself ready for this felonious foray.
Once he was appropriately sozzled, he was handed the reins to cow Rosie, which was even mentioned on the radio, but since the comedian has kept performing it seems as though he avoided jail for the stunt.
What is this world coming to when a drunk man can be in charge of a cow and not face the full force of the justice system?
The mind boggles.
Joe Harker