In the middle of the bright lights and confused tourists in Piccadilly Circus is the statue of Eros. Except it isn’t.
Everyone thinks it’s Eros, but that’s because they’ve got the wrong brother. They look very similar. Even their mum probably got them mixed up. The statue is Anteros, the brother of Eros, the Greek god of love and sex. Anteros is the Greek god of selfless love. This matters. The statue of Anteros was paid for by the people of London to remember the life of the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, who died in 1885. Please don’t give up on me. I know I have moved from obscure Greek mythology to obscure dead aristocracy, but I am going somewhere wonderful.
Come, Lord Jesus!
Shaftesbury is one of the greatest-ever Britons. He is responsible for outlawing children working in factories. He took the children out of the mines. Both of these laws were bitterly opposed by his rich mates, whose fat profits depended on being able to employ children on miniscule pay to do their hard work. He outlawed children going up chimneys, because what Mary Poppins never explained is that sending boys up chimneys was abusive and frequently lethal. And, finally, Shaftesbury was responsible for the first schools for the poorest children.
