Germaine and the rights of women

TOM Paine may have been a great defender of the rights of man but he was no great supporter of the rights of woman.

That was the view propounded by feminist academic Germaine Greer when she spoke to more than 350 people packed into Lewes Town Hall on on Sunday.

The veteran broadcaster pulled no punches as she described Paine's difficult relationship with his mother, the disappearance of his first wife and the harsh treatment of his second wife while living in Lewes.

Paine upped and left her after a short time and went to America.

The 18th century political philosopher, pamphleteer and radical thinker, apparently never later admitted to having been married, Ms Greer added.

He seldom mentioned women in his written works and in fact had difficulty relating to women as adults at all.

The Greer lecture topped the bill of the Revolution to Revolution political festival celebrating Tom Paine in Lewes.

Tom Paine Project trustee Julian Davies said this third festival had been a great success, with Tom Paine-admirers visiting the town from all over the world.

An exhibition on Robert Tressell and The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists at the Barbican House Museum - running until August 26 - had been warmly received.

Lunchtime Headstrong lectures had attracted an average of 50 or more people.

More than 150 people attended a film and talk on Grey Owl, the 'native American Indian' environmentalist who later turned out to be from Hastings!

And 30 Lewes people dressed in 1910 clothing to rent a 'charabanc' and visit Hastings as a re-creation of 'the beano' works outing portrayed in The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.