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18 March 2007 Y7 y! R( u3 |MARRYING THE MOTHER-IN-LAW) M' I% T7 k5 Y( G, X% ]& O
..AFTER 15-YEAR FIGHT TO CHANGE LAW R2 _0 Y6 o+ ]/ T @* H
BRAVE Clive Bunden made British history yesterday... by marrying his mother-in-law.5 i: Z* L1 B& j, I- C" r
) b9 |$ X F/ u% YClive was so intent on wedding his ex-wife's mum Brenda Bailey, 66, he had to fight a 15-year legal battle and go to the European Court of Human Rights to get the law changed. / k6 U; `, d$ C1 Z: m * m* u8 k( j3 u0 v' U6 W9 `Clive and Brenda first tried to marry in 1992 but they were reported and Clive was even arrested because it was illegal to wed an in-law then. 5 y; x4 A0 T" w. k& n. d" V ) H, k! _, x/ ~" cYesterday they married at Warrington Register Office - the same one where Clive, 53, wed Brenda's daughter Irene 30 years ago. ( @6 g- y8 Z" p ) q$ _ U, @; |/ F) y+ T/ L/ BClive said: "It has been the best day of my life. I have been dreaming about this for ages. People treated us like freaks for years but now we're like any other couple." $ q- P; I& m1 w- w# e+ l 7 f, T$ j& E Q3 SRemarried Irene did not go to the wedding, but pals said they are on "talking terms". $ |7 A' c$ m) Z# w5 E$ p 4 h" p2 ~* P( n/ G' p , U$ X: H+ [& f1 F0 \0 wDad-of-two Clive started dating Brenda four years after divorcing Irene. He said: "I married Irene at 19 but Brenda and I never got on then. I joke she was jealous of seeing me with her daughter. People laugh about me like I'm something out of a Les Dawson sketch. But we don't think we're weird.""7 U+ X$ ~1 \0 W% H5 g# p
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' C' n- Q" Z" b. k" R' jEx-nurse Brenda said: "We used to hate each other but came together in a lonely part of our lives. We fell in love." 5 L2 s- F6 @) l3 I# X 5 c/ a% h/ m, r6 P V5 K, J& w( {3 k: g: F6 u" i/ d& b$ C5 w/ O
TWO FROM LES9 [5 t* s Y% O$ B* C
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; ]5 |, d$ t' NI SAW the mother-in-law walking down the path so I jumped out and shouted "BOO!" She said: "You nearly frightened me to death," so I shouted: "BOO! BOO! BOO!" 7 O+ S+ J1 I- ^- d8 c8 Y0 T& {- j1 f2 a8 y+ k+ O2 Q3 l9 E' W
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MY mother-in-law said: "One day I'll dance on your grave." I said: "I hope you do... I'm being buried at sea."