The Sexual Offences Act received the Royal Assent on July 21, 1967. By then, Ed had stopped crying, or thought he had, until the moment he heard the date announced on the radio in the flat and realised his eyes were wet again without his permission. The Act did not apply everywhere. This was the first thing Ed learned after the initial euphoria faded, the fact that settled into his chest like a stone dropped into still water. Scotland had been excluded—the Scottish peers had voted against inclu...