Crosswords1 min ago
The Piano Man
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.It appears 'as reported in the Sunday times' that his skills at playing the piano have been exaggerated. It is reported that he is not of 'concert standards' as claimed previously but has a repertoire of Tchaikovsky, lennon and Mccartney snippets that he plays repeatedly.
his drawing of a piano was class though.
Police and social workers are examining a number of new leads to identify a man who has not spoken but has given a virtuoso piano performance.
The so-called Piano Man has not uttered a word since police picked him up wandering aimlessly in Kent, dressed in a dripping wet suit and tie.
He was found near the beach in Minster on the Isle of Sheppey.
All efforts to communicate with the shy and agitated man, in his 20s or early 30s, have failed, leaving experts baffled over his identity and where he is from.
In a bizarre twist, it emerged all the labels from his clothes had been removed, making it even harder to identify him.
Staff at the Medway Maritime Hospital, Gillingham, gave the mystery man a pen and paper in the hope he would write his name or draw his country's flag.
Instead the patient drew highly-detailed pictures of a grand piano, showing not only the keys but also the intricate inner workings of the instrument.
When his social worker, Michael Camp, showed him a piano in the hospital chapel, he played classical music "beautifully" for up to four hours.
A helpline set up to identify the mystery man has received more than 160 calls so far.
A spokesman from West Kent NHS Trust said that sorting through all the information received after a public appeal would take several days.
The man is now being held in a secure mental health unit in north Kent until a full assessment has been carried out.
Anyone with any information about the man to contact the National Missing Persons Helpline on 0500 700 700.
SKY NEWS May 17 2005
The mystery mute dubbed the Piano Man could be the same man who turned up with amnesia in Canada six years ago.
The man found in Kent last month has baffled doctors trying to uncover his identity, by remaining mute and playing the piano beautifully for hours.
According to the Daily Mirror, he bears a striking resemblance to a person who walked into a Toronto hospital with a broken nose and bloody face after apparently being attacked in 1999.
Both men are the same age and have the same striking look and dyed blond hair. They are each unusually gifted and have been diagnosed with amnesia.
Authorities in Canada called their mystery man Mr Nobody and said he had no wallet or identification with him when he arrived at the hospital. Like the Piano Man, the labels had been cut out of his clothes.
He was diagnosed with post-conscious amnesia and eventually revealed his name was Philip Staufen, the newspaper says.
Staufen, who has also used the name Keith Ryan, is now Sywald Skeid and speaks French, Italian and Latin. His applications for Canadian and British passports have failed.
Staufen was freed from jail for immigration offences in Canada last year and has since gone missing from his home in British Columbia.
His wife Natalie, the daughter of one of his lawyers, is believed to be in Portugal trying to arrange a visa for him.
British authorities have received more than 620 calls from people believing they know the Piano Man's identity. All attempts to communicate with the agitated man have failed
Sky News 19th May 2005
This article mentions that Philip Stauffen might really be a French porn star. It's three years old, though, so maybe the info was later disproven. It's an interesting wrinkle to the overall story nevertheless:
http://www.cbc.ca/story/news/?/news/2002/01/21/stauffen0 20121
There was a story today in the News of the S++ews, which is not the sort of Paper I read.
So I just looked at the photo - of the Piano Man I hasten to add, which was..can I say nestling? between a photo of a lady with two melons, and another of a man with what looked like a spotted tiger's tail. Somewhat striking I admit - the Piano man I mean, so since my newsagent is a rather pious pakistani, I took a softly softly approach, and pussy footed out of the shop with a few backward and sideways glances.
if it's in the Daily telegraph tomorrow i will pass on details.