Tuesday, May 24, 2005

The World is Weird

From The Times online edition:

RIDDLE OF THE PIANO MAN WHO WOULD NOT SPEAK

HE WAS found soaking wet in the middle of the night, unable to speak and dressed in an expensive dinner suit.

The only real clue to his identity is an astonishing talent for the piano.

The 6ft musician — dubbed The Piano Man — is believed to have suffered a nervous breakdown which has deprived him of his memory and left him unable to communicate except through drawings and a remarkable ability for music.

Two police officers discovered him stumbling along a road near a beach in Sheerness, Kent, during a storm last month. Police said that he was soaked to the skin, possibly from the heavy rain, but his clothes were so drenched that they thought he may have been in the sea.

He has not spoken a word since he was picked up and has left officers baffled as to who he is, why he was there dressed immaculately in a black dinner suit, white shirt and tie, where he had come from and what he was doing.

After being found by police he was driven to Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, Kent, where he was able to communicate with doctors and nurses only by drawing a Swedish flag and an intricate sketch of a grand piano.

...

Michael Camp, a care worker, said: “Two policemen found him dressed as if he had come from a concert but couldn’t get a word out of him. He appears to be a professional pianist and has amazed everyone who has heard him.

“He plays for hours every day from memory and from sheet music he has written. It is difficult to stop him and he sounds concert standard. When he plays, all his anxiety disappears.

“Away from the piano he starts to breathe very quickly and shies away from people.”



To read the full story, click here.

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