Re: [F_MINOR] OT: Mystery of Unknown Mute Piano Virtuoso in England finally ends -- not solved, exactly, but ends.

[Kate Clunies-Ross <appassionata3@LYCOS.COM>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Merkin" <bobmerk@EARTHLINK.NET>
 
Re:the unidentified  "Piano Man" found in Kent

> I'm pretty darn sure the Mysterious Right Shoe was 
> dropped here some months ago. Today the Other Shoe 
> finally drops. (snip)

Yup, this is the guy I wrote about some weeks ago... Maybe I dont like to see a nice mystery neatly 
solved, but it still seems to me that something odd went on here.

The TV news report about the Piano Man that I saw last night did not say outright that the guy was a 
hoaxer. It said only that "his condition had improved dramatically " and that he had now been sent 
home to Germany. Apparently the local Health Authority (that cared for him) will not issue any 
further details about him or his identity, in view of "medical confidentiality" ( So why did they 
tell us he is gay? is that relevant?) They did mention he was distressed and thought to have been 
trying to commit suicide when he was found, which might suggest that even if he was not mentally 
ill, he was not in a normal state of mind.
But to me the oddest suggestion is that he couldnt in fact play the piano at all. Again, the TV 
report glossed over this, but several online news reports made much of it, saying how well he had 
deceived everyone. Excuse me? Firstly, he made no claim to be a pianist (he claimed nothing in fact, 
since he didn't speak at all.) Secondly, while  I can imagine how a genuine pianist could pretend 
_not_ to know how to play, I can't for the life of me understand how someone who is innocent of all 
pianistic skill could  sit at the piano and convince people that they were listening to a virtuoso! 
And that is what they say happened - earlier reports said that the hospital staff (doctors, social 
workers etc) were stunned when he treated them to a "virtuoso" performance of classical music 
lasting some two hours. So it was _they_, not him, that gave rise to the claim he was a pianist, and 
it was this that attracted the attention of the media and dominated attempts to identify him.
So: If he really couldnt play a note, why on earth did people make such a claim on his behalf and 
even give him a piano in the room so he could continue playing (Earlier reports said it was him only 
method of communication.)
If it was all a hoax, what do you think his motive was? For the life of me, I cant imagine why 
anyone would want to come to a foreign land and spend several months locked up in a secure NHS 
mental unit without anyone knowing w

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