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AROUND THE WORLD 2: Mr. Piano Man

A man found in Kent, United Kingdom, on April 7, 2005, is continuing to intrigue British people as they struggle to identify him. The mystery man has remained mute since he was first found in a soaked dinner suit on Kent's Isle of Sheppey. All the labels from his clothes had been removed, making it even harder to find out who he is.

He is currently a patient at Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, a secure mental health facility. Staff at the hospital gave him a pen and paper in an effort to get him to write his name. Instead, he drew them a very detailed drawing of a grand piano instead. When they showed him to a piano in the hospital chapel, he began playing classical music. Apparently he plays beautifully and has written some music while in the hospital.

Interpreters were brought in from numerous Eastern European countries, including Latvia and Poland, just in case he was an asylum seeker, but to no avail.

Over 600 people have contacted a police phoneline set up to identify Mr. Piano Man, but nobody seems to know his correct name.

According to newspaper reports on May 19, this man bears a striking resemblance to a man who walked into a hospital in Canada with a broken nose and bloody face after being attacked in 1999. Authorities there called their man Mr. Nobody and said he had no identification on him when he arrived and, most importantly, the labels had been cut out of his clothing. That man was eventually identified as Philip Staufen, who was recently released from jail for immigration offences in Canada.

Mr. Piano Man has not yet been identified.

--Written by Olivia Overman

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