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This column is for self-study or classroom use and gives guided help with reading the wide variety of writing styles and topics that appear as feature articles in the Bangkok Post. The lessons include background information, skill-building practice and vocabulary explanations. May 31, 2005 A note of mystery INTRODUCTION

An interesting story has been developing in the UK recently. It concerns the incident of a mysterious man who was found wandering around an island, wearing a suit that was dripping wet. When social workers tried to talk to him, the man wouldn’t say a word – in any language – but when he was given a piano, he was able to play it brilliantly. The story has intrigued people all over the world because the man is such a mystery. Normally, people like this are assumed to have mental health problems, but even in most of these cases, they will try to communicate in some way with others. When this lesson was written, health authorities had yet to identify the man, despite numerous attempts to do so by appealing for information via the media. Where has this man come from? Read the story, using the highlighted vocabulary if you need to, and then see if you can come up with any ideas. Look for clues in the story. For example, the fact that he is a good piano player could indicate that he once had some sort of job using his talent. He also drew a picture of the Swedish flag, which suggests that he has some connection with that country. Look for other clues as well – it’s a bit like being a detective! One imaginative task you could do is invent a life story for this man. You don’t need to find facts for this, just make it up. You could even turn your ideas into a story where you explain how he ended up on the Isle of Sheppey and why his clothes were so wet when he was found. Perhaps he has swam all the way from his own country and had decided to do it on the spare of the moment (without giving himself time to think about it) after a bad day it work – this is why he was wearing a suit. Use your imagination when writing the story. You could even turn him into a time traveller who has come to visit us from the future! Teachers You may find it useful to get hold of more recent articles on this particular story, either from back copies of the Bangkok Post or by searching and printing them off the Internet. The task mentioned above should be an enjoyable one for students, particularly if you allow them to use their imaginations fully. Doctors try to identify mystery ‘Piano Man’ The unidentified "Piano-man" is pictured in the grounds of Medway Maritime Hospital, Gillingham, England, on April 29 — AP London – Hospital authorities caring for a patient who refuses to talk but willingly plays the piano for hours said yesterday they are investigating a number of new leads on his identity. The tall, blond-haired man, who is in his 20s or early 30s, has not said a word since he was found, distressed and dressed in a dripping wet suit, on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent County, southeast England, on April 7. When staff at the Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham gave him writing materials, he drew detailed pictures of a grand piano and, when shown the piano in the hospital chapel, sat down and played for two hours, causing staff to nickname him “Piano Man”. Baffled staff said their problems have been compounded by the fact that all the labels have been cut off the man’s clothes. “That is a real twist – and it’s enough of a mystery without that,” said Adrian Lowther, spokesman for the West Kent National Health Service Trust, which is caring for the man at a psychiatric unit in Dartford in north Kent. “Apart from mentally, the man is healthy, and he is washing himself. But he does not communicate at all, so he cannot receive counselling,” Mr Lowther said. He said a tabloid newspaper has provided the man with a piano; playing noticeably calms him down. Mr Lowther said the National Missing Persons Helpline has received 320 calls and 70 emails after releasing a picture of the man and one of his piano drawings on Monday. The health trust has also received a number of telephone calls. “We are wading through those with the police – we just hope that in among the calls may be someone who knows him,” said Mr Lowther. “But it will take some time.” Making it harder to identify him is the fact that all the labels had been cut from the suit, white shirt and tie, social workers said. The British press has likened his case to the Oscar-winning 1996 movie Shine, about acclaimed pianist David Helfgott, who suffered a nervous breakdown while playing. But the man does not seem to be more than an accomplished amateur. Michael Camp, the man's social worker, has said that when he is not playing the piano, he remains very anxious. “Someone, somewhere must be missing him,” said Mr Camp. “At the moment we only have six weeks of history of this man to work on, which makes it very hard.” Hospital chaplain the Reverend Steve Spencer said the man “is not the virtuoso that he has been portrayed in the press. He knows a small number of tunes and plays them over and over – I recognised some John Lennon and a snippet from Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’. When he plays, he is totally focussed – he cuts out everything else and it makes him calmer.” Hospital staff have already ruled out reports that he recently attended a funeral locally. Interpreters from Poland, Latvia and Lithuania were brought in to see if he was from eastern Europe, and possibly an asylum-seeker, but no one was able to get through to him. AP   willingly not objecting to doing something lead a piece of information that may help to find out the truth or facts about a situation distressed upset and anxious baffled to be too difficult or strange for somebody to understand or explain compounded to make something bad become even worse by causing further harm twist an unexpected change or development in a story or situation psychiatric unit place for mentally ill patients counselling professional advice about a problem tabloid newspaper popular newspapers that feature stories about gossip, etc as well as news noticeable easy to see or notice; clear or definite wading to walk with an effort through something, especially water or mud acclaimed praise and approval for somebody/something, especially an artistic achievement anxious feeling worried or nervous virtuoso a person who is extremely skilful at doing something, especially playing a musical instrument snippet a small piece of information or news focused with your attention directed to what you want to do

• This lesson was prepared by Neil Stoneham, an experienced secondary school teacher and trained journalist. Read our other learner centre columns here. Return to our home page. | © The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. All rights reserved 2005 | Last modified: May 31, 2005