The Kid Is Not My Son

But it could be an osteopaths daughter! Yes, even sleepy old Cheltenham is now part of the on going media frenzy surrounding the aftermath of Michael Jacksons death. One of the national Sunday newspapers reported that former Oliver! child star Mark Lester (who is now a Cheltenham based osteopath) has claimed he is the biological father of Paris Jackson. Lester is godfather to the three children and had been a friend of Jacksons for many years. He says he gave Jackson a gift of his sperm (well, what else do you get the man that has everything?! Don't even ask how he gift wrapped it!) and that Michael told him he was the father. Obviously this claim has been denied by a Jackson family spokesman.

But it was reassuring to see that the Gloucestershire Echo has jumped on the bandwagon. Nothing like lazy journalism, their story is just a re-hash of the News of the World story. Nice work Echo. Hold the front page!

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A Rats Tale

This friendly little chap makes up part of the art work on the outside of The Pied Piper shop in Montpellier. The shop sells collectable teddy bears, dolls, dollhouses and all things soft and cuddly. The full shop front is below.

I decided that I would look into the story of The Pied Piper of Hamelin to accompany today's post and I have to say it is a disturbing tale. I must have read the Ladybird version when I was younger, as the true story is far from a fairy tale. Basically the town of Hamelin was over-run with rats and the townsfolk called upon the Pied Piper, who had suddenly appeared within their community, to rid them of the infestation. The residents agreed to pay the piper if he could do the job. As we all know - the piper piped, the rats followed, he led them to the river and they all drowned. The towns people wouldn't pay the piper so, while they were in church, he piped again and this time the children of Hamelin followed. The Pied Piper led 130 boys and girls to a cave and they were never seen again. The version I know is that two children, one lame and one deaf, remained in the town and told the adults of the other childrens abduction. The parents paid the piper and the children were freed.

In reality the children were never seen again. It is believed that they were either killed in a landslide, that they left on a religious pilgrimage, that they were drowned in the river or worst of all, the mysterious piper killed and dismembered them. The story dates from the 14th Century and over time has changed many times. I guess we'll never really know what happened but it was no fairy tale ending.

If you have some time and want to read a version of the story by Robert Browning, published in 1842, here it is.
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Read All About It

The headquarters of Cheltenham's daily newspaper, the Gloucestershire Echo, is in the heart of town on Clarence Parade. The paper started out in 1873 as the Express & Telegram and was the towns first regular source of local news. In 1883 the paper changed its name to the Gloucestershire Echo. The newspaper was bought in 1929 by the Northcliffe Newspapers Group, it is now owned by Gloucestershire Media who also publish The Citizen (Gloucester's daily paper) and The Forester (the weekly newspaper for the Forest Of Dean.) The Echo (as its known) is a good source for local news, as well as classified listings and also has a weekend supplement with a 'Whats On' guide containing reviews of shows and restaurants. In my experience The Echo don't always get their facts right and it sometimes feels like they try to make a minor story into something as important as the end of the world! That's local media, I suppose!