# Did they ever find out who that English piano guy was? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-find-out-who-that-english-piano-guy-was/312447 "2005-07-14T01:51:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-find-out-who-that-english-piano-guy-was/312447/21 "2005-08-22T19:58:27Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Radio 4 were this evening sceptical about the Mirror’s claims, as you would expect them to be. ‘An insider’ is hardly the most reliable of cites. Which claims – that they’d identified him, or … ? ---
**Author:** ![gaucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@gaucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaucho)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-find-out-who-that-english-piano-guy-was/312447/22 "2005-08-22T21:46:39Z")
Apparently he’s a German who lost his job in Paris and came to England to kill himself.(?) On NPR right now… ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-find-out-who-that-english-piano-guy-was/312447/23 "2005-08-22T22:09:36Z")
I hear he also did a killer rendition of John Cage’s “Four Minutes Thirty Three Seconds” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-find-out-who-that-english-piano-guy-was/312447/24 "2005-08-22T22:11:44Z")
> [@Endemic](#): > > From the [BBC](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4172662.stm) > > It appears that the English public is easily impressed… Hey!!! If it’s good enough For Steve Reich… ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-find-out-who-that-english-piano-guy-was/312447/25 "2005-08-22T22:52:22Z")
> [@deevee](#): > > I hear he also did a killer rendition of John Cage’s “Four Minutes Thirty Three Seconds” Knock knock. _silence_ Knock knock. _silence_ Knock knock. Who’s there? John Cage. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-find-out-who-that-english-piano-guy-was/312447/26 "2005-08-22T22:53:13Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Which claims – that they’d identified him, or … ? Basically anything beyond the fact that they’d identified him. Because that’s all that’s been confirmed by the NHS or by German authorities. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-find-out-who-that-english-piano-guy-was/312447/27 "2005-08-23T12:02:27Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Basically anything beyond the fact that they’d identified him. Because that’s all that’s been confirmed by the NHS or by German authorities. See this [link](http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1687284,00.html). As a source, the Deutsche Welle usually is as good as it gets. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-find-out-who-that-english-piano-guy-was/312447/28 "2005-08-23T14:23:05Z")
> [@Fish Cheer](#): > > See this [link](http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1687284,00.html). As a source, the Deutsche Welle usually is as good as it gets. Yes, that article proves my point. A confirmation from Germany that the guy is a 20-year-old Bavarian, followed by nothing else other than a regurgitation of the Mirror’s story. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-find-out-who-that-english-piano-guy-was/312447/29 "2005-08-23T14:42:33Z")
[Here’s](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4176032.stm) a BBC article from today that asks a few more questions, and makes the valid point that if the gist of the Mirror story is accurate: > [@](#): > > …this is not a story about one man fooling the health system, as some papers have called it. A silent suicidal man who spends four months in a psychiatric ward suggests some form of mental illness. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-find-out-who-that-english-piano-guy-was/312447/30 "2005-08-23T16:32:08Z")
And that’s the end of this media story, if medical confidentiality is taken seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-find-out-who-that-english-piano-guy-was/312447/31 "2005-08-23T19:38:11Z")
He has now been named :- [BBC](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4177530.stm) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-find-out-who-that-english-piano-guy-was/312447.md?page=1)