England bars visitors for failing Beatles quiz - Is this for real?

[astro]

U.K. bars visitors over Beatles quiz - Brazilians sent home after failing questions on Fab Four

A lack of knowledge about the Beatles proved costly for six Brazilians — immigration officials at Heathrow Airport sent them packing when they failed a quiz about the Fab Four.

THE BRAZILIANS WERE given the quick test on Thursday after they claimed to be traveling to Britain for Liverpool’s Mathew Street Festival, which celebrates the lives of the northern English city’s most famous sons.

Festival organizer Bill Heckle was quoted as saying by the Liverpool Daily Post on Friday that the Brazilians did not know the answers to several questions posed by Portuguese-speaking immigration officials. They were stumped when asked who Yoko Ono was and erroneously told officials that Ringo Starr had died, according to the report. A spokeswoman for the Home Office confirmed that six Brazilians were refused entry into Britain on Thursday but declined to give details, citing official policy not to discuss individual cases.

A spokesman for the Cavern Club Brazil, which organized the trip, said the group’s treatment had been “ridiculous and very upsetting.”

“They played songs and asked us to name them. They actually made people sing Beatles songs,” Fabiana Carvalho said. “Some of the young people don’t know that much about The Beatles — they are here to see the Brazilian bands, and to travel.”

[lieu]

I guess they’re really trying to match story with destination but still… wow.

Just wow.

[mtrahey]

I have an image of a stark hill side, a rickety bridge spans a gorge. A customs inspector leans on his staff, as the tourists approach he commands “Stop! You must answer my questions three ere the British Isle you see! What… is your name? What… is your favorite colour? What… is ugly and yellow and lives off dead beetles?”

[Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor]

For a moment, I thought it was US Immigration, again…

[NurseCarmen]

*Originally posted by mtrahey *
**What… is ugly and yellow and lives off dead beetles?" **

Might I ask?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

[jjimm]

If it’s true, it’s bloody stupid. How embarrassing.

[mtrahey]

Oh, er sorry, an old Joke.

Yoko Ono

[hanza]

This sounds about standard for British immigration officials, I’m afraid to say. the stories I’ve heard about the way they’ve treated people trying to enetr Britain have made me throughly ashamed. My own boyfriend was put on the first plane back to Hungary once for failing to give adequate answers to a series of random personal questions- they rang me up and grilled me over the telephone as well. i hadn’t seen him for 4 months previously, and he was coming to attend my graduation
Thank Og Hungary will soon be joing the E.U and they won’t be able to do things like that to him ever again

[Ms_Boods]

I flew back to London in October 2001 – I have an English accent, but an American passport, and at that time, it was a shiny new reissue…this made the lady at customs suspicious, and when she spied my guitar case, she made me play, and after I did (despite being asleep on my feet after the long flight), she latched on to my grubby Arsenal scarf, and started to quiz me about the squad – made me think of that scene in ‘The Man with Two Brains’ when Steve Martin says something like, ‘Damn, your drunk tests are hard!’

[Violet]

Amusing!

[Fretful_Porpentine]

Immigration officials in general seem to have an incredibly roundabout way of trying to ascertain people’s bona fides. On my one and only trip to Canada, the Powers That Be took it into their heads that I couldn’t possibly be a genuine student if I was traveling in late September (which is absurd, since lots of colleges have nontraditional schedules and I was through with my coursework anyway, but I digress). Two different officials spent about half an hour grilling me about my dissertation topic, but neither of them asked to see a student ID, which would have settled the question immediately. (I should, of course, have shown it to them anyway, but my brain tends to shut off when scary men in uniform are firing questions at me.)