A British hospital has asked for help from the public in determining the identity of a distressed man who has been unable to utter a word since being found on a beach more than a month ago and who has turned out to be a piano virtuoso.
Officials at the Medway hospital said the man has been unable to speak and remains anxious about close interaction since being found soaking wet on the beach of the south-eastern Kent coastal town of Sheerness, dressed in a smart black suit and tie.
After failing to get him to talk, hospital employees gave the man pen and paper, hoping he would write his name, but instead he drew a concert piano.
”When we took him to the chapel piano, it really was amazing … he played for several hours, non-stop,” said Michael Camp, one of the social workers at the hospital. ”I am not knowledgeable about classical music, but I could tell he was pretty good.”
Quickly dubbed ”the piano man”, the hospital’s staff members have taken to helping him compose as efforts continue to determine his identity.
After he failed to respond to speakers of several foreign languages, the hospital made an appeal for help from the British public on Sunday through a national service for missing persons. — Sapa-AFP