Posted: Oct Wed 2008 11:15 AM CDT
Paul McCartney’s Head Left On a Train
We knew Paul McCartney had lost his head when he started writing Silly Love Songs.
The surprising thing is that it was last seen on a train headed to Reading. That’s right. The wax-replica head of Sir Paul McCartney was left on the London-to-Reading train by its owner, Joby Carter, on Thursday, October 16. The train’s run ended at Reading, but Carter exited at an earlier stop.
He’s offering a $4,000 reward for its safe return.
Heading to auction
The Beatle-head was heading to auction at Carters Entertainment auctioneers when it was missed; it was expected to bring between $10,000 and $20,000. That is, until it was left in a bag under a train seat by an absent-minded Englishman.
The wax-sculpture noggin was made in the 1960s and had been displayed for years at the Louis Tussauds museum in Great Yarmouth.
“It was just a silly thing to do,” said Carter. “If it wasn’t so critical to get it back for the auction it would probably be quite funny.
“A lot of hoax calls”
“So far, we’ve had a lot of hoax calls from people claiming to have seen the head but nothing concrete. Someone may have just picked it up and thrown it away without realizing what it was or someone might be trying to sell it.
“I’ve put up the reward and am desperate to get it back.”
The head was to be auctioned along with other fairground memorabilia. There it is on the auctioneer’s list, No 281, along with the “Bollands Working Egyptian Tomb (”fully restored with no wood worm or rot”), the “Mutoscope Girly Reel (”works on old pennies”), the Popeye ‘Strength Tester’ Arcade Machine, the ‘Ben-Hur’ Chariot (really?), and the Period Racing Car, among hundreds of other items.
The head’s magical mystery tour
Surely the head’s magical mystery tour won’t put too much of a spoke in the wheel of Carter’s annual auction.
“The silly thing is since the appeal to find the head we’ve had more bids come in and the sell price is guaranteed to have gone up,” says Mr. Carter. You can just see him wringing his hands. “But until it is found it is worthless.”
And you’ll notice, if you go to the BBC News website for a picture, that it doesn’t even really look like him.
