# Canoeist resurfaces five years on ( BBC )



## Gavin Gait (Aug 14, 2005)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7124119.stm

(EEK) (EEK) (EEK) (EEK)


----------



## cboots (Aug 16, 2004)

Shades of John Stonehouse dare I say it. One time Postmaster General of the UK; went missing at sea, presumed dead. Turned up in Melbourne some while later but not calling himself Mr. Stonehouse anymore.
CBoots


----------



## Coastie (Aug 24, 2005)

John Stonehouse! Now THERE'S a name from the past!! Responsible for the jamming of RNI in 1970. Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs!


----------



## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Has anyone been to Seaton Carew? If I lived there, I too would get into a canoe and paddle towards the horizon.

Boy, is he in trouble when he gets home!.

John T.


----------



## Gulpers (Sep 8, 2005)

I wonder if he bumped into *Lord Lucan* or *Harold Holt* in his travels? (Jester)


----------



## derekhore (Sep 21, 2007)

....or even Reginald Perrin!! (Thumb)


----------



## bobs (Aug 12, 2006)

Seems this guy was found in London . . . . up the Thames without a paddle!


----------



## cboots (Aug 16, 2004)

No way, Lord Lucan underwent plastic surgery in Mexico and is now known as Paris Hilton, and, as everyone in Australia knows, Harold Holt lives onboard a Chinese nuclear submarine where he is a revered professor of the Thoughts of Chairman Mao. Ever in the interests of historical accuracy,
CBoots


----------



## 6639 (Apr 20, 2006)

In my ignorance may I ask, who the hell was Harold Holt??


----------



## Gavin Gait (Aug 14, 2005)

http://www.abc.net.au/gnt/history/Transcripts/s951005.htm

There you go Neil I had to look it up too !!


----------



## cboots (Aug 16, 2004)

For the enlightenment of youse ignorant Poms, Harold Holt was a prime minister of Australia who drowned whilst swimming in rough seas, probably thought he could walk on water. The irony is that there is a large swimming complex named after him out on the Mornington Peninsula. That is why we have no satirists in Australia, everyone would take them seriously.
CBoots


----------



## Gulpers (Sep 8, 2005)

cboots said:


> No way, Lord Lucan underwent plastic surgery in Mexico and is now known as Paris Hilton, and, as everyone in Australia knows, Harold Holt lives onboard a Chinese nuclear submarine where he is a revered professor of the Thoughts of Chairman Mao. Ever in the interests of historical accuracy,
> CBoots


Very good cboots! (Applause)


----------



## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Harold Holt's disappearance was forecast years earlier by the Beatles in their song: "Yellow Submarine".

John T.


----------



## Steve Woodward (Sep 4, 2006)

Must be the trauma, or on a lighter note perhaps he was up a creek without a paddle (Jester) 
Thankfully he is back with his family and they can now begin to start anew
Steve


----------



## Riptide (Aug 21, 2007)

It looks as though his wife has gone to Panama.?
Kenny.


----------



## Tmac1720 (Jun 24, 2005)

Just for Coastie, all together now sing along with me:
"John Stonehouse went swimming
when his bank was a failure.
He jumped in at Miami
and he swam to Australia" (Wave)


----------



## Gavin Gait (Aug 14, 2005)

Apparently the Police were tipped off that there was a Panama connection 3 or 4 months ago ( just before his wife went there ) , also this guy sold a house for cash in the months immediately prior to going missing so something just doesn't add up !!!


----------



## Richard Green (Apr 9, 2006)

Maybe there's a hefty life insurance policy lurking somewhere in the background.....In any event a fascinating story..........which I'm sure will net them millions when they sell the rights to Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks with Tom Cruise in the lead role and Dolly "Steeltown" Parton as his wife...


----------



## Sister Eleff (Nov 28, 2006)

There was a report here in Australia that he had reappeared but his wife was missing apparently had moved to Australia!


----------



## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

They all end up Downunder, Sister - Lord Lucan, John Stonehouse, Ronnie Biggs, you, me....the list is endless.

John T.


----------



## benjidog (Oct 27, 2005)

What I thought was particularly stupid about the reporting of this case was the UK newspaper headlines proclaiming "Missing canoeist back from the dead" or similar.

This was not a case of resurrection at all - he was not "back from the dead" but merely back from wherever he sloped off to for the last 5 years.

Bah! Humbug! (I am practising ready for Christmas)

Brian


----------



## JoK (Nov 12, 2006)

I see he is going to be charged with insurance fraud...


----------



## benjidog (Oct 27, 2005)

He would have to be really dumb to come back and hand himself in to the police if it was an insurance fraud. 

I don't think we have heard the end of this by a long chalk.

Incidentally, in my opinion, the biggest perpetrators of insurance fraud are the insurance companies who, having taken your money, will do everything they can to avoid paying out even on genuine claims! (Cloud) 

Brian


----------



## non descript (Nov 18, 2005)

benjidog said:


> Incidentally, in my opinion, the biggest perpetrators of insurance fraud are the insurance companies who, having taken your money, will do everything they can to avoid paying out even on genuine claims! (Cloud)
> 
> Brian


Brian
You make a particularly wise and creditable point (Applause) – I for one have long since abandoned any trust in so-called insurance companies, and unless the policy is required by law (e.g. motor vehicle), or logic (e.g. building insurance), I tend to avoid any insurance policies like the plague and turn instead to self-insurance as a better way.

Having seen the frankly appalling way an elderly friend was treated by one company, who tried every trick in the book to escape from their liabilities and finally, when faced with legal action, agreed to pay out, but at 70pct of the claim and then only in sub-standard high street jeweliers' vouchers, to a 90 years old bed-ridden widow, saying that she had no choice, but to get out of bed and go out and buy herself a replacement engagement ring from the high street. When she refused to buy “a replacement ring” for something that in her mind was irreplaceable, they offered to exchange the vouchers for cash at 50pct discount (possibly proving quite how sub-standard they actually were). Interestingly they also levied a further deducible of £100 on that cash, as well as the original £200 excess on the policy.
So her £850 valuation proven ring was eventually worth just £97.50 in cash – a wonderful support after more than 50 years of paying premiums and never making a claim.
I really must get round to naming the company, now how can I do that without risking the well being of the Site?
(Thumb) 
Mark


----------



## benjidog (Oct 27, 2005)

Mark,

I think we can all quote bad experiences though nothing quite as disgusting as the one you mention which really is dreadful.

Oh dear - I think I might have open a sluice valve with that comment!

Brian


----------



## Coastie (Aug 24, 2005)

benjidog said:


> Mark,
> 
> I think we can all quote bad experiences though nothing quite as disgusting as the one you mention which really is dreadful.
> 
> ...


Yep! Now, about my roof last year...................................!


----------



## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

The plot thickens - Hartlepool's answer to Ann Frank!

John T.


----------

