According to the BBC, 6 Brazilians who were coming to the Liverpool Beatles Fest were turned back by British immigration when they could not answer basic questions like who Yoko Ono was, whether Ringo Starr was dead, and they were played various Beatle songs and asked to identify them. A spokesperson for the whole contingent (72 of them!) said they were just kids, and were coming to check out bands in general.

Hmm. Does raise the spectre of amusing questions one might be asked at immigration.

"So you say you are going to the Hank Williams Memorial Concert? A likely story. What kind of bird was too blue to fly?"

"So, foreign scum, travelling to Canada to check out our music, eh? Was Edmund Fitzgerald (a) our first prime minister; (b) the translator of the Rubyaiat of Omar Khayyam; or (c) a big boat in trouble?


yours,

Peter T.