evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch) (12/03/89)
Sometime back, the net was exposed to requests for people to send
postcards to this kid in Surrey, UK who had canver and wanted to break a
record for receiving the most postcards.
At the time the request was denounced by some as a hoax. Some suggested
the kid in question was dead.
This week, while I was at a client's site near Barrie, Ontario, they received
an anonymous fax mentioning the kid's quest, with a request to fax the
notice on to 10 other places. Judging from the print quality I'd say it had
already been passed along four or five times. There was an extensive
list of Canadian companies, big and small, who had tacked their names on
before re-sending the notice.
(Yes, I know most fax systems identify their origins with a small header
across the top. This one didn't.)
Is this postcard thing legit or not? Was it ever?
--
Evan Leibovitch, Telly Computing, located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario
evan@telly.on.ca / uunet!attcan!telly!evan / (416)452-0504
"The Honorable Member disagrees. I can hear him shaking his head" - P.E.T.flint@me.utoronto.ca (Kenneth R. Flint) (12/04/89)
<257829B3.7232@telly.on.ca> evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch) writes: >Sometime back, the net was exposed to requests for people to send >postcards to this kid in Surrey, UK who had canver and wanted to break a >record for receiving the most postcards. > >At the time the request was denounced by some as a hoax. Some suggested >the kid in question was dead. > >This week, while I was at a client's site near Barrie, Ontario, they received >an anonymous fax mentioning the kid's quest, with a request to fax the >notice on to 10 other places. Judging from the print quality I'd say it had >already been passed along four or five times. There was an extensive >list of Canadian companies, big and small, who had tacked their names on >before re-sending the notice. ---Begin plagerism REPRINTED WITHOUT PERMISSION (sorry Brad) Toronto Star, Sunday December 3, 1989 Thunder Bay students help terminally ill boy set record Thunder Bay (CP) - With a little help from their fellow students across the city, two high school students have helped make the wish of a terminally ill British boy come true. Seven-year-old Craig Shergold of Surrey, England, wanted to get his name in the Guiness Book of World Records for recieving the most get-well cards. The cancer patient had already made a wide appeal for cards. He wasn't expected to live much longer and was 10,000 short of breaking the 1.2 million world record for recieving cards. So Grade 12 students Shelley Ward, 16, and Jennifer Sciliano, 17, visited city schools to ask students between junior kindergarten and Grade 13 to send cards to the ailing boy. Within three days, Siciliano's home was packed with so many cards it took five hours to count them. The total was 13,000. "A couple we read and we just started to cry," says Ward. ---End plagerism The article did not say they actually sent the cards or whether the students were on a wild goose chase. There was no mention whether or not the boy had died, or whether it was a hoax, as noted many times on the net. Who knows.... Ken -- Kenneth Flint flint@me.utoronto.ca UUCP: ...!utai!me!flint flint@me.toronto.edu "Several years ago I said goodbye to my own sanity... [ Jays in 1990, Argos & but I don't mind at all" --Bourgeois Tagg-- [ Maple Leafs whenever!
king@dciem.dciem.dnd.ca (Stephen King) (12/04/89)
In article <257829B3.7232@telly.on.ca> evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch) writes: >Sometime back, the net was exposed to requests for people to send >postcards to this kid in Surrey, UK who had canver and wanted to break a >record for receiving the most postcards. > [...] >Is this postcard thing legit or not? Was it ever? Apparantly legit. CBC radio news last Friday had an item about the kid. He got enough get-well cards to get him into the Guiness Book, as he wanted. His father said that they had gotten over 1.4 million cards. (He needed just over a million to break the record). The kid said "Thanks and hello to all you Canadians that sent cards. It's been great" (or something like that)
john@spycal.UUCP (John Presley) (12/05/89)
In article <1989Dec3.111033.19558@me.toronto.edu>, flint@me.utoronto.ca (Kenneth R. Flint) writes: > Seven-year-old Craig Shergold of Surrey, England, wanted to get his name > in the Guiness Book of World Records for recieving the most get-well > cards. > students were on a wild goose chase. There was no mention whether or > not the boy had died, or whether it was a hoax, as noted many times on > the net. I heard the boy and his father? interviewed on CBC RAdio last week. Maybe there is a little more than usual to this one. -- -- John Presley - UNiSYS Canada Inc, Calgary, Alberta - john@spycal.UUCP --
barbara@geovision.uucp (Barbara Rousseau) (12/06/89)
I heard a different story, according to the Ottawa Citizen (apparently a Follow-up to a previous article in the same veiN): "Brown's Beat", sometime last week: "Get-Well Cards Still Causing Headaches" They checked up on a version that is circulating in Ottawa, traced it to a hospital in England that is getting thousands of cards they don't want. Barbara Palmer Rousseau
larry@hcr.uucp (Larry Philps) (12/08/89)
The "dead" kid was interviewed on the radio here in Toronto earlier this week.
I did not hear the interview, but rather the interviewer talking to somebody
about the interview later.
The kid did break the world record. As of early this week he had received
over 14 MILLION cards! He also asked the world to please STOP sending them.
Larry Philps HCR Corporation
130 Bloor St. West, 10th floor Toronto, Ontario. M5S 1N5
(416) 922-1937 {utzoo,utcsri}!hcr!larry