Strange Stories

Language level: Basic

Source: Speak Up

Standard: British and NZ accents

STRANGE HISTORIES

Musical Madness

SCOTTLAND THE BRAVE

Scotland’s Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in Britain so it was a big surprise when volunteers, who were removing rubbish, found a piano near the mountain’s 1.350m peak this summer. Volunteer Nigel Hawking says: “We couldn’t believe our eyes! It was under a pile of stones. The only thing missing was the keyboard, and that’s another mystery…”

Well, 64-year-old Kenny Campbell has all the answers: “It was an organ. I carried it to the summit and played Scotland the Brave up there. That was 1971…after we sold the keys for charity.” He returned two months after his performance, but couldn’t find the organ: someone had buried it under the stones.

AIR GUITAR!

Every teenage boy has stood in his bedroom, listening to his favourite rock song and pretending to play an imaginary guitar in front of the mirror. Well, some of these “air guitarists” will see their dreams come true on September 5, 6 and 7, at the Air Guitar World Championships, in Oulu, Finland. Here contestants, dressed from head to toe is spandex and bandannas will “play” to 10.000 screaming fans. National champs from 17 countries will take part in the competition, which starts with the traditional High Altitude Training Camping, goes on to a Qualifying Round, and reaches its peak at the AGWC Final on September 7, at the biggest rock club in Finland: Club Teatria. At last year’s Guildford music festival, 4.000 people mimed to the Guns ‘n’ Roses song “Sweet Child o’ Mine” and created the first world record for an air guitar ensemble.