A US singer stunned American embassy officials in London by using a newspaper's front page as a photo ID to obtain a new passport.
Award-winning singer-songwriter John Grant was due to fly from London to Verona for a show when he realized at the airport that he had forgotten his passport and was forced to dash to the embassy for an emergency replacement.
However, when he arrived at the high-security building, the only form of picture identification he had was a copy of that day’s edition of The (London) Times - which carried his image on its front page, the paper reported Friday.
The singer - who battled stage fright and addictions to alcohol, drugs and sex for 17 years - won the coveted Best Live Act award at the Mojo Awards in London the previous night. “I said to the security guards, ‘I haven’t got any ID, but here I am on the front page of The Times today,’” Grant said. “They read it, and I saw the look on their faces change from delight to horror as they realised that they had a drug-addicted pervert standing in front of them.”
He added, “Then one of them said, ‘It’s good enough for me. I doubt you’ve gone to all the trouble of printing a copy just to fool us.’”
The Queen of Denmark singer was issued a passport in less than two hours and caught a late afternoon flight, arriving in Ferrara, Italy, “just in time to walk on stage.”
Award-winning singer-songwriter John Grant was due to fly from London to Verona for a show when he realized at the airport that he had forgotten his passport and was forced to dash to the embassy for an emergency replacement.
However, when he arrived at the high-security building, the only form of picture identification he had was a copy of that day’s edition of The (London) Times - which carried his image on its front page, the paper reported Friday.
The singer - who battled stage fright and addictions to alcohol, drugs and sex for 17 years - won the coveted Best Live Act award at the Mojo Awards in London the previous night. “I said to the security guards, ‘I haven’t got any ID, but here I am on the front page of The Times today,’” Grant said. “They read it, and I saw the look on their faces change from delight to horror as they realised that they had a drug-addicted pervert standing in front of them.”
He added, “Then one of them said, ‘It’s good enough for me. I doubt you’ve gone to all the trouble of printing a copy just to fool us.’”
The Queen of Denmark singer was issued a passport in less than two hours and caught a late afternoon flight, arriving in Ferrara, Italy, “just in time to walk on stage.”
