UNITED KINGDOM: Internet sensation Merton welcomes passengers to UK with improvised song and a smile at Gatwick Airport

Record ID: 575017

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Internet sensation Merton welcomes passengers to UK with improvised song and a smile at Gatwick Airport
  • Date: 26th November 2010
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) PERFORMER, MERTON SAYING: "Well I've always done improvisational music. Normally I play piano and don't sing but this spring I started going on the website Chatroulette, which is a webcam site and singing to complete strangers who would pop up on the other screen. When T-Mobile approached me about this idea, I really liked the concept of putting a piano in a public spot and having a lot of people go by so there was a lot of material for creating improvisational content. So I like their concept. That's why I agreed to do it." VARIOUS OF MERTON SERENADING ARRIVALS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PERFORMER, MERTON SAYING: "I like humour. I like to laugh and I guess I'm lucky that I can make myself laugh which a lot of people can't. So when I have someone who is doing something funny enough that I can make up a story about it, that's what I really enjoy because they are at least half of it. I don't think anybody wants to see me sitting alone in a room making up stuff. They want to see me interacting with someone so that's the key for me."
  • Embargoed: 11th December 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA6H6KS82823FJTB879AF6P17EP
  • Story Text: Travellers arriving in England on November 24th at Gatwick Airport, were treated to a welcoming song from the internet's Youtube and Chatroulette sensation, 'Merton' playing improvised songs on his bright pink grand piano and serenading them through the arrival gate.
    Merton found fame incidentally whilst amusing himself and others on webcam/chatroom site, Chatroulette.com. The hooded and bespectacled performer would improvise ditties on his piano about the stranger on the other side of the screen.
    His witty one-on-one performances were an instant hit among Chatroulette users, who uploaded his skits which quickly spread all over the web. Soon people were logging on with suggestions and requests for a customised, improvised tune from the sudden star.
    While maintaining his anonymity under a green hood and lenseless glasses, Merton was happy to make a public appearance at Gatwick to play the shocking pink piano provided by T-Mobile, the mobile phone provider behind the series of flashmob advertising campaigns throughout London.
    Merton said, despite his new found popularity, he plans to keep his true identity under wraps.
    "If I get to a certain level of fame a certain type of media will become obsessed with finding out who I am and it will all end at that point. But right now its nice and I have a very low level of fame and not that many people care about exposing me."
    Merton is due to make pop-up appearances around random areas of London, surprising and entertaining an unsuspecting public for the rest of the week.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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