A few weeks ago Carmarthenshire Council tourism officers reacted to a negative article in a magazine called 'The Oldie' by inviting the writer, a Mr Wilfred De'ath, back to the county to stay in five star accommodation (all expenses paid apart from the train fare, as I understand it) to re-sample the culinary delights of our county. They also sent him a lot of cheese.
The object of the exercise was, understandably, to raise the profile of the county as a tourist destination after Mr De'Ath, who lives in Cambridgeshire said he'd 'rather die than spend another 2 days in Carmarthenshire'. Quite how widespread and influential the 'Oldie' magazine is I don't know. The return visit was also reported in the Carmarthen Journal.
Anyway, the object of this blogpost is to suggest to Carmarthenshire Council that sometimes it's a good idea to Google a name before sending out invitations, and cheese, this can be particularly informative if the name is unusual. If they had 'done a quick google' they would have seen several articles including this from 2006, where Mr De'Ath proudly recounts his years spent conning various hotels, for which he did a couple of spells inside. As well as treating with caution the words of a convicted fraudster, they may have also seen this article in Private Eye, and presumably they haven't missed today's news from the Daily Mail in relation to the Jimmy Savile arrests...Mr De'Ath is now out on police bail 'pending inquiries'.
Update 29th November 2012; This story has now appeared in Private Eye, see here
8 comments:
Wonder what excuses the Council will make this time and I also wonder if the Carmarthen Journal will cover this story on Wednesday?
The Oldie is quite a popular publication edited by Richard Ingrams, formerly of Private Eye. It's attitude is best summed up as "growing old disgracefully", and I am sure they will have enjoyed Mr De'Ath's exploits in Carmarthenshire, as well as the cheese.
Wilfred De'Ath is not the only name County Hall should google.
Oh my god. What a hoot ! this has got to be the funniest story ever - he must have had a good laugh at all the the fuss made. I know its been said quite a lot in the past but where this council is involved YOU JUST CANT MAKE IT UP !!!!
Yeh what a joke! but the serious side to this is the fact that we as tax payers have had to foot the bill.
OMG I am speechless! good detective work!
The adage, "It takes a thief to catch a thief" springs to mind. Excellent research Jacqui. Go show CCC how it is done!
Ha ha how funny! Mind you, Mr De'Ath was brave eating food prepared by residents of the county he insulted. Who knows what extra ingredients went in his dish..........
Who made the decision to ask him back? Someone should be held accountable for wasting tax payers money!
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