David Bruce Books: David Bruce: The Kindest People: Be Excellent to Each Other (Volume 2) (Free PDF)

2. “MY GOD, BUT YOU’RE LOVELY”

On 21 February 1970, actress Françoise Pascal, who was pregnant, went to actress Vivianne Ventura’s house. Unfortunately, a fire broke out. She was on the third floor, and many people — including film director Roman Polanski and film producer Gene Gutowsky — held a sheet for her to jump on. She jumped, missed the sheet, and landed on some iron railings — her neck was between two railings, and her left arm was impaled on a railing. Unconscious, she was taken to a hospital. She lost her baby. Drugged on morphine to stop the pain, she drifted in and out of consciousness. She vaguely remembers an Indian doctor who comforted her. Once she came out of the morphine-induced haze, she learned that her friend the comedian Peter Sellers had visited her, dressed as an Indian doctor so that members of the press would not recognize him. He left a card for her; on the card he had written, “MY GOD, BUT YOU’RE LOVELY.”

3. A Complete New Sound System

Max Geldray played jazz saxophone on Great Britain’s The Goon Show, two of whose stars were Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers. When Mr. Geldray needed a vein removed, he did not tell anyone because it was a minor operation. However, because he is a celebrity, news of the operation got into the newspapers. When Mr. Geldray returned home after the operation, he found his home filled with flowers and fruit — gifts from Mr. Secombe. And Mr. Sellers arrived and carried Mr. Geldray, who couldn’t walk, to his car, and then drove him to a shopping center. There, Mr. Sellers filled the car with a complete new sound system that was better than the one Mr. Geldray already had.

4. “Believe Me, I Spent 20 Years Racking Up Huge Debts Pursuing Comedy”

In October 2009, the primary sponsor of U.S. Speedskating — the Dutch bank DSB — went bankrupt. The 2010 Winter Games were coming up, and the company could not donate the $300,000 it had pledged. Luckily on 2 November 2009, comedian Stephen Colbert announced that his show was becoming the team’s primary sponsor. He asked viewers to make small donations, and the U.S. Speedskating team received over $300,000 donated by approximately 9,000 people. It was a good investment — the team won 10 medals at the Olympic Games. Why did Mr. Colbert do this good deed? He explained, “Believe me, I spent 20 years racking up huge debts pursuing comedy.”

5. Cricket Superstar Muttiah “Murali” Muralithar is a Superstar Good Samaritan

Cricket superstar Muttiah “Murali” Muralithar is a good person. Chandika Hathurasinghe and Murali once stopped at a small café close to the Parliament grounds in Colombo, Sri Lanka. A boy working there recognized Murali and asked him for a signed photograph. Murali did not have one on him, but he promised to bring one by later. He did not forget. The very next day, after cricket practice, he went to the small café and gave the boy a signed photograph. Muali is talkative. Mahela Jayawardene said in an article in the Guardian, “He is the sort of guy you want in the dressing room, but sometimes you think: ‘Why is he in the dressing room — he won’t stop talking!’ When he exhausts us, he goes to see the opposition. He is the only player I have ever known who spends more time in the opponents’ dressing room than his own. You never sit next to him on an aeroplane because you won’t get any sleep. Lal, the masseur, has that job. But ask him to make a speech and you will be lucky to get 10 words.” Murali does serious good in the world. In 2005, he visited the town of Batticaloa on Sri Lanka’s east coast. It had been hit hard by a tsunami, and Murali arranged for 10 trucks to distribute emergency supplies in the relief camps.

6. Good Deed at the Famous Five Stand

A fan of the Hibernian Football Club in Edinburgh, Scotland, copied and posted this on the football team’s website on 7 October 2012: “Bit of a long shot that the person will read this, but just wanted to say Thanks so much to the kind person that found my son’s iPod Touch in the toilets in the Famous Five stand and handed it in. He only got it less than 2 months ago so it’s pretty new. He was half way down St. Clair Street before he realised he’d lost it and we thought there was no chance he’d get it back. He was so upset that it was gone, we were amazed it had been handed in. So anyway if you read this or if anyone knows who it was can they pass on my thanks for renewing my faith in human nature and making an 8-year-old boy very happy again.” The Famous Five are Hibernian’s 1940s and 1950s forward line of Bobby Johnstone, Willie Ormond, Lawrie Reilly, Gordon Smith, and Eddie Turnbull, all of whom have been inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame. The north stand at Easter Road is named in their honor.

Thursday, April 7, 2022

David Bruce: The Kindest People: Be Excellent to Each Other (Volume 2) (Free PDF)

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David Bruce: The Most Interesting People in Religion: 250 Anecdotes (FREE PDF)