An 11 year-old newspaper vendor of Cape Town, in South Africa, sold the most newspapers over a 12 month period and was rewarded as a first prize a one week stay in a London hotel.
The second day in the hotel the lad was so bored that just about everyone noticed it. Some one telephoned the Daily Mirror. The Mirror reporter interviewed the lad and published a photo and a story about the lad being bored to death with his first prize.
The manager of the Mirror decided to change all that by offering the lad a job to sell the Mirror. He gladly accepted. After his first day he came back without selling a single newspaper.
The Mirror's manager wanted to know how this was possible. How could the lad have sold most newspapers in Cape Town, yet he could not sell a single paper in London. The lad explained that he did not have the answer either. He was shouting the paper's name, like he was used to do in Cape Town: "Mirror, Mirror!" Daily Mirror!", but no one bought a paper.
The manager then explained that things are done a bit different in London. In London the vendors pick themselves a story on the front page and then shouts the headline. That is how it is done in London.
The next day the lad was selling newspapers at a horrific rate, outselling all other vendors. The manager and the editor decided to go and have a look.
On a street corner they found the lad shouting: "Prince Charles castrated, Prince Charles castrated!" And people were buying papers like crazy.
Both the manager and the editor realized that the Mirror was heading for big trouble, so they jumped out of their car, grabbed the boy and pulled him into the car. Both wanted to know how the lad could shout such things on street corners.
The lad explained: "Well, you said I must pick a story on the front page and shout its headlines."
"Yes," said the manager, "but where the hell do you see such a story on today's front page?"
The lad replied: "Look, here it is, it says: 'Royal Ball Off'!"
****************************************************************
