Boy George, I think he’s got it!

To tell you how I found out about this story involves disclosing a private and guilty secret.

I watch breakfast television.

I would like to tell you that it’s just for the news headlines, the travel update and the weather report (which it is), but I must also admit that I find the bright colours and the glassy smiles of the presenters strangely comforting.

That and the fact that on occasion, they cover a news story that is actually interesting.

This time it was an interview with Boy George, the man who appears prominently in the soundtrack of my childhood and possibly the only living person whose eyeliner skills I envy. Mr. George has recently returned to its rightful owners an icon which he had bought in the mid 80s, and which turned out to be looted from church in Cyprus during the war in 1974. When he bought the icon, he had no idea where it came from, just that he appreciated it as a work of art. It was through a series of serendipitous events – who knew Bishops from the Church of Cyprus watched Dutch television? – that the Cypriot Church found out where their treasure had ended up and embarked on the process of getting it back.

You can see the interview here.

As UCL’s Cultural Property Advisor, stories like this give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. For a popstar, Boy George is pleasingly eloquent on the subject of cultural property; he could give some museums a run for their money.