Cinquantamila.it La storia raccontata da Giorgio Dell'Arti

(in lettere) This column expressed scepticism yesterday (see below) about a remark by David Letterman, host of The Late Show in America, who poked fun at an alleged Australian who allegedly typed the words "one, two, three ..." through to 1 million.

Now we learn that Letterman was simply quoting from the Sunshine Coast Daily in Queensland, which is clearly required reading on both coasts of the United States. That paper reported on August 22 that Les Stewart, a resident of Mudjimba, "spent 15 years, from 1983 to 1998, typing out all of the numbers from one to 1 million (in letters not numerals), simply because he wanted something to do" and thus got himself into Guinness World Records. "It just came naturally to me," he told the paper, which noted that he had typed for 20 minutes, every waking hour on the hour, until the task was done.

Then he threw out all but two of the 19,890 pages he typed over those 15 years. "I just put them in the recycling bin - we’ve got too many things in the house," he said. "But I kept the first and the last page."

The paper reported that Les was also named in Guinness World Records for putting the most number of stamps on a single envelope - 3400, to be exact.

Stewart said he would like to continue attempting world records, but the judging had become much stricter. "Any athlete will tell you they’re getting harder every year."


Our original report
On The Late Show on US television last week, its host, David Letterman, reported: "Here’s a fascinating story: there’s a man in Australia and he spent the last 15 years of his life typing - typing - the numbers one to 1 million. Fifteen years of his life typing the numbers, starting out with ’o-n-e’; 15 years, one to 1 million. And, guess what, girls? He’s single."

This column would appreciate more detail on the Australian man to whom Letterman refers, as well as your suggestions on why this man might have undertaken such a project. The most inspired insight will win this column’s traditional red-covered prize.

Posted by SMH Online
September 4, 2007 12:10 AM