Ringo has enough mail

Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has stunned fans by warning that he will never sign his autograph again. The 68-year-old rocker revealed his disappointing news to fans in a video clip on his website. He told fans: “After the 20th of October please do not send fan mail to any address you have. “Nothing will be signed after the 20th of October. If that is the date on the envelope, it’s gonna be tossed.”

Here’s my take: “Brush with Greatness” is the 18th episode from the second season of The Simpsons. The episode was first shown on April 11, 1991. In that episode, Ringo was still answering mail from 1966, notably one letter from Marge Simpson. Now, 17 years on, he may have caught up on his backlog of mail to such an extent that he is fast approaching the date when he will have enough mail to last him for the rest of his expected lifespan. And that date has now been announced. He’s just too kind! He knows that he won’t live long enough to be able to answer mail that is sent after the 20th of October 2008, and lets us know.

But seriously: George and Paul stopped signing stuff sent by mail in the eighties, while Ringo still continued signing everything. Now he’s being critizised for having the decency to tell his fans that he’s discontinuing this practice. Come on, and stop the hassle!