Masked Crusader unmasked, a bit late 
Do you remember the masked crusader in a small English that made it into newspapers worldwide? The real-life superhero was dubbed Spa Man or the Caped Crusader of Tunbridge Wells. I wrote about it, as did other blogs, Somehow, the resolution of the real-life-imitating-comic-books did not get nearly as much attention, and I missed it at the time. It was something of an anti-climax, as this story too, proved to be a bunch of people making a hoax. The letters to local paper, Kent and Sussex Courier, was part of the hoax, but eventually people started talking and it was time to reveal the facts.
At last the answer can be provided: in the corner of the White Hart pub on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells last week, a bearded, shaggy haired man dressed in jeans and a blue shirt slipped away for an instant, then reappeared in an orange top, brown mask and brown underpants (worn, naturally, outside the orange trousers).
Meet Matt Lees, mild-mannered hairstylist by profession, would-be superhero in his spare time.
The 31-year-old stood proudly, ignoring the stares of some rather surprised pensioners. "Ha, ha!" he said. "It was me all along! Do my pants look all right like this?"
Mr Lees and his Robins - Chris Shaw, 33, and Rachel Bishop, 21 - then confessed to how they had created the character whose supposed exploits had gone round the world. It had, they admitted, been one big joke.
In fact, for most of his carreer, the superhero had not even existed. The costume was made somewhat later, complete with a zero (misread for the letter O) on the chest to tell it was really nothing to it. It was, like most fantastic stories, just another funny hoax.
5:23:26 PM 
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