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In a chilling story that gripped the nation in 1985, the Yorkshire home of Ron and May Hall was gutted by fire - but their painting of a crying boy remained unscathed. Hundreds more people went on to report experiences of house fires where a Crying Boy painting had survived. Now comedian STEVE PUNT has re-examined the "curse" for his Radio 4 programme Punt PI, in which he investigates quirky unsolved mysteries.
TWENTY-FIVE years ago, George Michael was a bouffant-haired pop god, David Cameron had just started at university - and Britain was in the grip of the Curse Of The Crying Boy. From all over the country came reports of house fires in which a picture of a tearful child was unscathed.
I remembered reading the story at the time and wanted to investigate whether anyone had ever solved the mystery. I tracked one of the pictures down. Recession has clearly struck the art world because it was only a tenner. I then talked to Kelvin MacKenzie - Editor of The Sun in 1985 who urged readers to send in their paintings before organising a bonfire - about what made the story so interesting.
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