Mystery surrounds age of reclusive recluse

July 23, 2010 - PRLog -- Throughout his illustrious career as nobody in particular, de Havilland’s reported age has varied from the realistic to the bizarre.

According to his Facebook page, Paul de Havilland, was born July 23, 1974. Some would consider this 'case closed'. Facebook is, after all, second only to Wikipedia on Honestlyitstrue.com’s content reliability index. However, attempts to verify this seemingly indisputable evidence with an official birth certificate have proved futile. Mentone District Hospital, where de Havilland is known to have been born, had their filing room destroyed by fire back in 1969. So the debate rages on and we are forced to rely on eye-witness accounts from real-life people.

Those who’ve met the part time hermit have varying descriptions of his age. “I see him few months ago. He look about 100 years,” says Yu Kuming, a shop assistant in a local Beijing supermarket. “He come buy cigarettes and look like kung fu master with long beard.”

Md Salim Choudhury Md Md, a street vendor in Dhaka, Bangladesh, reckoned his age much younger. “Appneh, I know that man. He definitely was younger, ok. Maybe 19 or 20, ok.” When asked how he knew, Md Salim Choudhury Md Md referred to his customer’s shaved head, loud T-shirts and mirror or 'aviator' sunglasses. “I see him all the time, ok. He think he so cool, ok. Just like kids out of school with big pants and cigarette, ok.”

Perhaps the reason for all this conjecture is de Havilland’s propensity for self-misrepresentation. “That’s the thing about Paulie, you’re never quite sure who he is trying to be from one day to the next,” explains Stevo, a supposed old army buddy of de Havilland’s. Stevo says they spent two tours together in Vietnam, chasing ‘Charlie’, a mysterious enemy soldier they were never able to track down. “One day he’s a monk, the next a rabbi. Hell, half the time I didn’t know who he was, let alone his age,” Stevo says. “That’s how he got his code name: Chameleon.”

Whatever, his true age, one thing is for certain, today is his birthday, and fans, detractors and wannabe tryhards around the globe, went out of their way to wish him all the best. One fan went so far as to name his newborn daughter after him, explaining, “Paul de Havilland is you know, like, like. You know?”

I guess we never will.

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