A DIY granddad got the shock of his life when he found a newspaper cutting from September 11, 1974, in his son's kitchen wall.

Frank Parradine, 62, of Oakway, Eltham, was left shaken when he found the cutting, noticed the date and then saw the headline: This is America.

The grandfather of three was working on his 33-year-old son Martin's home, in Broomhedge, Mottingham, when he found the Daily Express article, which was written in New York by a lecturer who travelled the world.

Retired ambulance driver Mr Parradine said he found the paper when he removed a cooker panel which had been plastered over behind the stove.

He said: "I was very shocked, September 11 is a very relevant date now.

"It has been on everyone's lips for the last two months. It is certainly a very strange coincidence."

The cutting had been untouched for more than 25 years before it was found by Mr Parradine.

"If I had done the work on Martin's kitchen three months earlier it would have had no relevance. The timing is amazing," he added.

The 27-year-old article is thought to have been put behind the panel in the 1970s as an insulator.

A spokesman for the Daily Express said: "This is very spooky under the current circumstances. But it is nice to know the Daily Express is helping to keep people warm."

In a spookier twist Hither Green spiritualist Angela Bayley, 42, of Lee Hurst Road, offered to inspect the paper to find out why the terrorist attacks took place on September 11.

She said: "There is a reason Osama bin Laden chose September 11 to commit his atrocity and there is a reason this paper was put where it was.

"It is not coincidental. I can feel a spirit now but I need to be closer to the paper to know any more."

November 22, 2001 10:46

John Higginson