Fun_People Archive
9 Dec
NEWS FLASH: King Size Dick Escapes Fire

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Tue,  9 Dec 97 21:59:38 -0800
To: Fun_People
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Subject: NEWS FLASH: King Size Dick Escapes Fire

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Excerpted-from: Reuters

  <http://www.infobeat.com/main/cgi/main_merc.cgi?refurl=www.fullstory.com>


11:05 AM ET 12/08/97   German pop singer King Size Dick escapes fire
	 (Updates with details about singer's name)

    COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) - A popular Cologne singer named King Size
Dick escaped shaken but unhurt from his apartment Sunday when a fire broke
out during a dinner party, his wife Inge Ganss said Monday.
    King Size Dick, a heavyset baritone known for his thick grey hair and
long flowing beard, was hosting a party for 10 guests including Cologne
Mayor Renate Canisius and well known local media figures.
    King Size Dick, a popular local celebrity known for belting out rock
songs in a thick Cologne accent, was born Heinz Ganss in 1942.
    As a young singer in Britain in the 1960s, he was given the nickname
``King Size'' by musician friends for his size -- six feet tall and 250
pounds, his wife said.
    He returned to Cologne in the late 1960s and local fans added ``Dick,''
which means ``fat'' in German, to his stage name.
    ``We had no idea what the name meant in English until about 15 years
ago when my husband was about to appear on the same television show in
Germany with Tina Turner,'' Inge Ganss said.  ``She said she had seen his
name on the program.''
    ``We were both shocked, but it is an affectionate-sounding name in
German and he was already so well known in Cologne that there was no way he
would have changed it. The electric and phone bills are in his name and King
Size Dick is on our mailbox.''
    ...
	 REUTERS

© 1997 Peter Langston