Biggest Tragedy Award of the Convention goes to two Swedish fans who booked a flight the day before the event. Our enthusiastic Swedes then bombed it to the hotel to discover it curiously empty. Enter Paul Browne stage left with an entourage of happy fans fresh from the audience with Andy at the Pink Museum. Paul B swiftly exits stage right unable to inform the Swedish pair exactly what they just missed....

The Mystery Of The Vanishing Boxes: Picture this: A large amount of Convention boxes on display in the Hotel Reception awaiting latecomers due to register (and also any newcomers). By 2am they had all vanished in what can only be described as supernatural circumstances. No witnesses to the event could be found and talk of dubious characters selling on the boxes to non-attending fans through the music press could only be put down as cynical rumors. Spooky 

The Messerschmitt Twins live set was not without incident. Front man Jimmy Messerschmitt had indulged in the alcohol just a little too much prior to taking the stage and was convinced he was on stage at Wembley. Junior's microphone managed to pack up during the live set which meant he couldn't perfect his Paul Humphrey's routine with a rendition of Souvenir. There were rumors that Jimmy's bass and Andy's double bass on the Top Of The Pop's performance of Souvenir had a lot in common. The fan's enthusiasm, however, was unbounded: "What keyboards are those?" "Can I have a go on your bass?" "Where do you get your ideas from?" "Play the early stuff, yer dickheads" etc. 

You've Twisted My Arm Dept: Every year and at every event it's the same story. Paul B leaps onto the dance floor to boogie away to some OMD classics, only to be press-ganged into a huge chorus line of fans determined to do the Can-Can to Tesla Girls. If you think this is fun, imagine having your arms hoisted at an ungainly angle behind two other people's heads whilst simultaneously surging forwards en masse. It was almost one surge too many as the crowd overextended themselves with Paul B at its apex. The result was Paul's arms almost wrenched from their sockets and a headbutt to the floor. Are we having fun yet? 

There's always slurs and innuendo that these events are simply excuses for heavy drinking and dubious sexual encounters. This simply isn't the case as was demonstrated on the Saturday night. Various people seemed to make covert expeditions away from the dance floor and bar, but when questioned later they innocently stated they had been "walking the drink off" or "having a lie-down". It just goes to prove that there are simply too many cynical and negative people out there who have nothing better to do than

ruin the reputation of the OMD Convention and its guests. Ooo! I feel all excited after writing that story, I think I need a swift walk.... 

Our attempts to stage slide shows were cursed by a slide projector that just wouldn't project. It finally seemed to kick into action for Ian Hayter and Kevin (aka Mr Happy) Pretlove's presentation but time restrictions meant that Paul B's slide show had to be cancelled. Whether fans would have actually enjoyed Paul's presentation 'Catalogue Numbers: A Visual Guide' is debatable, but he was certainly not in a good mood later whilst wrestling with the slide projector in a desperate bid to give the disco a visual edge. The slides and projector were then unceremoniously boxed away for the evening in case their bad vibes were contagious. 

Who was that fan? "This OMD song is the best fucking OMD song ever!" Demanded this enthusiastic character. Which OMD song was he talking about? Why Tesla Girls of course, and Electricity, and Souvenir, not forgetting Telegraph and, oh all right he was saying this after EVER song at the disco (including Time Zones and White Trash). 

Who Was That Fan? On the Liverpool tour our mystery fan of the American persuasion decided to actually make a phone call from the Red Frame/White Light phone box. Imagine his laughter when he finished his call and stepped outside to discover everyone else was hiding on him. And they'd hid the minibus. "Hang on guys, that's enough hiding - you can come out now. Oh no! I've been abandoned! Goddamn limeys! Why I oughta....".