As the first recipient of a double hand transplant, Bob Fisher waved - frantically - at the journalists and photographers assembled at yesterday’s press reception. He praised the surgeon, the hospital staff, and the donors who had made the groundbreaking, eight-hour operation possible, before trying to strangle himself.
“One hand came from a mime artist who, tragically, failed to escape from an imaginary box”, said Bob, as he attempted to walk into a strong wind. “The other hand came from a semaphore signaller in the Royal Engineers, who was half-way through a message asking the enemy to stop firing when he was felled by a sniper’s bullet”.
Bob was hoping to resume work as a roofer; failing that he thought he might apply for a job as a tic-tac man at a race-course. What he wanted most of all was “a quiet life”, he said, as he left the building and hailed two cabs...