Identity of Mystery Person #1

Wow, where did last week get off to?

Did anyone see it?

Neither did I.

I assume it’s somewhere behind the huge pile of contract work I’ve been doing, or possibly in the even larger pile of clean laundry ready to distribute to the various critters that inhabit my house, including my equally delightful boyfriend.

Yes, I think I see it.

It’s under the towels.

In any case, it seems that I have neglected to reveal the identity of the first mystery man we were working on (well, I was, anyway – I think everyone else has more sensibly been planning their turkey repasts).

I promise to do better next time, right after I wake up from my carb coma.

And in my case, since I suffer from a pretty severe sensitivity to carbs, that coma may turn out to be fairly literal.

It has really been lovely knowing you.

Anyway, as some of you well-informed types were already aware, the person in the photo above is Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, who, according to this Wikipedia article, “ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979. He was the second and last monarch of the House of Pahlavi of the Iranian monarchy.”

For more information about the Shah, please check out the rest of the article – especially if, like my boyfriend, you are a big fan of what I call wikiwandering – the practice of jumping randomly from one Wikipedia link to another until you have lost all sense of time and reality.

And if you’re not, you should give it a try.

Because who needs reality?

I certainly don’t.

Now, while I was not able to positively identify the Shah on this first go-round, it was clear to me from the photo that he was a dictatorial leader of a middle-eastern country under Western influence, that he had a rather despotic and controlling nature, and might have been responsible for the death or torture of a number of people – all of which proved to be true.

Did you pick up on these traits as well?  Or anything else?  Drop me a comment and let me know.

In this first experiment, I tried a technique that proved to be useful, and which I have since used several times with good results – I ask the subject of the photo a question.

“What are you all about?” is the general gist of the inquiry.  They almost always have something to say in reply, and although it sometimes surprises me, it’s quite often revealing in some important respect.

“I like to conquer and destroy,” was the Shah’s reply.

And from what I can tell, I suspect that he did.

And now, for someone completely different:

In selecting our next mystery person, I’m going to jump well out of sequence to the case I was given just yesterday, because the way that his identity came to me was quite unusual, and I feel like sharing.

I will tell you all about it in the next day or so (promise – coma or no coma), but if you’d like to play along, here is his photo:

If this person interests you, feel free to shoot me a comment or an email, and tell me what you think of him.

What does he do for a living?  What sort of a character does he have?  What time period does he belong to?  What is his name?

And most importantly, of course:  What is the deal with that overcoat? 

I mean really.

I would of course be thrilled if my readers would like to participate (yes, I mean both of you!), but if not, I’ll report on the hits that I got on each person, and how I was able to identify them, because it’s been quite a fascinating intuitive journey thus far.

And I do love a good mystery!

Don’t you?