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DAVID WILLIS OF Dallas, Texas was travelling through Europe, checking out the beautiful sights in Rome and Pompeii.
Little did he suspect that during his visit to London he would embark on the biggest adventure of all – an (almost) overnight stay in the Trafalgar Square branch of Waterstones.
He entered the store around 15 minutes before closing time and had a poke around upstairs before realising that all the lights had been switched off and the door locked.
At 9pm, after an hour of waiting around inside, he posted a photo of the shuttered doors on Instagram (with the required #nofilter hashtag) and informed his followers that help was on its way. Or so he thought.
At 11pm, with no sign of any staff coming to let him out, he sent a plea for help via Twitter – it instantly went viral, retweeted thousands and thousands of times in an attempt to find aid for the man that was soon named the #WaterstonesTexan.
Hi @Waterstones I've been locked inside of your Trafalgar Square bookstore for 2 hours now. Please let me out.
After this, there was silence from David’s end, but Twitter began to get frantic. Who was going to save the #WaterstonesTexan? Would he be there all night?!
Will #WaterstonesTexan become a full blown diplomatic incident? Is the ambassador on the phone? All systems go at Grosvenor Square?
Wednesday 18 December, 2024
Wednesday 18 December, 2024
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Tourist gets locked in London book shop, Twitter comes to the rescue
DAVID WILLIS OF Dallas, Texas was travelling through Europe, checking out the beautiful sights in Rome and Pompeii.
Little did he suspect that during his visit to London he would embark on the biggest adventure of all – an (almost) overnight stay in the Trafalgar Square branch of Waterstones.
He entered the store around 15 minutes before closing time and had a poke around upstairs before realising that all the lights had been switched off and the door locked.
At 9pm, after an hour of waiting around inside, he posted a photo of the shuttered doors on Instagram (with the required #nofilter hashtag) and informed his followers that help was on its way. Or so he thought.
At 11pm, with no sign of any staff coming to let him out, he sent a plea for help via Twitter – it instantly went viral, retweeted thousands and thousands of times in an attempt to find aid for the man that was soon named the #WaterstonesTexan.
After this, there was silence from David’s end, but Twitter began to get frantic. Who was going to save the #WaterstonesTexan? Would he be there all night?!
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Finally, at around 12:30am, the Texan confirmed to Twitter that he had been rescued.
And there was much rejoicing. So much rejoicing.
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His girlfriend, though, was pretty unimpressed that he decided to tweet about his freedom before texting her:
*Wipes away tear* What a man. What a story. David Willis – an inspiration to us all.
This woman is turning mean internet comments into wonderful embroideries>
Irish pub in Vegas hosts continuous two weeks of non-stop live music>
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book shop David Willis London tourist trafalgar square Waterstones WaterstonesTexan