Generous Jacko fan refuses to sell out (From This is Hampshire)

Generous Jacko fan refuses to sell out

12:00pm Friday 10th July 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

THEY were the tickets that were wanted by millions of Michael Jackson fans across the world – and a Basingstoke dad gave two of them away!

When two friends from Wales were handed a pair of passes to the iconic singer’s memorial service in Los Angeles on Tuesday, they had the generosity of Raj Patel to thank for enabling them to be at the milestone event.

Boyhood Michael Jackson fan Raj, of Cowslip Bank, Lychpit, was one of the 8,750 people chosen at random out of more than 1.6million fans who applied to get a pair of tickets for the star-studded memorial event.

The 38-year-old had planned to go to the service with his six-year-old son Jay, who is also a fan of the King of Pop, whose sudden death at the age of 50 last month stunned the world.

But when Raj received an email voucher for the tickets on Monday, he quickly realised that he could not afford to fly out to Los Angeles as the cheapest airline tickets he could find were £7,000 each.

Raj decided to contact Sky News, who agreed to take the voucher, in return for making a donation to north Hampshire children’s hospice Naomi House. Staff from the satellite broadcaster then gave them to fans already in Los Angeles.

Raj told The Gazette: “I just wanted them to go to deserving fans out there who could make use of them. I thought giving them to fans was the right thing to do. I know that I have changed the lives of those two fans.”

Nesha Patel, 37, praised her husband for his generous gesture. She said: “He is a very generous and warm-hearted man.”

A television camera captured the moment when a Sky News reporter handed the tickets to Jackson fans Sheryl Thomas and Helen Gardner, from Bridgend in Wales. The two women shrieked in disbelief before sobbing into a giant Welsh flag they were carrying.

They were able to join 17,500 people, including Jackson’s family and friends, at the memorial service at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Icons of the music world, including Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie and Mariah Carey, took to the stage to pay a musical tribute to their much-mourned friend. At the end of the service, Jackson’s family went on stage, including his brothers, who all wore the singer’s trademark single white glove in tribute.

The singer’s daughter Paris, 11, choked back the tears as she described Jackson as “one of the best fathers you can ever imagine”.

Millions of viewers across the world tuned in to watch the service on television, including Raj who watched it at home with his wife, son and their two-year-old daughter Nyah.

The finance manager, who works for Virgin Media in Hook, said he has been a fan of Michael Jackson since he was a boy. He saw Jackson perform twice at Wembley Stadium during his Bad and Dangerous tours. Raj said he could not believe it when he heard his singing idol had died.