It's been reported in the last few minutes, that Michael Jackson, the self-styled King of Pop who was due to start a 50-date string of appearances at the O2 Arena in London in July, has been forced to cancel the shows, due to ill-health.
Jackson, 50, who could sing before he could walk - and even before he was born! - sprang to fame more than 50 years ago with the Jackson 5, a group of black musicians who had the same kind of interest in singing that he had.
They had many hits before Michael went solo and started changing colour. Then he met Diana Ross, and started to look like her.
Several hits and lawsuits later, and the unfortunate Jacko, who by now was living in isolation in a separate country called Neverland, was forced out of semi-retirement to glean some cash from hard-up fans, who would, presumably, just as soon pay through the nose and turn up to see him dangle children over a balcony as come and listen to him sing.
Last night, though, the O2 shows were called off, indefinitely, with organisers saying they would notify ticket-holders of the rearranged dates in due course.
