A NEW television programme concentrating on the supernatural gave a Bolton viewer food for thought when it featured the town's 'aubergine miracle' on its first programme. Fortean TV is screened on Channel Four on Wednesdays at 9pm, and among the very first items it featured was the aubergine found last March in Bolton.

As reported in the BEN at the time, when it was split open, the aubergine revealed seeds that spelt out the Arabic word for Allah.

Ruksana and Salim Patel made their discovery in their home in Daubhill, and the local Muslim community was quick to hail "the miracle of the aubergine".

However, Bolton man Mr Daniel Lynch - alias veteran TV and stage showman, The Great Stromboli - had been witness to a similar discovery made 16 years ago in Pakistan. Mr Lynch explained: "When I saw the Bolton aubergine featured on the television programme, I recalled the photograph I have which was taken in Lahore, in 1981.

"At that time I was working there when a woman living just outside the town made the discovery. She took the aubergine to be photographed and I was given two copies. I gave one away to the local Farnworth Muslim community, and kept the other."

Mr Lynch, who has been featured in the BEN with his sword and fire swallowing feats, has a well known collection of thousands of curiosities in his Ringley Road, Stoneclough home.

These include Tibetan and ethnic artefacts, as well as items such as mammoth tusks and replicas of the Crown Jewels.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.