1.
GV PAN Nice promenade and seafront
0.09

2.
SV EXT OF cafe
0.12

3.
CU sparrow on shoulder of cafe owner
0.15

4.
SV ditto PAN DOWN to glasses arranged on counter as goalpost
0.20

5.
SCU sparrow acting as goal-keeper stops coin entering goal
0.25

6.
SCU ditto
0.28

7.
CU bird flies with coin on to bottle rack
0.29

8.
SCU coin drops through rack into glass
0.32

9.
SV bird on counter picks up coin, is passed over to other counter
0.38

10.
CU bird drops coin into box
0.42

11.
SCU hand encloses sparrow who then shams that he is dead
0.52

12.
CU sparrow kisses owner
0.58



Initials BA/S/AHS/BA



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In Nice, the famous holiday resort in the south of France, there are many attractions for tourists, but in one of the cafes, Philippe the sparrow offers his own special brand of entertainment. One of his tricks is to play goal-keeper. With two wine-glasses as goal posts he is expert at saving goals by snapping up a rolling coin in his beak.

Combining business with pleasure, he is also very useful when it comes to collecting money from the customers. He picks at the coins and flies away to put them in the cash box.

Like any other competent animal performer, he "shams dead" to perfection. Sixty-year-old Philippe has been trained and cared for by the cafe owner, who found him when he had fallen from his nest as a fledgling.