Perhaps we should write less about this unfortunate person and let those who are close to him now gain his confidence more.

All right, chaps: Martin The Pigeon Man is Maltese.

I didn’t wish to comment on his story. Having lived for many years always one termination away from penury, I see tramps in terms of “There but for the grace of God goes Baxxter”.

It’s like looking into the abyss and seeing your own face staring back at you. Many are those who have slipped through the cracks of our cut-throat, money-worshipping system. Tramps are but one example.

There’s nothing more sobering than being asked for spare change and refusing it because you can’t spare any, even if you have a job and the bearded fellow doesn’t. That’s the sort of world we live in, folks.

Wrong reasoning. There must be hundreds of thousands of young Australian women with Maltese surnames. Granted that the fact that she is a fraudster makes her belong to a very exclusive cohort, but could her vagrant nature and the 40 aliases be related? Probably.

My reasoning still does not yield “zero” probability, but take a cohort of 800 men from a highly privileged social background (actually many less because the whereabouts of the vast majority are known), think of a proportion of these gentlemen who might end up losing all ties with family and friends and develop a propensity for homelessness, then dilute that over the whole population of the entire anglophone world, and you will see how improbable it is for one of them to end up in Dublin.

In any case, Martin himself has said that he is not Maltese, and I believe him. Don’t you?

[Daphne – He did not say he is not Maltese. Where did you hear that? And as I explained earlier, you are assessing the wrong probability and would consequently make a lousy police detective, who would first look at his accent and place it.]

Probability is a mathematical function. It can be bigger or smaller, and can go from zero to infinity. It can never be “right” or “wrong”.

[Daphne – Right in the sense of appropriate to the ‘investigation’, Mr Attard. Think of it as scientific research. Which probability should you assess as a priority: the probability of a Maltese man of X background being on the streets of Dublin, or the probability of somebody who speaks that way not being Maltese? The second, of course.]

There is one very important difference between your reasoning and mine. Mine is purely objective as I have invoked only actual numbers, i.e. irrefutable population statistics. Yours is based on an your own assessment of the person’s accent, inflection and intonation, and that is necessarily subjective.

In any case, YOUR probability is still not “zero”.

[Daphne – Sorry, I tend to forget how difficult it is to persuade people to think rationally in Malta. Here’s another probability for you to assess: what is the probability that I am better placed to know that way of speaking than you are? What is the probability that he is not giving anything away precisely because he knows, as I know, that his way of speaking marks him out?]

I speak English in an unmistakeably British accent. I won’t say where from, but it’s one of the most unmistakeable and instantly identifiable accents.

I am half Maltese and lived in Malta and used to regularly get hassled by Maltese people who thought I was tal-pepe.

It happened so regularly I was uncomfortable catching buses and things like that when I was with friends.

It always amazed me that they couldn’t differentiate between these and other accents. So I wouldn’t read too much into the fact that many Maltese people don’t recognise this accent, Donal.

It’s a thorny issue, many people are blinded by prejudices related to accents and English-speaking people in Malta. Also, some people just aren’t that observant, quite frankly.

Less of the CAPITALS please Daphne :-). What’s “VERY trying” is the real work I am putting into this. I shall be in touch as soon as I have some REAL evidence :-).

[Daphne – My apologies, Donal, and I really do admire what you’re doing. If it were not for you, nobody would have known this at all. My point is merely that keeping an open mind just takes you down various routes in vain. You’d be quicker working on the assumption that he is Maltese, and then discounting that if necessary. Though of course, it won’t be necessary. Sorry, but I had to say that…Best of luck and keep in touch, please.]

Donal,

Martin’s diction is the same as my father’s (who is Maltese and a generation older than Martin, but from the same area in Sliema that Daphne is talking about).

Albeit there might since have been other influences, nevertheless underneath you can still hear a Maltese voice, pronouncing English words in the correct distinctive fashion he was taught from that time at school and at home.

And like many other Maltese, no matter how well-educated their accent, he slips into ‘tink’ rather than ‘think’ and for me that’s very noticeable too.

Donal, because it’s a small island Maltese people are very good at spotting each other by the accent. Getting on with each other is another issue.

Sorry but there’s far too much speculation surrounding this man and I’ve even had one individual in Australia telling me a friend of hers knows who it is. Again, I do not want to say anything until I have conclusive evidence.

I don’t want to say it in public because I want everything to check out 100%. My gut feeling is that Martin may not even be his name and that he has lived with this pseudonym for many years to protect himself.

This whole thing is taking is far too much of my time so for now I’m just going to keep it between me and Martin unless he gives me something I believe to be concrete.

So for now I’m stepping back from this blog. Thank you all.

I visited Malta many years ago during a World Cup football qualifier. That’s about it. Maybe Martin can teach me more :-).

A few Maltese people also seem to think he’s not Maltese so I could be forgiven for thinking the same.

I am very acquainted with many well educated British individuals who have very similar accents. I am also aware of a few well educated Irish people with very similar tones and I doubt most non-Irish would recognize them as being Irish. I’m keeping an open mind for the time being.

I’ll be in touch as soon as I discover anything significant.

[Daphne – Donal, this all VERY trying. The man is Maltese. Nobody in Britain has a similar accent unless they are also of Maltese origin. That is a 100% Maltese accent with absolutely no British in it. There are different kinds of Maltese accents and that is one of them.

That is NOT a British accent. That is Maltese.]

Mr Moloney, I have to agree 100% with what Daphne is saying here. I am Anglo-Maltese, with an English father and Maltese mother. I spent my formative years (from six to 21) living in Malta and speak both English and Maltese.

When I heard Martin’s voice, it was instantly recognisable as Maltese and from the social background to which Daphne refers.

The physical appearance of the Maltese can vary quite a bit depending on their ancestry. Many of my Maltese mother’s family were fair-skinned, blonde and greened-eyed because their ancestors were from northern Spain. Not what you might think of as typical Maltese-looking. My sister and I, because of our genetic background, ended up being tall, thin, fair, blonde and blue-eyed.

I think that it is admirable that you are trying to help Martin. He seems like a nice chap and it is sad that he has fallen on hard times. Have you asked him what his surname is, as that could provide an answer to many of the questions that we all have.