CHRIS DE BURGH - DE BURGH SNAPS UP WORLD WAR LETTER

DE BURGH SNAPS UP WORLD WAR LETTER

Irish singer/songwriter CHRIS DE BURGH has splashed out GBP14,400 ($27,000) on a rare World War One letter describing the 1914 Christmas Day truce. THE LADY IN RED star paid over 40 times the estimated price to secure the memento, ahead of its London sale at Bonhams auction house yesterday (07NOV06). He says, "I bought it because I am passionate about the subject. "It's an extraordinarily moving letter and I've read every word of it." De Burgh's great uncle died as an officer in the war while his grandfather also served in the trenches. The moving five-page letter is addressed to "My dear Mater" and signed simply "Boy". It describes how German forces placed lights along their trenches before approaching the British lines to wish them Happy Christmas.