I’ve posted this once before, but I thought it was good enough to repeat.

This is a true story. Well, it’s true in that part of it is a story that I heard. And I believe it.

When I was around 22, just after I’d finished my degree in Melbourne, I went to stay with my dad in Paris for 6 months. While I was there, I studied French at the Sorbonne. It was a pretty cool time, and my class was totally international, so when someone sneezed, there would be like 15 variations on ‘bless you’ from different students. The classes went for like 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, starting every day at 9am.

The teacher was a nice French lady, and she had this one rule where if you were late for class three times, you had to bring in chocolates or sweets for the whole class. It was a pretty great rule. People usually brought in their favourite chocolates, or sweets from their home country. I brought gummi bears, for example.

Anyway, so she was telling us one day that Bill Murray had taken the same class as us, a year or two earlier. She had taught him, and he had sat in the same classroom that we were in, for a month or two. According to her, he was a lovely guy - totally down to earth, eager to learn, and didn’t cause any fuss. She said that he used to take the Metro to school from his hotel each day, and never worried about limousines or security or anything like that.

She also said that he was usually very punctual. But eventually, like everyone, he was late to class three times, so it was his turn to bring in sweets for the whole class.

So the next day, Bill Murray arrived at class with a 20kg hessian sack full of bananas.

Bill Murray rode the Metro, at rush hour, from his hotel to school, with a hessian sack full of bananas for everyone in his class.

And everyone loved the bananas.

And that is just one of many reasons why he is possibly the most awesome person alive.