It appears that Adam Ries, a German mathematician deceased as of 1559, has received a bill from the GEZ broadcast fee collection office demanding that the man pay his "long-overdue" TV licensing fees.
The bill was sent to the man's former address, which is now a club set up in honor of the algebra expert.
"We received a letter saying 'To Mr Adam Ries' on it, with the request to pay his television and radio fees," said Annegret Muench, who is now president of the club.
Muench, after seeing the letter, returned the letter with a note attached explaining that Ries had died 450 years earlier, while especially noting that TV had not been invented at that time. Despite her letter, the collection office sent another reminder two weeks later.
The GEZ was in the news last year for a similar incident in which Friedrich Schiller, a poet who died in 1805, was sent a bill asking him to declare "all radios and televisions in his home and pay the corresponding fees."
"We received a letter saying 'To Mr Adam Ries' on it, with the request to pay his television and radio fees," said Annegret Muench, who is now president of the club.
Muench, after seeing the letter, returned the letter with a note attached explaining that Ries had died 450 years earlier, while especially noting that TV had not been invented at that time. Despite her letter, the collection office sent another reminder two weeks later.
The GEZ was in the news last year for a similar incident in which Friedrich Schiller, a poet who died in 1805, was sent a bill asking him to declare "all radios and televisions in his home and pay the corresponding fees."
