DB Cooper in Tinseltown

I thoroughly enjoyed Brian J Robb’s feature [FT412:30-37] on the mystery of DB Cooper, the airline hijacker who in 1971 parachuted from a Reno-bound plane carrying $200,000 in successfully accrued ransom money and was never seen again. Readers requiring a further update on this baffling crime might be interested in watching the excellent BBC sitcom Toast of Tinseltown. Spoilers ahoy here, but... in the final episode, aspiring Hollywood actor Steven Toast (Matt Berry) finds his Hollywood apartment being raided by the FBI. The reason? His mysterious flatmate Russ Nightlife appears to be DB Cooper in disguise! In Nightlife’s bedroom, Toast discovers a secret trunk containing a parachute, a gun, a stash of banknotes and a copy of the Tinseltown Times newspaper with the headline “DB Cooper – Mystery Of Unidentified Hijacker Who Jumped From Plane At 35,000

Feet”. And the accompanying artist’s impression shows actor Fred Armisen, in character as Nightlife, both with and without shades – just as the original 1970s FBI sketches depicted the enigmatic Cooper.

Bob Fischer, Yarm, Teesside