Student Pranks Media Using Dead Composer's Wikipedia Page

When Oscar-winning composer Maurice Jarre died a few weeks ago at age 84, many newspapers from around the world included his quote, "When I die there will be a final waltz playing in my head, that only I can hear," in their obituaries. In truth, there may have been no song in his head at all during the composer's big finale: He never actually said what the papers printed.

As part of a sociology project, Irish college student Shane Fitzgerald duped the world's media by adding fake quotes to Jarre's Wikipedia page. The student posted fictitious quotes that remained on the site for more than a day -- long enough to be picked up by journalists at several major newspapers who were composing Jarre's obituary.

Jarre, who wrote the Academy Award-winning scores to the film classics 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Doctor Zhivago,' was the father of electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre. The composer's own parents had no interest in music, he once said.

We think.