A Tibetan Buddhist monk travelling on the London underground has lost his life's work after he became distracted taking a photo with Mayor of London Boris Johnson.
Lelung Rinpoche, 43, was travelling on the Metropolitan line when he met Boris and went to take a photo with him. After chatting about Tibet, Lelung Rinpoche leapt off the train at Baker Street just in the nick of time - but left his laptop on the train.
The laptop contained a 900 page history of Buddhism which he was preparing to publish into two books - full of information gathered from around the globe.
'I had visited libraries in countries like Mongolia to try and find any pages they have. The two books were nearly at a stage where I could publish them. But I have lost almost all of it,' he said.
Rinpoche retrieved the bag that the computer had been in - but the laptop had been taken out of it.
'As a Buddhist, I will leave this body behind and there's no point in crying over it. But it is upsetting.'
Rinpoche, who is the director of the Lelung Dharma Trust, is offering £500 as a reward for the laptop's safe return. Call 0208 868 0655.