Green Day have been credited with saving the life of a young fan after she found a live hand grenade in her garden in Halifax. Though don't be getting any images of the band suddenly appearing from out of the bushes, grabbing the grenade and throwing it out of the danger zone. The Green Day bit of this story is that the 12 year old girl in question recognised what the grenade was because of the cover to album 'American Idiot' which, of course, features a drawing of a grenade (whether there instructions in the liner notes as to what to do when you find one I can't remember).
Ten homes had to be evacuated in the city while army experts disposed of the grenade. The 12 year old Green Day fan, one Ruby Wilson, told reporters: "I saw what looked like a round metal object and realised it looked like a hand grenade. My dad told me to put it down carefully on the ground. But I wasn't very worried because I thought it was too old to be dangerous".
Dad Johnny Wilson added: "We were surprised when we found out it was live because the police told us in most cases they are not. We were shocked that it had been just outside our house and was capable of exploding".