Google’s ghostly ‘Mary Poppins’ mystery solved

THE mystery surrounding a sighting of Mary Poppins in Cardiff Bay has been solved – she was planted there by internet giant Google.

The Echo yesterday revealed how the picture of everyone’s favourite nanny was discovered on Google Street View, the new service allowing users to access 360-degree views of roads and homes in 25 British towns and cities, including Cardiff, Barry and Penarth.

Dressed to the nines and crossing a busy road outside the Wales Millennium Centre, the Disney character was captured by the Google street car which was traversing the capital’s streets last June.

No-one could explain why she was there – some suggestions even included that she could have been a ghost.

But today we can reveal that she is just one of a number of fictional characters that Google chiefs decided to cheekily place in the new map.

And while they chose Cardiff for Mary Poppins, Paddington Bear can be spotted on London’s fashionable Portobello Road, Sherlock Holmes has been caught in Oxford, and the Beefeater has been indulging in a spot of shopping at the Birmingham branch of Selfridges.

Google’s Laura Scott told the Echo: “The mystery has been revealed.

“We dressed up a real person in a Mary Poppins costume and she was photographed by the car as it went past.

“We’re always looking for fun stuff to include in our products – and well done for spotting her.”

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