BBC Homepage
  • Skip to content
  • Accessibility Help
  • Your account
  • Notifications
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • More menu
More menu
Search BBC
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
Close menu
BBC News
Menu
  • Home
  • InDepth
  • Israel-Gaza war
  • War in Ukraine
  • Climate
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Culture
More
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Health
  • Family & Education
  • In Pictures
  • Newsbeat
  • BBC Verify
  • Disability
  • Trending

#BBCtrending: How #findmike became #foundmike

  • Published
    30 January 2014
Share page
About sharing
Jonny Benjamin (l) and Neil Laybourn (r)Image source, Rethink
Image caption,

Jonny Benjamin (l) has now found Neil Laybourn (r) - the man he credits with saving his life

By BBC Trending
What's popular and why

The hashtag #foundmike is trending in the UK after a man who nearly took his own life was reunited with the passer-by who saved him six years ago.

In 2008, Jonny Benjamin - then aged 20 - considered killing himself. He was on the ledge of Waterloo Bridge in London, when a stranger stopped and talked to him, and offered him a coffee. Benjamin says this intervention saved his life. Six years later, Benjamin, who now works as a mental health campaigner, decided he wanted to try to track down the man to thank him.

He teamed up with the mental health charity Rethink, and - although he couldn't remember the name of the man - started the hashtag #findmike, external on 13 January. It took off. There were more than 46,000 tweets using the hashtag, mostly in the UK, but also from around the world - everywhere from the US, to Argentina to Germany, Australia and Thailand. "To be completely honest, I didn't expect to find him," Benjamin told BBC Trending. He was so shaken on the day that he couldn't remember what the man looked like or his name. "It was like finding a needle in a haystack," he says.

Neil Laybourn - who had been on his way to work that day in 2008 - was alerted to the story by his fiance, who read about it on Facebook and the two men met on Tuesday (you can watch their reunion here, external). Since the news broke in the early hours of Thursday, the hashtag #foundmike, external has begun trending in the UK - with more than 2,000 tweets by the time of publication.

When he considered taking his life, Benjamin had just been diagnosed with schizophrenia and felt he'd been dealt a "life sentence". He says hopes his story will raise awareness about the condition - and give hope to others.

You can read more about the story here. Jonny Benjamin and Neil Laybourn were guests on The World at One on BBC Radio 4. You can listen here.

Reporting by Cordelia Hebblethwaite, external

All our stories are at BBC.com/trending

Related internet links

  • Rethink

  • Samaritans

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Top stories

  • Live. 

    Final report into 'broken' water industry in England and Wales to be released

    • 1791 viewing1.8k viewing
  • Israeli forces kill 67 Palestinians seeking aid in northern Gaza, Hamas-run ministry says

    • Published
      7 hours ago
  • Asylum hotel protest escalated into 'mindless thuggery', police say

    • Published
      1 hour ago

More to explore

  • Stevie Wonder: 'I'll keep playing as long as I breathe'

    Stevie Wonder
  • 'Doctors hold patients to ransom' and Lionesses 'stand with Jess'

    The headline on the front page of the Daily Express reads: “Doctors 'hold patients to ransom' with pay demand”. The headline on the front page of the Daily Mirror reads: “We stand with Jess”.
  • HS2 was doomed to be a mess, say insiders - due to a 'problem in this country'

    A treated image of a artist impression of an HS2 train
  • How the rise of green tech is feeding another environmental crisis

    Two treated images of Salar de Atacama and a electric car charging
  • Are we willing to drop cash Isas and take more risks with our money?

    Young woman sits on the couch with her feet up, coffee cup in hand, checking performance of shares on a laptop.
  • Should school summer holidays be shorter?

    Three girls carrying school bags walk in a park with their backs to the camera
  • Members only: India's rich and famous ditch old-school clubs for exclusive hangouts

    Close shot of hands of two people holding cocktails and toasting
  • Parked in lay-bys - the drivers determined to avoid airport drop-off fees

    Caroline O'Brien sitting in her car looking directly at the camera. She is wearing a blue top. She is visible from the shoulders up and is sitting in the driver's seat with the steering wheel in front of her. There is a road and foliage in the background.
  • The Upbeat newsletter: Start your week on a high with uplifting stories delivered to your inbox

    A graphic of a wave in the colours of yellow, amber and orange against a pink sky
loading elsewhere stories

Most read

  1. 1

    Ellen DeGeneres: I moved to the UK because of Trump

  2. 2

    'Doctors hold patients to ransom' and Lionesses 'stand with Jess'

  3. 3

    Asylum hotel protest escalated into 'mindless thuggery', police say

  4. 4

    Future pensioners to be worse off, government warns

  5. 5

    HS2 was doomed to be a mess, say insiders - due to a 'problem in this country'

  6. 6

    Battle of Orgreave national inquiry confirmed

  7. 7

    British woman dies after rafting incident in French Alps

  8. 8

    Performer unfurls Palestinian flag on Royal Opera House stage

  9. 9

    England call in police over racist abuse of Carter

    • Attribution
      Sport
  10. 10

    Bedouins tell BBC they could return to fighting Druze in Syria

BBC News Services

  • On your mobile
  • On smart speakers
  • Get news alerts
  • Contact BBC News

Best of the BBC

  • Martin Scarsden faces a new mystery

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Scrublands S2
  • Sinister events in an old Spanish town

    • Attribution
      Sounds
    Uncanny: Summer Specials
  • Ghosts US returns for series 4

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Ghosts US S4
  • What does it take to build the perfect athlete?

    • Attribution
      Sounds
    The Infinite Monkey Cage
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • Terms of Use
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Parental Guidance
  • Contact the BBC
  • Make an editorial complaint
  • BBC emails for you

Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.