He had all the parameters of someone who had been dead for some time. We worked on him for about half an hour without any response at all." Bannister pronounced Hendrix dead at 12:45 p.m., on Friday, September 18, 1970; he was 27 years old. He later stated: "On admission he was obviously dead. He had no pulse, no heartbeat, and the attempt to resuscitate him was merely a formality." During the morning of September 18, Eric Burdon arrived at the Samarkand sometime before the ambulance crew and found that Hendrix was already dead. Burdon immediately became concerned that police would find drugs at the apartment, and as he was collecting incriminating evidence, he found the poem that Hendrix had written hours earlier, "The Story of Life". Burdon, who said he had previously discussed suicide and death with Hendrix, assumed the poem was a suicide note. Under this assumption, he made comments to the press regarding his belief that Hendrix had committed suicide that he has since recanted: "I made false statements ... I simply didn't understand what the situation was. I misread the note ... I thought it was a goodbye". Dannemann said Hendrix told her: "I want you to keep this [poem] forever [and] I don't want you to forget anything that is written. It's a story about you and me". Soon after Bannister pronounced Hendrix dead, a hospital spokesperson told the press: "We don't know where, how, or why he died, but he died of an overdose." By that evening, many newspapers in London and New York had printed sensationalized headlines that exploited the death-from-overdose account. Hendrix's public relations manager, Les Perrin, granted an interview on Dutch radio soon after the hospital announcement. He commented: "Well, all I know is that Mr. Hendrix's body was taken to St. Mary Abbots Hospital in Kensington, London, at 11:45 this morning, and he was certified to be dead on arrival." At 2 p.m., BBC Radio 1 reported: "Jimi Hendrix, regarded by millions as one of the most talented and original performers in modern rock music, is dead." That evening, "The New York Times" described him as "a genius black musician, a guitarist, singer and composer of brilliantly dramatic power. He spoke in gestures as big as he could imagine and create." On September 19, Dannemann spoke with a journalist for the German tabloid "Bild".