Clare's Collection of Unusual Tales and Pictures

[Dark One]

£2m to find cure for baldness

The Government is spending £2million to find a cure for baldness.

Science minister Lord Sainsbury says he wants the UK to become the world leader in hair restoration.

He is supporting a new treatment called Biotechnology, reports The Sun.

During the treatment the hair cells are grown in a test tube then injected into a bald pate.

He said: "Biotechnology provides a real opportunity to harness the world-class expertise we possess in Britain.

"This initiative should establish British industry as the world leader in this area."

The treatment is being developed by UK firm Intercytex, set up by biochemist Dr Paul Kemp.

He said: "Analysts estimate a good baldness treatment could be worth £1billion a year in Britain and many times that worldwide. The idea is to inject cells into the scalp, where many will develop into new hair follicles.

"Current hair transplant techniques take a long time so they cost a lot. This new procedure would be faster and cheaper."

[Dark One]

GSOH and STD?

A new dating service has been created for people with sexually transmitted diseases.

A woman, who remains anonymous, came up with the idea when she feared she would find it hard to find a new partner after she was diagnosed with genital herpes.

She found all the dating sites for people living with STDs were based in America.

She created datepositive.net for people in the UK and Ireland, reports the Mirror.

A colleague, Sheelagh Caygill, who helped her set up the site said: "The idea isn't just about creating an online meeting place. We provide information and resources."

Users are asked to reveal their disease alongside their personal details such as weight, eye colour and height.

Sheelagh, who does not have a sexually transmitted disease, added: "People may use it simply to find friendship or a partner for an activity such as tennis. If they find love, then that is a great thing as well."

Michael Kay, of HIV charity Tees Positive, said: "It may be useful to people who are only comfortable dating someone with equal HIV status."

[Dark One]

'Eat a live c0ckroach, get in free'

A US halloween festival has sparked a row by offering free admission to anyone who eats a live, Madagascar hissing c0ckroach.

The stunt by the annual Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom's Fright Fest in Louisville has been met with protests of both child and animal cruelty.

Some say it targets poor children and is a form of child abuse, while an animal rights group says it's cruel to c0ckroaches.

But the amusement park claims to have received only a "minimal number of complaints" and has no intentions of canceling it, said park spokeswoman Carolyn Gaeta McLean.

"People complaining are not going to stop us," she told the Courier-Journal.

The promotion is going on at all Six Flags parks nationwide, though Kentucky Kingdom is the only one to offer free admission, she said. Other parks allow those who eat c0ckroaches to go to the front of the line.

McLean said each person who wants to eat a c0ckroach will have to sign a waiver, and children under 18 will need their parent or guardian to sign.

Philip Haming, a father of five children and a former teacher, said children should not be encouraged with a reward for performing a disgusting act.

"We have been teaching them all these years not to give in to peer pressure," he said. "I don't care what adults do."

And Peta spokeswoman Jackie Vergerio asked: "What is it teaching our children? A child who learns to respect a seemingly insignificant insect is a child that will grow up a compassionate person."

[Dark One]

Lightning bum burn

A Croatian woman suffered burns to her bum after lightning struck her in the mouth and passed through her body.

Natasha Timarovic, 27, was cleaning her teeth in her home in the city of Zadar when lightning struck the building.

She said: "I had just put my mouth under the tap to rinse away the toothpaste when the lightning must have struck the building.

"I don't remember much after that, but I was later told that the lightning had travelled down the water pipe and struck me on the mouth, passing through my body.

"It was incredibly painful, I felt it pass through my torso and then I don't remember much at all."

Doctors at the city hospital where she was treated for burns to the mouth and rear said: "The accident is bizarre but not impossible.

"She was wearing rubber bathroom shoes at the time and so instead of earthing through her feet it appears the electricity shot out of her backside.

"It appears to have earthed through the damp shower curtain that she was touching as she bent over to put her mouth under the tap. If she had not been wearing the shoes she would probably have been killed by the blast."

Croatian daily 24 Sata said the young woman had been released from hospital after being kept in overnight and was expected to make a full recovery.

[Dark One]

Becks bathed in Evian

David Beckham reportedly once bathed in Evian water on a trip to Russia - after he was told tap water would turn him bald.

Fellow players Ryan Giggs and Gary and Phil Neville also fell for the wind-up.

The joke was played on Beckham and the other footie stars when he was on a trip to Russia with Manchester United for a UEFA Cup tie against Rotor Volgograd in 1995.

Brian Kidd, then assistant manager, told the players Russian water was contaminated after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and washing in it would make their hair drop out.

Officials only realised the players had been taken in by Kidd's joke when they asked why they were getting through so much mineral water.

Ian Dunwoody, who organises Man Utd's trips abroad, has just revealed the prank.

According to The Sun he said: "We took our own food and bottled water. When I asked about the amount of water being used they said it wasn't for drinking but for washing. It costs thousands of pounds in water."

[Dark One]

Hefner prefers dominoes to sex

Playboy millionaire Hugh Hefner says he's bored of sex and would rather have a game of dominoes.

Hefner, 80, is famed for bedding thousands of women and holding bunny-girl parties at his Beverly Hills mansion.

However, he says he no longer has the energy and would rather relax with his bunnies reports The Sun.

He said: "I'm bored of the hanky panky. I'm still active but it's different - I like to play dominoes with my girlfriends."

Hefner once had seven girlfriends - but in 1997 he cut down to three, saying the girls got jealous.

He lives with 26-year-old Holly Madison, 32-year-old Bridget Marquardt and 21-year-old Kendra Wilkinson.

He added: "Having three beautiful women keeps the years off me. I would recommend it to anyone."

[Dark One]

Prisoners in the pink

A US prison has been painted pink and inmates forced to wear pink jumpsuits and pink slippers to try to stop them reoffending.

Sheriff Clint Low says reoffending is down by 70% at Mason County Jail in Texas, since he introduced the colour change.

''They don't want to wear them," he told the San Angelo Standard Times.

"Working inmates get a choice to work outside or sit inside, and some choose to sit inside because they don't want people to see them. They would rather stay upstairs.''

The Mason County Jail, built in 1894, is among the oldest working jails in the state. It has a capacity of just five inmates - four males and a female.

Sheriff Low says it would make a better museum than a prison and urgently needs replacing.

But, in the meantime, he hopes his pink jumpsuits will discourage offenders from coming back.

''That's not the Holiday Inn they are staying in up there," he said.

[Dark One]

First aider called to his own emergency

A first aider suffering a suspected heart attack received a pager message sending him to his own emergency.

Roger Flux, 66, a volunteer community responder for Hampshire Ambulance Service, had chest pains in bed at his New Forest home.

His wife called 999 as a precaution and paramedics were on the scenes within minutes.

It was then that Mr Flux got a pager message scrambling him to the emergency at his own house.

He said: "I was on call that evening and during the middle of the night I had severe chest pains right across my chest and jaw.

"In a couple of minutes the ambulance crews were here and investigating and in the meantime I asked my wife to get my response bag.

"While I was sitting down my pager went off, telling me to attend to a man with chest pains. Then I looked at the address - it was my own."

By the time cardiac specialists at Southampton General Hospital decided it had been a false alarm, Mr Flux saw the funny side of it.

"At least it shows the system works," he said.

[Dark One]

Sat nav system leads driver to sand

An 80-year-old German driver ended up in a pile of sand after following instructions from his new car's satellite navigation system.

Volker Heinmann ignored the diversion signs on the busy A24 near Hamburg when all the other motorists on the road were turning off.

He said: "I thought the navigation system knew a shortcut and it seemed to be a good one, there was no other traffic on the road, so I sped up - and hit a pile of sand in the middle of the road."

The sand had been put on the road by construction workers who were upgrading the section of motorway near Reinbek, Germany.

Police spokesman Jan Kalisch said: "We had a call from the elderly man and found him half a mile along the closed section of road standing with his wife beside the car, that was wedged firmly in the sand. Both were unhurt, but the car had to be towed to a garage."

[Dark One]

Scientists discover why toast falls butter side down

Scientists have discovered how to stop your toast landing butter-side down - by spreading it correctly.

A team of researchers from TV show Mythbusters discovered that if you press firmly and quickly with the knife as you spread, the surface of the bread changes.

A dip is created on the toast which then affects the way it falls reports the BBC.

In tests this type of buttering method meant the toast landed butter-side up 29 times out of 50.

Presenters of Mythbusters, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman said: "Just like when a leaf falls from a tree, it will always have a tendency to land with the curved sides up."

[Dark One]

Jelly sparks security alert

A pile of jelly left by a road has sparked a major terrorist alert in Germany.

Hikers called the police after spotting the "flabby red, orange and green substance" and fearing it was toxic waste.

The area at Halle, near Leipzig, was sealed while experts trained in biological and chemical warfare and wearing special suits and gas masks moved to examine the substance.

Samples were taken but the mystery was solved before the results were returned after a policeman heard a wedding had taken place a short while before, and questioned the newly married couple.

The groom confessed that there had been a jelly fight the day before and that lots of the jelly had probably ended up on the road.

[Dark One]

'World's oldest man' dies

A Cuban man, who believed he was the oldest person in the world at 126, has died in hospital.

Benito Martinez, whose age was never proved, was certain that he was born in Haiti in 1880, reports the BBC.

He believed his longevity was down to hard work, fresh vegetables, not too many cigars, a little alcohol - and never marrying.

Mr Martinez was the star of a Cuban government campaign to promote healthy lives for its oldest citizens.

Until his last months, he led a relatively active life, tending plants outside his one-bedroom house, visiting the local old people's home and even going dancing.

He was born in Haiti and is believed to have come to Cuba in 1925 at the age of 45 as a farm labourer.

His neighbours remember the man with the broad toothless grin as always being very old.

Mr Martinez was the leading light of Cuba's 120 club, an organisation which aims to promote healthy living for the elderly.

The Cuban government tried but failed to uncover baptism records or a birth certificate in Haiti.

For that reason Benito Martinez was never officially the world's oldest man.

[Dark One]

Houdini pony's epic journey

An intrepid pony broke out of a locked, fenced stable and ran three miles to the home of his 12-year-old mistress.

Basil's epic journey, through the Swansea Valley in the dark, began when he was re-stabled, reports the BBC.

The 18-year-old Welsh cob used his teeth to slide his paddock door lock open before jumping a fence.

He then had to pass along 14 different roads in the dark en route to the farm in Cilybebyll, near Pontardawe.

Farmer Lyn Evans said his 12-year-old daughter Emily burst out crying "with a mixture of surprise and relief" when she saw Basil.

He said: "He had to pass 14 different roads on the journey home. Then he walked down on to the A474, which is a busy road, turned left and crossed the carriageway.

"He would have had to ignore numerous turn-offs, choose the right direction at a crossroads and then make it back to the farm."

Basil had been restabled in Rhos, three miles away, two weeks before.

"Emily rides him in the fields at the farm but we thought it was better to keep him at the stable so she could practise her show jumping," Mr Evans added.

"But we took her to visit him every evening after school and she had tucked him up in the normal way the night he set out."

[Dark One]

Mickey gets jiggy

Euro Disney bosses are said to be furious after a pirate video was released showing Minine Mouse and Goofy simulating sex.

The costumed characters simulate sex in an illicit clip shot at a theme park and circulated on the internet, reports the Sun.

The footage even shows Mickey Mouse in a gay clinch with a snowman.

Minutes after the backstage frolics, the characters go out to perform their regular Disney routine in front of hundreds of kids.

An insider said: "It's Disney characters as you've never seen them before. Goofy grabs Minnie's boobs but the highlight has to be Mickey's gay romp."

The two minute clip is believed to have been shot by another worker with a concealed camera at Disneyland Resort Paris.

A Disney spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the video that was taken in an area not accessible to guests at Disneyland Resort Paris.

"We regret any offence it might cause. Action has been taken to prevent this happening again."

Disney declined to say whether any staff had been sacked or disciplined.

[Dark One]

Doc pops to B&Q mid-op

A surgeon delayed an operation while he sent a junior doctor to buy a tool he needed from B&Q.

Peter Mobbs was removing a metal plate from a patient's arm when he realised he did not have the right screwdriver.

The plate had been fitted overseas using star-headed screws to fix a break. In Britain, crosshead screws are used.

He ordered the juniour doctor to go to the nearest DIY store. He returned within 30 minutes, reports The Sun.

Mr Mobbs sterilised the £2.50 screwdriver and used it in the procedure at Whiston Hospital in Prescot, Merseyside.The hospital trust praised his acitons.

A spokesman for St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust said: "The surgeon had a choice of abandoning the procedure or acquiring a screwdriver.

"The patient was informed afterwards and was happy with the action taken - and there were no ill effects."

[Dark One]

Man kept grenades on mantelpiece

A Dutchman used old Second World War hand grenades as ornaments in his house - without realising they were dangerous.

Heimen van der Wal, from Makkum, kept the grenades on his mantelpiece for decades after discovering them in woods near Arnhem as a child.

"We though they were harmless," his wife Marjan told the Antwerp Gazette. "Our children have even played with them."

Mr van der Wal moved the grenades to a barn a few years ago. Last week, he showed them to a friend who immediately realised the danger.

"He was shocked and told us to alert the army's bomb disposal unit, because the grenades were highly explosive," he said.

An army spokesman said the family had been very lucky. One of the pins of the antique grenades was so rusty, any sudden movement could have caused an explosion.

[Dark One]

Beatles hits translated into Cornish

A band is translating four of the Beatles songs into Cornish.

Cornish, or Kernewek, is the sister language of Welsh and Breton and was formally recognised by the EU in 2002.

The band Skwardya, made up of members Matthew Clarke and Dave Miller, has recorded four songs including She Loves You (Hi a'th kar) and Something (Neppyth).

Only around 400 people are thought to speak fluent Cornish, reports BBC online.

Mr Clarke, from Camborne, said they were also planning to record two more.

He said: "We're just trying to expand the amount of stuff in Cornish that's out there. It's good to have some other things rather than just folk songs and the odd hymn."

[Dark One]

Man finds £10,000 in McDonald's meal

A Belgian man who ordered a burger from a McDonald's restaurant was amazed to find £10,000 cash in the same bag.

Marco Parra-Martinez, 23, ordered his meal from a McDrive restaurant in Waterloo, reports Het Laatste Nieuws.

Inside the paper bag, as well as his burger, was an envelope containing 15,000 euros, the equivalent of more than £10,000.

"I hesitated one moment, asking myself if I shouldn't keep the money," admitted Mr Parra-Martinez. "But my parents taught me to be honest at all times."

So he returned the envelope to the restaurant.

McDonalds said the cash was restaurant takings that had accidentally been put down next to Mr Parra-Martinez's order. They promised him a reward for his honesty.

[Dark One]

Cat sets up home in nest

A cat has set up home in a bird's nest in Norfolk.

Wendy Hobbs, from Reepham, first spotted the cat up the tree a week ago, reports the Daily Mail.

She was about to phone the fire brigade when she noticed the stray had set up home in the nest.

The cat only leaves the cherry tree to beg for food at her back door then climbs back up the tree.

Mrs Hobbs said: "I don't know why she loves the tree. She sits there watching the traffic. My husband and I think the nest must have been a pigeon's because it's so messy."

Mrs Hobbs has tried to find the cat's owners, she added: "We have phoned the vet's and apparently there have been no cats reported missing.

"I'm sure someone must be looking for her and I've put adverts up everywhere."

[Dark One]

Rabbit's week under the bonnet

A rabbit has survived unhurt - after spending a week under the bonnet of a Ford Mondeo.

Jon Llewlyn, 34, had spotted the wild bunny hopping around near his car but assumed it had gone when he later drove away.

But after he arrived at his home in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, he noticed its fluffy head poking out of the front grill, reports the Mirror.

Security guard Jon tried to coax the rabbit out but it disappeared.

Again, he assumed it had hopped off. Then days later, after driving 60 miles, Jon found the rabbit was still under the bonnet.

The AA dismantled the engine and found the bunny under the gearbox. Jon, who called the rabbit Bugsy, said: "He travelled a fair bit."

[Dark One]

Bill Murray gatecrashes student party

Hollywood star Bill Murray stunned a house full of Scottish students when he turned up at their party.

The actor, in Scotland for a celebrity golf tournament, was drinking in a bar when Norwegian student Lykke Stavnef invited him to join her for a night out.

She said it was almost a re-enactment of Lost in Translation, in which Murray's character - a lonely, jet-lagged actor - befriends a young woman and joins her on an exploration of Tokyo's nightlife.

"Nobody could believe it when I arrived at the party with Bill Murray," Miss Stavnef, a social anthropology student at St Andrews, told The Scotsman.

Murray, 56, was drinking in the town's Ma Bells bar when he met Miss Stavnef, 22, and her friend Marie Bergene.

They took him to a Georgian house in town where the cream of St Andrews students were partying in style.

"We met him in the bar and he made some jokes. He was just like the character in Lost in Translation," Ms Stavnef recalls.

"It was funny, because he was pretty old compared with the other people there, but he was so relaxed."

The actor drank vodka from a coffee cup as his hosts had run out of clean glasses. And he even offered to cook and clean the dirty dishes.

"He was joking with me about reheating some left-over pasta and how drunk everybody was," said Agnes Huitfeldt, 22, an economics and finance student who was also at the party.

"He couldn't fail to have a good time, the party was overflowing with stunning Scandinavian blondes," said Tom Wright, 22, an international relations student.

[Dark One]

Beijing bids to stamp out 'Chinglish'

Officials in China are hoping to stamp out bad English in the build-up to the 2008 Olympics.

'Chinglish' - mistranslated phrases - is a common problem and many street signs and product labels make little sense.

Emergency exits at Beijing airport read "No entry on peacetime" and the Ethnic Minorities Park is named "Racist Park".

New translation guides will be issused to hotels and tourist attractions by the end of the year, according to Xinhua news agency.

A road sign on Beijing's Avenue of Eternal Peace warns of a dangerous pavement with the words: "To Take Notice of Safe; The Slippery are Very Crafty".

In restaurants menus frequently list items such as "Corrugated iron beef", "Government abuse chicken" and "Chop the strange fish".

[Dark One]

Ashes get VIP treatment

The Ashes have received VIP treatment on their trip to Australia.

The four-inch urn was given a first-class seat and accompanied by security guards as it embarked on its journey.

It's only the third time the urn has left Lord's since 1927, when it was donated by the widow of Ivo Bligh, the England captain given it in 1882-3.

It has reportedly been insured for a seven-figure sum for its 26,000-mile round trip to six Australian cities to coincide with this winter's cricket.

It will then head back to the MCC Museum at Lord's, reports the BBC.

[Dark One]

Woman gives birth to own grandchild

A Japanese woman in her 50s has given birth to her own grandchild.

The woman had the baby last year, using an egg from her daughter and sperm from her son-in-law.

It was the first time a woman has acted as a surrogate mother for her daughter in Japan, reports the BBC.

Yahiro Netsu, the head of the Suwa maternity clinic in Nagano, told a news conference the woman agreed to act as a surrogate mother because her daughter was unable to have children due to cancer.

Both the mother and child were reported to be in good health.

Dr Netsu said the woman had first registered the baby as her own and then the child was adopted by her daughter and son-in-law.

The case is set to stir debate in Japan where surrogate births are opposed by the government and a key medical group.

Japan's justice ministry views the woman who gives birth as a child's mother - not the biological mother.

Dr Netsu called on the government and the medical authorities to review their stance.

[Cat-Eyes]

Hehe, we saw SOO many Chinglish signs in China when I was there last year.

In the Panda Research Base there were all these signs that we think meant to say 'Please do not feed the animals' but actually said 'Wildlife is not food'. One of our hotel's fire escape plan was complete jibberish. The first four points made sense and the last one was about how their staff would escort our honoured chair or something and we were standing there like 'What?!' Happily there wasn't a fire

'Twas funny