QUIRKY WORLD ... A daily look at some of the world’s stranger stories
A primary school teacher got her baby son’s education off to an early start — by giving birth to him in a classroom.
Diane Krish-Veeramany, 30, went into labour a week before her due date while working at Manford Primary School, in Chigwell, Essex.
Three colleagues acted as improvised midwives to help deliver her second child, Jonah, after she came out of a morning meeting.
The proud mother told the BBC: “We now joke that he was late for his first day at school, as he was born after the bell. The school have named the room he was born in after him — it’s now called Jonah’s Room.”
Feeling the first pangs of labour, Ms Krish-Veeramany called for her husband, Vijaye Veeramany, to come and pick her up. Twenty minutes later she had delivered the baby with the help of teaching assistants Dita Gojnovci, Chris Sword, and Sam Mustafa. One was on the phone to Mr Veeramany, another spoke to the hospital, and a third to an ambulance.
Ms Krish-Veeramany was taken by paramedics to Queen’s Hospital, Romford, and later allowed to take Jonah home.
A Boston homeless man turned over to police a backpack stuffed with nearly $42,000 (€31,440) worth of cash and travellers cheques shortly after he found it at a shopping centre, police said.
“The Good Samaritan could only provide officers with his name and the address of the shelter where he currently lives,” a police statement said.
The man, identified as Glen James, found the bag at the South Bay Mall in Dorchester.
He gave it to police, who later found the owner — a Chinese national whose passport was also in the bag, police said.
James was given a special citation from Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis “for his extraordinary show of character and honesty”.
Prince Harry has spent the night in a giant freezer to simulate the gruelling conditions he will face when he treks to the South Pole this winter.
The 29-year-old, who will race with a team of injured British servicemen and women against US and Commonwealth groups, was subjected to ambient temperatures of minus 35C, with wind speeds of 72kph, as he prepared for the 320km expedition.
Harry, patron of the Walking With The Wounded charity, joked that it was a cold night’s sleep. When asked what was the worst part, he said: “Going in.” He spent around 20 hours in the cold chamber at Mira in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, where cars and military vehicles are put through their paces.
Organisers of Hong Kong’s Marathon are urging runners not to take ‘selfie’ pictures with their phones during the next race after a pile-up at this year’s event.
A crush was reportedly triggered after a woman stopped to take a picture of herself at the start of the race.
Organisers ruled out a complete ban on mobile phones as impractical, but said they were using Facebook, television, and radio to promote the anti-selfie message in the run-up to the next event on Feb 16.
“It is almost impossible to ban competitors from bringing their mobile phones,” said William Ko, chairman of the organising committee. “What we’ve been trying to do is to get the message across to take care of yourself and to take care of other runners.
“For the race itself, we will have officials to hold some message boards to remind people not to take photos at the start, on the route or at the finish because it is dangerous.”
The pile-up last February happened at the start of the 10km race after a female competitor dropped her phone as she was trying to take the snap. As she bent to pick it up, runners behind her tripped over her, the South China Morning Post reported.
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