Quirky World ... Dolphins protect swimmer from shark
Adam Walker is aiming to become the first Briton to complete the Oceans Seven challenge but was alarmed to find he was being accompanied by a shark as he crossed the Cook Strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand last week.
However, he soon realised he had also been joined on the 26km swim by a pod of dolphins, which appeared to be protecting him.
Walker said: “I’d like to think they were protecting me and guiding me home!!! This swim will stay with me forever.”
A woman who suffered from a mystery condition that stopped her breathing every five minutes as she slept has finally been diagnosed 25 years later — by her mother.
Amanda Ramsay, 45, of Bristol, visited numerous doctors’ surgeries and consultants after becoming increasingly exhausted, depressed, and overweight. She underwent “countless” blood tests, 30 thyroid tests, and was forced to give up her job but medics failed to diagnose the cause of her chronic ill-health.
Finally, her mother, Maureen Ramsay, 70, googled her symptoms and found they matched the little-known sleep disorder obstructive sleep apnoea.
Ramsay suggested the condition to her doctor and, after a sleep study, was diagnosed with the disorder. She has been prescribed a respiratory machine to pump air into her body, allowing her to sleep through the night for the first time in decades.
Country music veteran Willie Nelson struck a powerful note when he received his fifth-degree black belt in the martial art of gong kwon yu sul — at the age of 81.
Grand Master Sam Um told a packed presentation in Austin, Texas, that the ‘Red Headed Stranger’ could hold his own against anyone. Nelson, who celebrates his birthday this week, said a doctor had just given him a clean bill of health, and the singer gives martial arts a lot of credit for that.
“I’m pretty healthy at 81,” said Nelson. “I think a lot of it has to do with the exercise that you do. I think martial arts is one of the best exercises you can do. Mentally, spiritually, physically, everything. I’m sure that’s helped.”
A man has been arrested after allegedly attempting to rob a convenience store with a potato.
Gary Deming, aged 34, of Cranston, Rhode Island, is accused of wielding a potato disguised as a gun when he demanded money from the shop. The store manager chased him off with a baseball bat after an employee gave him a fake $20 note from a decoy register.
Deming is also accused of breaking into his sister’s home on the same day as the alleged potato incident. She told police he took a purse, debit card, and $100.
Police are looking for the owner of a large python — and the driver who found it may think twice before picking the next spot to stretch his legs.
Police said they were called to the scene about 100km west of Vienna after the unidentified driver stumbled onto the 2.5m-long reptile packed in a jute sack (a big bag usually used to keep agricultural commodities) in a forest near a highway.
The snake was found late last week. A pet shop has volunteered to temporarily care for it while police look for its owner.
Everything has been stolen — including the kitchen sink — from the kitchen of a model house in Kansas.
Police say thieves stripped the kitchen of the Clayton Homes unit in south Wichita, taking all the upscale appliances, the wooden cabinets from the walls, and, of course, the sink.
General manager Kevin McCracken says the model unit was nearly ready for display when the theft occurred, sometime between 9pm on Sunday and 8am Monday.
A local television station reports that the missing appliances, cabinets, counters, and sink, along with the cost of repairing the damage, amounts to a loss of several thousand dollars.
The Royal Albert Hall has been given the Sgt Pepper treatment by artist Peter Blake, who has created a giant collage featuring some of the names who have graced the venue’s stage.
His triptych depicts figures from classical music, rock and sport who have made appearances under the dome of the London concert hall.
Blake, who was behind the sleeve of the Beatles album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, was joined by Queen guitarist Brian May, former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman, and The Who’s Roger Daltrey as the work was unveiled at the venue.
The 81-year-old artist has assembled an array of figures from across the eras, including Edward Elgar, Fred Astaire, Tim Henman, Van Morrison, Michael Palin, and Victoria Beckham among the dozens of faces.
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