Quirky World: Dinky toy collection worth a mint at auction
Retired car dealer Raymond Hainsworth, 78, and his wife Pat, started collecting when their twin boys Ian and David were babies and their first Christmas was spent surrounded by a new train set.
Their father was so dedicated to his collection he was even trying to add to it two weeks before the auctioneers were coming to take it away to be catalogued.
The toys were carefully kept in their boxes and when the couple became grandparents, the children were taught to look after the items after playing with them.
The collection spread from Hornby, to English and French Dinky, Matchbox, Corgi, Triang Minic, and Spot-On, among other makes.
It grew so big their home near Skipton, North Yorkshire, looked like a toy museum, Pat Hainsworth said.
Among the pick of the collection are a black and white Dinky lorry in the Corn Products livery which was produced for the firm as a promotional item and was not on general sale. It could fetch over £5,000.
Another rarity is a French Dinky Baroclem Citreon van, also never on general sale, which could make over £4,000.
Mr Hainsworth, who used to live in Heysham, Lancashire and was born in Bradford, decided to sell up as he wanted to put his entire collection in a single catalogue.The three-day sale at Vectis auction house at Thornaby, Teesside starts on March 17.
An enormous coffin measuring almost 2.4m long carried by eight pallbearers was used to lay Britain’s former tallest man to rest.
Christopher Greener, who died last month aged 71, held the title for four decades and was a towering 7ft 6in — with his growth stopping only due to surgery. He was buried at St Mary’s Cemetery in Hayes, Bromley, in a double plot close to his former home.
His body was placed in a coffin adapted for his height, which required eight pallbearers to manage both its length and Mr Greener’s 30-stone frame. The coffin only narrowly fitted into the hearse, according to the funeral directors.
A former school bus aide accused of stealing lunch money and bagged lunches from preschoolers in New Jersey is now charged with stealing cash from the bus driver.
Police in Millville say 33-year-old Rosa Rios was charged with additional theft and robbery counts.
The new charges come about two weeks after authorities said Rios was caught on a surveillance camera going through students’ backpacks. She is accused of stealing money and food from the 3- to 5-year-olds she was supervising in January and February.
Authorities initially reviewed the footage because the bus driver said someone stole $400 from her. They then reviewed additional footage that allegedly shows Rios going through the driver’s belongings.
Rios remains jailed on $50,000 (€46,000) bail. It’s not known if she has an attorney who can comment on the charges.
Zoo keepers are celebrating the birth of a king colobus monkey.
The monkey was born at Paignton Zoo in Devon on Saturday to father Martin and mother Ivy.
King colobus monkeys, which weigh less than 1kg at birth, are listed as a vulnerable species.
A spokesman for Paignton Zoo said: “The new arrival is important, as there are only six collections in Europe holding king colobus.”
The monkeys are not checked by a vet until they are at least six months old — meaning keepers have to wait to find out their sex.
Short-break tourists see York as the world’s safest city — with Cairo in Egypt seen as the most risky, according to a survey.
Of 42 world towns, Bath, Edinburgh and Brighton were also considered particularly safe, while Bangkok, Istanbul, and Marrakech were, after Cairo, the cities deemed least safe. A stolen wallet (24%) was the most common occurrence for those who had had problems in cities.
The survey of 2,075 adults carried out by Post Office Travel Insurance, showed that 72% felt York was safe with only 1% considering the Yorkshire city risky. Second was Bath with 69% saying it was safe and only 2% regarding it as risky. Edinburgh also had a 69% safe rating, with 3% reckoning the Scottish capital was a risky destination.
A dog was so keen not to be left behind when its owner went on a trip that it sneaked into her suitcase —but was rumbled by an airport luggage check.
Officers at New York’s LaGuardia Airport said the seven-year-old Chihuahua crawled into its owner’s case and curled up when she had her back turned while packing for a flight to Los Angeles last week.
But as her hard-sided case was screened, it sparked an unknown contents alarm and was opened for inspection. The owner’s husband later collected the dog and took it home.
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