Quirky World: Artwork puts boot in with 124 years of defeats
Starting with a 2-1 defeat to Scotland, the magnificent granite sculpture charts more than a century of England’s footballing failures, finishing with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Romania in the 1998 World Cup.
The gloomy untitled piece was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and was auctioned by Sotheby’s as part of its Bear Witness art sale, which has already generated £26.5m.
Dirty job
A man has been convicted of carrying out a campaign of throwing balloons full of excrement at a club used by ex-servicemen and women.
Charles McGeary, 49, repeated his foul activities on a number of occasions after reportedly being barred from drinking at the Royal British Legion, in South Shields, South Tyneside.
The Crown Prosecution Service said he “carried out a campaign of filling jars and balloons with excrement, urine and rotten food”.
Caught on camera
Armed men robbed a news team for the state broadcaster on a Johannesburg street, but were caught in the act on a news camera.
The robbery happened when journalist Vuyo Mvoko was seconds away from going on live television outside a hospital in South Africa’s biggest city, broadcaster SABC said.
SABC video footage showed two men accosting Mvoko as he was waiting to deliver his report in front of the camera.
Ban the selfie
Selfie sticks are to be banned from the National Gallery.
Visitors will not be able to use the gadgets — used by people to take photographs of themselves — at the venue because they fall under the category of tripods, which are already prohibited.
Ferrets fall foul
Ferrets will not get a legal foothold in New York City.
The city board of health has decided to maintain a long-standing prohibition on keeping the animals as pets. The vote was 3-2 to lift the ban but needed six votes to pass. There were three abstentions.
Related to weasels, ferrets have gained popularity as pets in recent decades. Many states have lifted ferret bans over the past 25 years. California, Hawaii, and Washington, DC still have them.
Hot tub cow machine
A farmer jumped into a hot tub with a shivering baby cow to save its life.
Dean Gangwer, from central Indiana, says he thinks one of his cows gave birth and he found the barely-breathing newborn in a bank of snow.
The farmer said he decided the quickest way to warm up the calf, named Leroy, would be to use his hot tub. Gangwer said he “jumped in fully dressed and held Leroy up so he didn’t drown”. He then took the calf inside and wrapped him in electric blankets. Leroy is recovering.
Will be fooled again
An ex-con who had just finished a 15-year robbery sentence has admitted he robbed the same New Jersey shoe store — while the same clerk was behind the counter.
Prosecutors say 41-year-old Christopher Miller robbed the Stride Rite store in Toms River in March 2014, a day after he was released from prison after finishing his jail term for the first robbery. Police say Miller made off with $389 and fled on foot with the employees’ mobile phones.
Miller has pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery. He faces a prison term of 10 to 20 years when he is sentenced in May.
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