A Cuban cigar roller has began rolling a 70-metre cigar in an attempt to nearly double his previous Guinness world record, a spokesman said.
Working eight hours a day for nine days, 67-year-old José “Cueto” Castelar is hoping to break his 2009 record of a 43.38-metre-long stogie.
He hopes to complete his latest feat on May 3 and display it at the International Tourism Fair, which runs from Monday to Saturday next week. It would be his fifth record in more than half a century of cigar-rolling. (AFP)
King... Edward?
Kate Middleton appears to have ditched Prince William for a King Edward after the couple were recreated as potatoes.
The creators of BBC children’s show Small Potatoes have worked their magic on the couple before their wedding, copying the poses struck by William and Kate when they announced their engagement.
The CBeebies animated series launched earlier this month, featuring songs by musical potatoes as well as comedy sketches. (PA)
Butt Out
A bird risks losing its “dream home” after choosing to build its nest in a cigarette bin.
The great tit chose the bizarre spot at the RSPB’s Fairburn Ings nature reserve in Castleford, West Yorkshire, before the breeding season.
The ashtray has been put out of bounds for several weeks until the garden bird moves out. Other odd nest sites reported this year include a teapot, a Wellington boot and behind a satellite dish. (PA)
When will you?
British women believe two years and five months into a relationship is the ideal time for their partner to propose, a new poll has revealed.
Boyfriends might do well to heed the warning, as one in 10 British women has dumped a partner for taking too long to pop the question.
One sixth of those questioned claimed they had met someone else while waiting for their other half to get down on one knee, according to the poll of 2,000 women by I Love Natural Cork to celebrate the new “Pop ‘n’ Fizz” app. (PA)
Dental gold
South Koreans are cashing in their gold teeth and other dental work as the price of the precious metal soars internationally, traders said.
At the same time, they are shunning traditional gold engagement rings and baby gifts or making do with less expensive versions.
“We are handling gold teeth far more than usual as the price of gold is rapidly increasing,” Nam Seung-Woo, CEO of dealer Gold Seven told AFP.
The company has bought golden whole teeth, fillings or crowns from more than 100 customers in the past month and receives at least 10 e-mailed pictures for free appraisals every day. (AFP)
Smell of success
Hundreds of people have visited a Hawaii zoo to get a whiff of a flower that smells like rotting flesh.
The “corpse flower” smells like rotten meat and is on loan to the zoo from an anonymous donor.
In its Indonesian homeland of Sumatra, the flower gives off its smell to attract carrion beetles to what they believe is rotting flesh. (PA)
Pot luck
An elderly couple in Pennsylvania were mistakenly sent a brick of marijuana in the post.
They paid little attention to the package when it was delivered. Not recognising the name, they left it on their porch, expecting it to be picked up.
When nobody claimed it, they opened it to find around £6,000-worth of high-grade marijuana. (PA)
Bad breath
A hospital patient had to be put in isolation after swallowing rat poison, because his breath was dangerously toxic.
St Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan said the chemical made his breath potentially lethal, and warned that it could even catch fire.
He is continuing to be monitored under treatment. (PA)
Octopus prediction
An octopus named Iker, which correctly predicted the result of the last two “classicos” between Real Madrid and Barcelona, has foreseen Real will reach the final of the Champions League at London’s Wembley arena tomorrow by choosing to eat a sardine from a glass cylinder decorated with the club’s badge instead of one from a cylinder with Barcelona’s badge yesterday at the Sea Life Aquarium in the southern city of Benalmadena.
The 16-kilo octupus, named after Real keeper Iker Casillas, has already predicted Real’s 1-1 draw against Barcelona in La Liga on April 16 and the club’s 1-0 win over the Catalan club in the King’s Cup final four days later.
The two sides will face each other in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final. Whichever Spanish team makes it to the final will face either Manchester United or Schalke. (AFP)
Women drivers
A town near Buenos Aires, leery of the screeching stops and careening turns it says typifies male drivers, has hired exclusively women to shuttle its passengers around.
“With women driving, the bus line is more family oriented, more friendly,” said Rafaela Nuyl, 34, one of 28 newly hired drivers for the new bus service in Vicente Lopez.
The bus line in the town, which has been operating since the beginning of the month, makes frequent stops at local primary schools, elder day care centres and a maternity hospital, said officials in Vicente Lopez.
They underscored the importance that drivers need to use kid-glove care when chauffeuring sometimes frail or very young passengers around the town. (AFP)