Pill-making machines and a pair of glasses (photo above) thought to have belonged to notorious poisoner Dr Crippen are to go under the hammer next week.
Northamptonshire-based auction house JP Humbert is also offering poison bottles recovered from the workplace of Hawley Harvey Crippen, who was hanged at London’s Pentonville Prison in 1910 for murdering his wife, Cora.
A brooch thought to have been owned by Cora is also on sale at the auction in Towcester on Wednesday, November 19. Crippen, who was born in the US, is believed to have used hyoscine to kill Cora at his London home before attempting to flee to Canada.
It’s a very merry Google Christmas
Christmas really is arriving earlier each year, experts confirm.
People now start thinking about the festive season as early as mid-August – almost three months earlier than in 2007 – according to a study of internet searches for terms such as “Santa Claus”, “elf” and “presents” published by the Royal Statistical Society.
Data analyst Nathan Cunningham looked at the volume of Christmas-related Google searches in each of the past six years to work out the probability of each week being defined as “Christmas” or “not Christmas”. He found that, from a relatively late start of November 11 in 2007, we turned our minds to Christmas as early as August 19 in 2012.
Woman sheds over 62% of weight
An overweight woman who was told she might not see her 30th birthday has lost 20 stone. She said: “I feel like I’m finally starring in my own fairytale.”
At just 27, Brianan McEnteggart from Dundalk, County Louth, weighed 32st 11lb, wore a dress size 34 and had cracked the bath in her family home. Her GP warned her that if she did not tackle her weight she could be less than 18 months away from a heart attack.
After losing 20st 5lb – nearly two-thirds of her body weight – Ms McEnteggart, now 31, has a new job, has set up home with her boyfriend and has been named Slimming World Woman of the Year 2014.
Miracle mother shocks doctors
A Florida mother has said she is savouring every day of her busy life after doctors believed she had died.
The Boca Raton mother of two said she was without a pulse for 45 minutes following complications from a routine Caesarean section after she gave birth to a healthy baby girl less than a month ago.
Doctors told her family to say their final farewells before they pronounced her dead. But, moments later, her heart began beating again. Medical officials called her survival a double miracle, because she suffered no brain damage.
Man ‘drowns’ ex-wife’s Corvette
It started as a rescue story, but authorities said it turned out to be a marriage apparently beyond saving.
When a red Corvette plunged into a river in Philadelphia, US, marine units were sent down to search for a possible victim inside.
However, they found no one, and the 1990 Corvette was later raised from nine metres of water. It turned out a man going through a divorce had sent his wife’s car into the river.
Investigators said a 50-year-old man went to her home and took the vehicle – and will probably face charges.
Experts reveal NYC auction fakes
The Mexican government has called up to half the pre-Hispanic artefacts listed for sale in a Bonhams auction in New York fakes.
After sending experts to view the pieces, Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History now says 50 per cent are relatively recently made copies. That was higher than its earlier claim of 25 per cent. It said Bonhams should stop the sale, because the other 50 per cent of the items are national heritage pieces.
For sale are about 155 sculptures, ceramic vessels and other artefacts from the Aztec, Mayan and other cultures.