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People can see their faces in light in the centenary year of the famous Blackpool Illuminations.

The celebrations include the new Centenary Heads section, composed of Andy Warhol-style pop art images which will feature the faces of people who want to be part of the annual attraction.

The display will be on show for 66 nights between August 31 and November 4.

Blackpool Illuminations manager Richard Ryan said: “It is very exciting to be celebrating 100 years of our world-famous Blackpool Illuminations and we feel it is important to let people really feel they are part of this fantastic light show.”

The Centenary Heads display will be located on the cliffs in the tableau section at the North end of the display.

‘Dog and cat tax’ u-turn

A proposal to levy a tax on cats and dogs that stunned Italy on Friday turned out to be all bark and no bite after a wave of popular anger saw it withdrawn on the same day it was made public.

Italy was abuzz for hours after local media reported that a parliamentary commission had proposed a tax on domestic “animals of affection” to raise revenue for debt-strapped cities and towns.

Defective banknotes

South Africa’s central bank has to destroy more than 3.6 million defective 100 rand banknotes worth a total of nearly €34 million, the Sunday Times reported.

The bills, printed in Sweden, bear the same series numbers as a series printed locally, the report said, quoting the central bank’s spokesman, who would not confirm or deny that the bills would be destroyed.

Moreover some of the notes printed in Sweden were neither the right colour nor size – coming up short by about a millimetre – which poses problems for automated counting machines.

South Africa is redesigning all of its bank notes this year to bear a portrait of first post-apartheid President Nelson Mandela.