Engelbert Humperdinck will be carrying a prized gift from Elvis Presley to bring him luck as he performs in the Eurovision Song Contest tonight.

The crooner is one of a handful of people from the King’s circle of friends who were given one of his TCB necklaces – which stands for “taking care of business”.

And the 76-year-old will have the treasured trinket with him when he represents the UK in Baku, Azerbaijan.

A source said: “He has it in his pocket all the time, to bring him luck. Only a few exist and they are priceless, Elvis only gave them to his friends.”

Mr Humperdinck flew in to Azerbaijan a week ago to prepare for the final.

He also met the Azerbaijani contestant, Sabrina, (pictured) who told him he was one of her all-time favourite singers.

Pied piper needed... again

The German city of Hamelin may be in need of another Pied Piper – it seems the rats are back.

Officials say a popular fountain has been put out of service after the rodents gnawed through a power cable.

Legend has it that the Pied Piper led all the rats out of Hamelin into the River Weser in 1284, but officials say such drastic measures may not be necessary this time – the fountain was due to be permanently closed anyway because of high upkeep costs.

Protest over dirty dishes

Prisoners in a Latvian jail have gone on a hunger strike in protest against dirty dishes, local media reported yesterday.

Fifteen inmates of the “White Swan” prison located in Daugavpils, Latvia’s second-largest city, decided to stop eating from Thursday as they were dissatisfied with dirty cutlery and crockery. The strike will last for an indefinite period, said local Russian-language news website Nasha.lv.

The disgruntled convicts have reportedly written to the Justice Ministry demanding cleaner tableware to prevent the spread of intestinal infection at the prison.

Expelled for spiked sweets

A teenager has been expelled from school after landing himself and four pupils in hospital – after lacing their brownies with cannabis.

The 14-year-old took the class B drug into All Saints College in West Denton, Newcastle, UK, then added it to his cake mix. He shared the brownies with four classmates from Year 9 but when the teacher realised what had happened, paramedics and police were called and the pupils were taken to hospital.

They were found to have suffered no ill-effects.

Royal portrait is a hologram

A 3D image of Queen Elizabeth II is getting the first-class treatment by being issued as a stamp.

The hologram portrait, called Equanimity, will appear on a £10 stamp to be issued by the island of Jersey.

It was created eight years ago to mark the 800th anniversary of Jersey and the other Channel Islands swearing allegiance to the British Crown.