A shopping centre in Maine has sacked Father Christmas after children and parents complained he was rude, grumpy and would not let one child sit on his lap.
Jessica Mailhiot and her daughter Chantel, six, told WGME-TV that when she visited Santa at the Maine Mall in South Portland, he was rude and would not let the girl sit on his lap when they said they did not want to buy a $20 photo. Chantel said when she asked Santa for an American Girl doll, he replied she would get an “American football”.
When the mother posted her story online, others shared similar experiences. The station contacted the Santa, but he did not want to comment.
Stolen sphinx recovered
A stolen Egyptian granite sculpture of a sphinx that risked ending up on the black market for antiquities is destined instead for a Rome museum.
Italian tax police chief Massimo Rossi said the sphinx, perhaps dating back as far as the 4th century BC, was found on the outskirts of Rome last week. It was in a box hidden in a greenhouse near an ancient Etruscan necropolis.
Mr Rossi said the sphinx, which is roughly two feet tall and four feet long, probably adorned a 1st century BC Roman villa, in keeping with the fashion then for Egyptian sculpture as decoration. He said an Italian and a Romanian are being investigated in the probe of suspected illicit trafficking in antiquities.
Detectorists’ metal finds
A boar mount which could have belonged to Richard III, an Iron Age helmet that once held cremated remains and a Viking Age hoard have been discovered by metal detectorists.
The copper-alloy mount was found on the Thames foreshore, near the Tower of London. The mount shows the boar, chained, collared and wearing a crown, with a crescent above one of its legs. Richard III took the white boar as his sign, while badges in the form of the animal were ordered for the King’s cremation in 1485.
Michael Lewis, deputy head of the British Museum’s department of Portable Antiquities and Treasure, said that “given the renewed interest in Richard III, after the apparent discovery of his remains in Leicestershire, it is wonderful to have a London find associated with the king.
Rare sharks on trial ‘run’
Wildlife experts are hoping for a world first by breeding two rare sharks.
The pair of Bowmouth Guitar Sharks Betty and Boris are now sharing a tank at the Birmingham Sea Life Centre, after Betty was transported in from Blackpool.
The female shark, which is about six feet in length, has moved from her usual home at Blackpool’s Sea Life Centre because her seawater tank there needs a refit.
Wildlife bosses decided to make the most of the upheaval by moving Betty in with Birmingham’s resident male Bowmouth five-and-a-half-foot long Boris, to see if they will breed. The hope is now that the pair will mate in what would be the first successful breeding of Bowmouths in captivity. They are only the second pair kept together in captivity in the world, with another pair being kept in the United States.