The original Batmobile from the 1960s TV series has sold at a US auction for $4.2 million (€3.1 million).
The 19-foot black, bubble-topped car was used in the Batman TV show that starred Adam West as the Caped Crusader. The car’s owner – famed customiser George Barris, of Los Angeles – transformed a one-of-a-kind 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car into the sleek crime-fighting machine.
On the show, it boasted lasers, a “Batphone” and could lay down smoke screens and oil slicks. (AP)
Pleasure from €10 windfall
Happiness is picking up a stray €10 note, according to the first study claiming to measure pleasure.
Scientists carried out tests on 80 volunteers whose brainwaves were recorded while they engaged in different activities. From the readings, they produced a pleasure scale from minus 100 to plus 100.
A surprise €10 windfall generated the highest average score of 82.9. At the other end of the scale, listening to badly played violin emerged as one of the most unpleasant experiences, rating minus 55.7. (PA)
Stuck up a coconut tree
A Malaysian with a craving for coconut milk who decided to shin up a palm tree ended up having to be rescued by the fire brigade.
Mohd Hafiz Che Yusoff was left clinging to the tree in Kelantan state for more than three hours.
The 30-year-old told the New Straits Times: “After plucking a few young coconuts, I suddenly felt dizzy and could not work my way down. I was so scared that I just held on tight to the tree.”
A passing friend called the fire brigade and they used a ladder to rescue him. (AP)
Rare spider in cemetery
A large, rare spider has been recorded living in Victorian tombs in one of the UK’s most famous cemeteries.
The discovery of the orb weaver spider Meta bourneti in Highgate Cemetery, the burial place of philosopher Karl Marx, poet Christina Rossetti and novelist George Eliot among others, is the first time the species has been recorded in London.
London Wildlife Trust found the population of the spider, which measures more than 30mm, in the vaults of the Egyptian Avenue at the cemetery while conducting a bat survey.
The Trust said that, as the tombs where it was found date back to the 1830s, it is possible that the population of spiders have lived there undetected for at least 150 years. (AP)