It has long been a rite of passage for Glasgow students to place a traffic cone on the head of the Duke of Wellington statue in Royal Exchange Square.
Now the city’s council has abandoned a plan to raise the statue by six feet to end the tradition after more than 10,000 people signed a petition opposing it, The Sunday Times reports.
The petition insisted: “The cone on Wellington’s head is an iconic part of Glasgow’s heritage, and means far more to the people of Glasgow and to visitors than Wellington himself ever was.”
House burglars get thank you note
A British woman has written a thank you letter to the burglars who broke into her house and apologised for not having “particularly expensive tastes”.
Kate Barrett, 36, wrote that she and her partner, Dan Owens, were “disappointed” the thieves had ignored her VHS video and cassette collection.
Miss Barrett stuck the letter to the back door of the Northampton home she shares with Mr Owens.
It stated: “Dear Burglars, Thanks for popping by the other night and we’re sorry we didn’t have more for you to take. As you now know, we don’t have particularly expensive tastes so there’s no need to come in again, unless you would like to take my collection of VHS videos and cassettes – Dan is very disappointed you didn’t take these first time round. Thanks for all the finger prints – we really appreciated those. Lots of love Kate and Dan xxx.”
Mayday call shock for travellers
Frightened passengers on board a British Airways flight have told how they heard their pilot making a Mayday distress call 36,000ft above the Atlantic.
The captain radioed for help when smoke filled the cockpit of the BA plane – and accidentally turned on the public address system.
The Boeing 777 was flying from London Heathrow to New York but had to make an emergency landing at Ireland’s Shannon Airport.
The BA flight had 220 people on board, the newspaper The Sunday Express reports.
But after the crew spotted smoke filling the cabin, they put on oxygen masks and immediately contacted air traffic control.
They switched on the cabin address system, and the start of their Mayday call was heard by passengers.
Rocky road leads to court case
Police have charged a 20-year-old man with reckless endangerment for allegedly driving his car down the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps made famous by the movie Rocky.
Police say 20-year-old Emin Faki told them the brakes on the car failed and he could not stop it. Police had the BMW checked and filed the criminal charge.
The October 24 stunt was recorded by onlookers who posted videos online. Online court records show that Faki was arraigned early on Friday and applied for a public defender.
A judge ordered him to appear for a preliminary hearing on December 18 – and to stay away from the museum in the meantime.