Captain Beany, a lurid orange baked bean superhero, hopes to blow a wind of change through Parliament at Britain's imminent general election.
The reigning Greatest British Eccentric, who zooms about in a cape and x-ray laser specs, reckons voters are sick of politicians - and need a flatulent superhero to sort them out.
Beany - born Barry Kirk, 55 years old and a former computer operator - is a man-sized baked bean: the tinned haricot beans in tomato sauce beloved by Britons and reputed to induce wind.
"The wind of change is coming, I can smell it in the air!" he said at his campaign headquarters - the Red Lion pub. "You can sense the election fever, you can feel it in your bean sauce! The politicians are full of hot air." (AFP)
For sale: Moments of pure joy
Photographs capturing pure delight on the faces of women relaxing in the 1950s will be sold at auction next month.
Grace Robertson took the shots of groups of women joking about on pub outings in south London.
She wrote of the two shots taken in Battersea in 1954: "I can't recall ever having been present at a more high-spirited gathering of like-minded people who, for a few hours, gave themselves up utterly to the enjoyment of the moment. When the party broke up and the women trailed off to their homes in small laughing and singing groups, one could only guess at a very different mood on the following day." (PA)
Blink off
You can tell when someone is being blinking rude and not listening by looking at their eyes, scientists have shown.
A study suggests that when a person blinks, it is a sign that their mind is wandering.
Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada were inspired by studies showing that when attention falters, parts of the brain that process external influences are less active. (PA)
Parenting skills
A mother-of-nine has been arrested after binding her eight-year-old son with duct tape and tying him to a coffee table while she slept at night.
Police in Cleveland, Ohio, were called by his 15-year-old brother, who said his mother made his sister tie the boy up every night or be beaten.
They say they found him on the floor with his hands and feet bound behind his back with tape and a shoelace around his neck. His feet were tied to the table. (PA)
Noisy buses
New York is considering silencing the hundreds of double-decker tour buses that roll through city streets by requiring a headphone system to replace loudspeakers.
Beginning in April 2012, a new law would make any bus licensed by the city's consumer affairs department have a headphone system.
Residents on the bus routes have complained about the noisy loudspeakers for years. (PA)
Vicious stray dogs
Animal protection groups are to protest against a Romanian government proposal to put down thousands of stray dogs after 11,000 people were bitten in the capital Bucharest last year.
The city wants stray dogs taken off the streets and put down if they are not adopted within 14 days.
There are between 40,000 and 100,000 stray dogs in Bucharest and activists say they should be sterilised, not killed. (PA)
Roller coasters and ear injury
Careless thrill-seekers risk injuring their ears on high speed roller coasters as doctors in the US have linked a common ear injury to forces experienced on the adrenalin-pumping rides.
The condition, called barotrauma, is caused by rapid changes in air pressure and normally associated with flying, scuba diving and the effects of explosions. It can lead to temporary hearing loss, dizziness, and painful swelling in the ear.
Barotrauma can be avoided by yawning or chewing gum to equalise pressure on both sides of the ear drum. But this is hard to do while soaring and diving on a fast-moving roller coaster, the researchers point out.
"We recommend that passengers remain facing forward for the duration of the ride to not let the full impact of acceleration hit the ear," said study leader Dr Kathleen Yaremchuk, from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. (PA)
Peter Pan record bid
Children at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) have been among thousands of people who donned a green tunic to take part in a record attempt for the number of simultaneous Peter Pans.
Participants had to follow a strict dress code to take part in the bid. Each Peter Pan had to carry a sword and wear a hat, green tunic and brown tights, leggings or trousers with a brown belt to be included in the final head count.
Patients and staff, including chief executive Dr Jane Collins, joined in at GOSH, in central London, while nurses wore Peter Pan style hats on the wards.
The record bid was part of the hospital's Peter Pan Week, which started on Monday with the aim of raising £160,000 towards two new en-suite bedrooms in the cardiac centre at GOSH. (PA)