Labour peer Andrew McIntosh has died after a battle with cancer, relatives have said.
The 77-year-old politician, who served as a whip and a culture spokesman in the Lords, was given a life peerage in 1983 as Baron McIntosh of Haringey.
His son Philip said: “He was the most honest and considerate socialist politician of his generation and will be greatly missed.”
Lord McIntosh, who lived in Highgate, north London, was leader of the Labour group which won control of the Greater London Council in 1981.
But the day after victory he was ousted, with Ken Livingstone voted leader in his place.
His son said funeral arrangements were being made for a humanist ceremony on September 8.
Lord McIntosh, who was married to social researcher Naomi Sargant, had two sons and a stepson. (PA)
UAE Central Bank rejects two $1m bills
A man has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates for tricking a woman into trying to get change at the central bank for two souvenir one million dollar notes he persuaded her were real, a local daily said yesterday.
“The suspect claimed that he was not aware that the notes do not have any value,” The National quoted Colonel Hammad Ahmed al-Hamadi of the Abu Dhabi police as saying.
The 44-year-old suspect persuaded the woman to exchange the fake notes at the UAE Central Bank in return for 30 per cent of their value after convincing her they were authentic, the report said citing police sources.
A photo in the newspaper shows a bill with starkly different colours on its two sides – one side is mainly black and white, while the other is mainly green. (AFP)
Crowned air guitar champion again
Sylvain “Gunther Love” Quimene of France won the annual Air Guitar World Championships for the second time in a row late on Friday, the event’s organisers in Finland said.
“Last year’s World Champion Sylvain ‘Gunther Love’ Quimene gave once again a stunning performance and took the highest crown back to France,” they said in a statement.
Mr Quimene wowed judges with his imaginary guitar renditions, performed wearing nothing but sunglasses and shiny, tight, gold-coloured trousers.
The 29-year-old Frenchman danced and lip-synched in front of a crowd of up to 8,000 air guitar fans gathered in the northern Finnish town of Oulu.
His compatriot Soraya “Eva Gina Runner” Garleng won second place, while Canada’s Cole “Johnny Utah” Manson, described by organisers as a “retiring champion”, placed third.
Air guitarists taking part in the competition had to ‘perform’ a 60-second song of their own choice – by pretending to play rock or heavy metal without an actual instrument.
A video of Gunther Love’s performance can be seen at http://www.airguitarworldchampionships.com / (AFP)
Serbian chefs cook testicle treat
In a remote Serbian mountain village, they’re cooking up delicacies to make your mouth water – or your stomach churn.
At the seventh annual World Testicle Cooking Championship, visitors watch – and sometimes taste – as teams of chefs cook up bull, boar, camel, ostrich and even kangaroo testicles.
“This festival is all about fun, food and bravery,” said Ljubomir Erovic, the Serbian chef and testicles gourmand specialist who organizes the bizarre cooking festival and has published a testicle cookery book.
The food – politely called “white kidneys” in Serbian – is believed to be rich in testosterone. In the Balkans, it is considered to help men’s libido.
“The bulls’ testicles are the best, goulash style,” said last year’s winner Zoltan Levai, stirring a metal pot heated by a wood fire and filled with vegetables and large testicles that he said were provided from a state-run slaughter house. (PA)
Daredevil’s high-wire bicycle stunt
A seventh-generation high-wire daredevil pedalled a bicycle across a precarious line strung between two hotel towers in an attempt to break his own world record.
Nik Wallenda, of the famous Flying Wallendas circus family, cycled safely more than 100 feet along the wire at the Bahamas’ Paradise Island Atlantis resort some 260 feet above the turquoise ocean – without a safety net.
Mr Wallenda holds the current Guinness World Records for longest distance and greatest height travelled by bicycle on a high wire, set in 2008 in Newark, New Jersey, when he travelled 235 feet at a height of 135 feet.
Hundreds of tourists and resort workers watched from pools and pavements, snapping pictures and shooting video.
Guinness will have to verify the new height record, the one he was trying to break. (PA)
Rare fish
A rare fish shaped like a ribbon has been handed in to an aquarium after being accidentally hauled up in a fisherman’s nets, staff said.
The red-band eel fish has been donated to the Blue Reef Aquarium in Portsmouth, Hampshire, after being found off the south coast.
But the fish, which grows to lengths of up to 32 inches, can be found as far south as the Mediterranean and off Senegal on the west African coast. (PA)
Boring parents
As many as 21 per cent of parents have forgotten how to play with their children, according to a poll.
And 30 per cent of mothers and fathers think playing with their offspring is boring, the survey commissioned by Disneyland Paris found.
This sense of ennui is actually picked up by 16 per cent of youngsters, while 55 per cent of children want more quality fun time with their parents. The survey was based on responses from 2,000 UK parents and 2,000 children aged five to 15. (PA)