Star Trek’s transporters have materialised as movie fans’ favourite screen gadgets.
The futuristic teleporters – often brought into action with a frantic command of “beam me up” – topped a poll of film buffs.
Runner-up was the DeLorean car from Back To The Future in a survey to tie in with the 25th anniversary re-release of the time travelling hit. A high-definition version of the film opens in a number of UK cinemas today.
Third place in the poll of more than 1,000 movie fans went to Kitt, the talking car from the Knight Rider 2000 movie.
A slightly less hi-tech item in fourth was Mary Poppins’s magical handbag, which has contents for any occasion. (PA)
‘Rally to Restore Sanity’
US President Barack Obama praised a comedian yesterday for organising a Rally to Restore Sanity, saying it may help instill more “courtesy” in American political life.
The President, speaking in Richmond, Virginia, welcomed US comic Jon Stewart’s plan for the rally.
“I was amused,” Mr Obama said of The Daily Show host’s rally, an all-day event scheduled for October 30, as an effort for people who expect common sense and courtesy in daily interactions.
“They may not be following every single issue, because they just don’t have time. But they are just expecting some common sense and some courtesy in how people interact,” he said about average people simply “going about their business,” “looking after their families” and “working hard every day.” (AFP)
Faulty fairground ride owner fined
The owner of a faulty fairground ride and an inspector who declared it safe were fined today after two people were thrown from the attraction during the British Grand Prix weekend.
Aylesbury Crown Court heard that two men were injured when seating collapsed on the Tagada fairground ride at Silverstone, in Buckinghamshire, on the day of the 2008 British Grand Prix.
Michael Searle from Essex, who owned the ride, pleaded guilty and was fined £3,000. He was also ordered to pay £1,000 in costs. The director of Fairground Inspection Services Ltd, Michael Rodgers, of Leicestershire, also pleaded guilty and was fined £3,000 with £2,000 costs.
A Health and Safety Executive spokesman said that the Tagada was a ground-level spinning machine that bounced its riders as it turned but an investigation found that the ride failed because of corroded structural steel work on the seating. (PA)
Halloween bigger than Valentine’s Day
Supermarkets are about to place millions of pounds of Halloween stock on shelves in preparation for what has become one of the UK’s main seasonal events.
Tesco has launched its biggest Halloween campaign yet, saying it expected to sell £55 million of Halloween-related goods including 1.4 million pumpkins, two million toffee apples and 1.5 million fancy dress costumes. Tesco UK marketing director Carolyn Bradley said Halloween had overtaken Valentine’s Day to become one of the year’s main seasonal events, with sales almost trebling since 2005.
Ms Bradley said: “Halloween has overtaken Valentine’s Day so that today only Christmas and Easter are bigger. It’s even on a par with our combined sales of Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day, so families really are putting horror and haunting festivities ahead of love and romance. (PA)
Fisher Price recalls
Toy manufacturer giant Fisher Price yesterday recalled more than 10 million of its popular items in the United States and Canada due to different safety hazards.
Fisher Price, part of the Mattel group, recalled more than seven million Trikes and Tough Trikes toddler tricycles.
“A child can strike, sit or fall on the protruding plastic ignition key resulting in serious injury, including genital bleeding,” the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada said in a statement.
Other items included some three million toys with inflatable balls, one million highchairs and 120,000 toy cars. (AFP)
Hostile hamsters
Fighting hamsters and a rather more friendly monkey are among the toys being tipped to be this Christmas’ best sellers.
Experts at Toys R Us said the synthetic pets were set to be among the most wanted gifts in Santa’s sack.
Kung Zhu Hamsters and Dave the Monkey will vie with Toy Story’s Jet Pack Buzz for the affection of children come Christmas, the toy specialist says. (PA)