Waxing Lyrical

A statue of England rugby hero Jonny Wilkinson stands proud in London's Trafalgar Square.

The Madame Tussauds waxwork - in his magic boot kicking pose - has been put on the empty fourth plinth on the eve of England's crunch World Cup final match against South Africa in Paris, tomorrow at 8pm GMT

London mayor Ken Livingstone gave the go-ahead for Jonny's arrival, and hopes fans will join in and will England's players to victory.

Thousands of passers-by have stopped to take pictures of the waxwork, which was made in 2004 - three months after Wilkinson kicked England to victory in the last World Cup.

Congratulations to Argentina who beat France 34-10 a few minutes ago in the Rugby World Cup third-place-final

Stolen giant toilet recovered (update)

It was just a routine patrol - until a sheriff's deputy in Washington state lifted a tarp and found a soapbox derby racer built to look like a giant toilet.

A giant, stolen toilet, to be precise - measuring about 7 feet high and 7 feet long.

The massive bog - white, with a blue velour seat and tank cover and a red flush handle - was found on Wednesday in a rural area of southeast King County.

Sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart said the toilet facsimile was built by five friends in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and was brought to Seattle late last month for a race. It was stolen out of the back of a truck, which was also stolen.

Urquhart says the truck has not been found.

Burglar made to clean up mess

A couple in the United States knew exactly what to do with the burglar they caught ransacking their home. They made him clean up - at gunpoint. Adrian and Tiffany McKinnon returned to their home near Montgomery, Alabama, after a week off to find that their home had been plundered.

Mrs McKinnon told the Montgomery Advertiser: "Tears just rolled down my face as I walked in and saw everything gone and piles of trash all over my home."

Her husband suggested she go to see her sister while he checked what was missing. But as he walked into another room he came face to face with the burglar - who was wearing one of his hats.

Mrs McKinnon said: "My husband Adrian caught the thief red-handed in our home. And what is even crazier, the man even had my husband's hat sitting right on his head."

Her husband then held the suspect, Tajuan Bullock, at gunpoint and made him sit down until he decided what to do. His wife said: "We made this man clean up all the mess he made, piles of stuff, he had thrown out of my drawers and cabinets onto the floor."

When the police arrived, 33-year-old Bullock had another surprise in store - he complained to the officers about being made to clean up at gunpoint. "This man had the nerve to raise sand about us making him clean up the mess he made in my house," said Mrs McKinnon.

"The police officer laughed at him when he complained and said anybody else would have shot him dead."

Captain Huey Thornton, a police spokesman, said Bullock was arrested on burglary and theft charges. He was being held in the Montgomery County Detention Facility.

He said: "The victims were lucky in this case to be able to catch the suspect in the act and hold him until police arrived."

He said the case was unusual because generally burglars act while the homeowner is away and are in and out fast so they can quickly sell the stolen items.

Chocolate Jesus Exhibit

It angered Catholics before an April exhibit was canceled, but a chocolate Jesus is being resurrected at a New York Art Gallery.

The six-foot milk chocolate sculpture titled "My Sweet Lord" depicts a nude, anatomically correct Jesus Christ hanging from an invisible cross. It will be flanked by a set of chocolate Catholic icons, including the Virgin Mary and half a dozen saints when the exhibit opens later this month.

The original exhibit had been scheduled to open four days before Good Friday, when Christians mark Christ's crucifixion. That prompted an outcry and even death threats directed at the artist who created it.

But Cosimo Cavallaro said he also got a lot of positive mail from Catholics and theologians, and even people in monasteries. Saying "there is nothing offensive about this," Cavallaro predicted a better reception this time around.

U2 Tower

An egg-shaped recording studio suspended from the top of a 600ft luxury apartment block was unveiled as part of the rock band U2's plans for a skyscraper that will dominate Dublin.

The "pod" studio will dangle beneath a battery of vertical wind turbines and a huge solar panel, hanging free from the innovative energy centre for acoustic reasons.

Details of the U2 Tower, which will be the tallest building in Ireland, emerged as it was announced that a consortium led by the band has been selected as the preferred bidder to design, finance and construct the £140 million project.

Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen will team up with Lord Foster, who built the "Gherkin" tower in London.

Fish that lives in a tree

It's one of the golden rules of the natural world – birds live in trees, fish live in water. The trouble is, no one bothered to tell the mangrove killifish.

Scientists have discovered that it spends several months of every year out of the water and living inside trees. Hidden away inside rotten branches and trunks, the remarkable creatures temporarily alter their biological makeup so they can breathe air.

Biologists studying the killifish say they astonished it can cope for so long out of its natural habitat.

The discovery, along with its ability to breed without a mate, must make the mangrove killifish, Rivulus marmoratus Poey, one of the oddest fish known to man.

Around two inches long, they normally live in muddy pools and the flooded burrows of crabs in the mangrove swamps of Florida, Latin American and Caribbean.

The latest discovery was made by biologists wading through swamps in Belize and Florida who found hundreds of killifish hiding out of the water in the rotting branches and trunks of trees.

The fish had flopped their way to their new homes when their pools of water around the roots of mangroves dried up. Inside the logs, they were lined up end to end along tracks carved out by insects.

Dr Scott Taylor of the Brevard County Environmentally Endangered Lands Programme in Florida admitted the creatures were a little odd. "They really don't meet standard behavioural criteria for fish," he told New Scientist magazine.

Although the cracks inside logs make a perfect hiding place, conditions can be cramped. The fish – which are usually fiercely territorial – are forced to curb their aggression.

Argie bargie

The rush to carve up one of the world's last great wildernesses has gathered new momentum.

A day after Britain staked a claim to a vast oil-rich area of Antarctica, Argentina angrily hit back with its own claim - proclaiming its dominance over not only its own slice of the Antarctic, but over the Falklands and South Georgia as well.

"We are working on our presentation in defence of our national interests and sovereign rights," Argentine chancellor Jorge Taiana told La Nacion newspaper yesterday.

The Foreign Office's move to earmark 386,000 square miles of South Atlantic seabed for British sovereignty has also angered Chile. Between them, Argentina and Chile lay claim to most of the same territory.

Experts said the move could be immensely lucrative to Britain should seabed drilling become permissible.

The Foreign Office insisted it would not breach international treaties. A spokesman added: "It's incredibly unlikely the Antarctic Treaty would ever be abolished. But in order to safeguard our interests for the future, we are submitting a claim."

Russia fired the starting gun on the rush recently when it claimed vast tracts under the Arctic seabed and planted a Russian flag on the seabed beneath the North Pole.

Other countries, including Australia, France and Brazil, are also seeking to expand their sovereignty over huge areas of unclaimed seabed in what is being described as the last big carve-up of maritime territory.

Evil cat napper

Police are hunting a cat-napper who has taunted owners with a letter claiming their pets have been "relocated." In the letter the abductor says their pets have been dumped at least 25 miles away as punishment for "invading" his garden.

So far seven cats have vanished from the same road in Southampton, Hants. The author taunted owners saying: "They have not been harmed, just re-located. You have virtually no chance of getting them back.

"If you were lucky enough to get your cat back... the second time they get caught in my garden, they will be destroyed."

Shocked residents, who had launched a plea for the safe return of the missing cats, have branded the author "sick and cruel".

Ellie Catto, 30, who lost both her beloved cats, said: "If somebody has taken and dumped them as far as I'm concerned that's theft and cruelty to animals. "They will be confused and hungry. It makes me really angry. My children are missing their pets and very upset."

Another resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "It's disgraceful. I'm absolutely appalled." She feared her cat, which was without its kidney tablets, was now dead.

Drunken golf caddy driver banned

A man has been banned from driving after he was caught drunk behind the wheel of a golf buggy. Craig Jannetts, 21, from Port Glasgow in Inverclyde, pled guilty to driving the buggy while almost double the drink-drive limit on 3 October.

At Paisley Sheriff Court, Sheriff Desmond McCaffrey banned Jannetts for 12 months and fined him £100.

He was caught by police on a Old Greenock Road near the Gleddoch House Hotel in Langbank, where he worked.

Defence agent Rhona Lynch said her client, who had been employed at the hotel as a kitchen porter, had been celebrating a football victory with other members of staff.
She said: "Things went horribly wrong and he accepts that this was a very foolish episode."

The court heard Jannetts had lost his job as a result of what happened.

Austrian divorce fair

Austria is to host the world's first "divorce fair" this month, aimed at helping couples untie the knot as painlessly as possible. The event, taking place in Vienna, then Linz and Graz, will allow would-be divorcees to consult lawyers about their rights and seek advice.

The divorce rate in Austria hit an all time high of 50% in 2006, with 66% of marriages in Vienna ending in divorce.

The two-day fair is being held under the motto "New beginning". The Vienna event takes place over 27-28 October, with Saturday reserved for men, and Sunday for women, so couples can avoid awkward encounters and retain a degree of anonymity.

Organiser Anton Barz says it is a world first and hopes it will become a twice-yearly event. "Until now, I organised wedding fairs but while talking to associations and lawyers who told me about the difficulties of divorce, I had this idea," he said.

Up to 20 exhibitors have registered so far, not only lawyers and mediators, but also estate agents, life-crisis experts, private detective firms and DNA laboratories offering paternity tests.

One company will offer therapeutic package holidays for newly divorced people. There will also be a series of lectures on subjects like how divorce affects children and coping as a single parent.

Welsh roads to be decluttered

A thousand road signs are to be taken down in a south Wales county because they are considered "unnecessary". Caerphilly council has pledged to take down the signs as part of a declutter of its roads.

By the end of March, roads particularly in rural communities and around historic locations such as Caerphilly Castle, will have some signs removed.

Last year, the RAC Foundation said too many road signs could cause accidents because of an overload of information.

A 'clutter audit' has been carried out by Caerphilly council which has identified 1,000 road signs which are not necessary and work is underway to begin removing them. A spokesman for the council said, the aim was not to endanger road users by taking down signs, but to remove those which are not needed.

Free beer for life reward

A New Zealand brewery is reportedly offering a lifetime supply of beer for the return of a stolen laptop. Local media said the laptop was stolen from the Croucher Brewing Company in the central North Island city of Rotorua earlier this week.

Owners were desperate to retrieve the computer containing designs, contact details and financial information, the Rotorua Daily Post said.

They have offered free beer to anyone giving clues leading to its recovery.

Co-owner Paul Croucher said the company would provide a lifetime supply of about 12 bottles a month to anyone who could name the thief.

The company has back-up copies of the material stored on the laptop but these are not up to date, the newspaper said.

Potty mouth faces jail

Pennsylvania - A West Scranton woman could face up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $300 for allegedly shouting profanities at an overflowing toilet while inside her Luzerne Street home.

Dawn Herb, whose potty mouth caught the attention of an off-duty police officer, was charged with disorderly conduct recently, prompting her to fire off a letter to the editor and vow to fight the charge.

“It doesn’t make any sense. I was in my house. It’s not like I was outside or drunk,” said Ms. Herb, who resides at 924 Luzerne St. along with her four young children. “A cop can charge you with disorderly conduct for disrespecting them?”

The obscenities hit the fan when she battled her overflowing toilet around 8 p.m. Thursday, she said.

Although Ms. Herb doesn’t recall exactly what she said, she admitted that she was frustrated and let more than a few choice words fly. Unfortunately, it was near an open bathroom window.

“The toilet was overflowing and leaking down into the kitchen and I was yelling (for my daughter) to get the mop,” she said. “A guy is yelling, ‘Shut the f--- up,’ and I yelled back, ‘Mind your own business.’ ”

Her next-door neighbor, Patrick Gilman, a city police officer who was off-duty at the time, apparently had enough of Ms. Herb’s foul mouth and asked her to keep it down, police said. When Ms. Herb didn’t stop, he called the police. Patrolman Gerald Tallo responded and charged Ms. Herb with disorderly conduct.

The citation accuses the defendant of using obscene language or gestures “with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm or recklessly (creating) a risk ...”

“There was no intent to do anything,” Ms. Herb said. “I just feel so violated and irritated ... I don’t even have a criminal record.”

Scranton Public Safety Director Ray Hayes said if anyone feels they were unjustly accused, they can address it before a judge. “At the end of the day, the opinion that counts is of the magisterial judge,” he said. “It may be something open to interpretation. The officer has his own and this person had the opposite opinion.”

The use of obscene language or gestures is an offense under the state criminal code. But cursing at a police officer isn’t a punishable offense, said Mary Catherine Roper, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union based in Philadelphia.

“It cannot be the basis for a citation. You can’t prosecute somebody for swearing at a cop or a toilet,” she said. “We bring one of these cases a year and sue some police departments because they do not remember that they are not the language police.”

Family argue over bingo win

A judge has frozen a £1 million bingo win after a family dispute began over the prize. Jean McCullagh, 69, of Uddingston, Lanarkshire, scooped the jackpot at the Forge bingo hall in Glasgow last Friday.

But there was reportedly a dispute over the prize money when her sister and two sisters-in-law claimed there was an agreement to split the prize money.

Lord Brodie granted an interim interdict during the sitting at Edinburgh's Court of Session, and ordered Mecca Bingo to block the payment, pending a further hearing. He also froze Ms McCullagh's bank account, which was due to receive the payment.

The four, who are all aunts of former Big Brother contestant Federico Martone, were playing at the Mecca-run hall. Ms McCullagh was the second £1 million winner at the hall in just three weeks.

Two of those playing with her, Rose McCullagh and Jessie McCullagh, both sisters-in-law, have now hired lawyers in an attempt to get a share of the win.

Rose McCullagh said: "We did go to the bingo together and we had organised to split the prize money."

A court spokeswoman said: "The payout wasn't due until this morning sometime, that is why they went last night to stop it."

Fat dummy

A 28-stone (392lb - 178kg) training dummy has been created to help emergency services cope with the growing number of obese people they have to rescue. Ruth Lee Fire & Rescue Equipment from Corwen, Denbighshire, says it created the mannequin because of the demand from fire and rescue services.

It says it has already had interest from other developing countries. The heavyweight dummy, which takes six people to lift, is believed to be the heaviest and largest in the world. The company, which manufactures fire and rescue and resuscitation dummies, said the demand for its new product reflected the growing obesity problem.

A government-commissioned Foresight report, which is due to be published on Wednesday, is expected to claim that half the UK population could be obese within 25 years.

Lawrence Lee, a director of family-run Ruth Lee Fire & Rescue Equipment, said the 28-stone dummy had to be carefully designed with specific characteristics in place.

"It isn't possible to simply add dead weight to one of our existing dummies, as that does not accurately represent the weight distribution in a larger person," he said.

England conker the French again

English sportsmen have completed a double over the French this weekend. Ady Hurrell, of Whittlesey, Cambs, took the World Conker Championship crown less than 24 hours after Les Bleus were dumped out of the Rugby World Cup.

He beat John Ingram, representing France, in the final of the 43rd championships in Ashton, Northants. Train driver Mr Hurrell, 36, needed just two shots to smash the conker of his competitor, a 54-year-old Dordogne antiques dealer. Mr Ingram later admitted he actually came from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, but had a lot of business in France.

Mr Hurrell said: "It was a great win last night and I hope the rugby boys go on to win the final just as I did."

Out of more than 300 entrants at the 43rd World Conker Championship, sponsored by the Institution of Health and Safety, 13 were listed as French. This was not enough to make a full rugby union side but they met the same fate against the English as their national side in Paris on Saturday night, a spokesman said.

The championship has so far raised almost a third of a million pounds for charities for the blind.

It was sponsored the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health which wanted people to see that its inspectors were not "killjoys".

The ladies champion was Tina Stone. The Intermediate Champion Nicolas Rothera and the Junior Winner was Philip Broomhead who triumphed for the second year in a row.

Big Ben tours resume

Public tours to Big Ben have resumed after the bell's famous clock tower was closed for maintenance work. The hourly bongs and the quarter bells of the clock at Westminster Palace in central London fell silent for seven weeks, restarting earlier this month.

The works included the replacement of bearings that sound the chimes. The bell weighs 13.5 tonnes and is named after Sir Benjamin Hall, the man who was Commissioner of Works when it was installed in 1859.

The first group of 16 began their tour at 1030 BST on Tuesday. The group were shown around the clock tower, which has 393 steps to the top, and also saw pictures of the recent work on the landmark.

The timekeeper undergoes maintenance work, including a thorough cleaning of the clock face, every five years. The free hour-long tour is available only for UK residents who need to put in a request to their local MP.

The restoration programme has been carried out prior to the clock's 150th anniversary in 2009.

100ft fall in his grundies

An Australian man dressed only in his underpants survived a fall from his ninth-storey apartment when an apparent incident of high jinks went badly wrong.

The 35-year-old was attempting to build planks across to a neighbour's flat when he lost his footing and plummeted 30 metres (100 feet) to the ground. The man crashed through an iron and timber pergola which broke his fall.

"He was skylarking around, building planks across to his neighbour's place when it happened," police spokesperson Ros Weatherall said. "He was very lucky."

Residents at the apartment complex in the western Australian capital Perth said they heard a strange noise shortly after midnight.

One said he woke to find police tending to the scantily-clad man in the apartment's courtyard. "He was conscious, he was going 'Well, well, where am I? What happened?' and that was about it," the resident said. "It was a horrendous fall because he actually came down nine storeys."

The man was taken to hospital where he is in a stable condition with cuts and a suspected broken leg. West Australian police Inspector John Gibson said he had first thought the man would have been "a goner". "But, yeah he survived and jolly good luck to him."

BMW causes laughter & offence

An exchange between presenters on the usually inoffensive Gardeners' Question Time prompted a flurry of complaints from listeners. The topic? How to care for the Rhodochiton Volubile plant, otherwise known as Black Man's Willy.

Ten listeners contacted Radio 4 to complain after presenters giggled their way through an innuendo-packed discussion on October 7 about the plant, which included panellist Anne Swithinbank talking about the plants "hardening off" and "shrivelling up".

The audience at Chilcompton Gardening Club near Radstock in Somerset were in fits of laughter after someone asked how to grow the specimen.

Peter Gibbs, the presenter, answered: "Bob, you're the expert on this sort of thing."
Stifling a laugh, panellist Bob Flowerdew said: "I would like to point out I'm not! I've only ever seen one close up and not that colour."

To which Anne Swithinbank replied: "I've never seen one in my life." Despite the audience's laughter, she battled on, saying: "They don't really like the cold, as you can imagine. They shrivel up and look very unhappy."

She also suggested giving the plant a "good, long growing season" and "potting them up and potting them on and eventually hardening them up".

Although the live audience saw the funny side of the segment, the station's Feedback show reported numerous complaints.

One squarelistener, Kate Jenkins of Cardiff, said: "One thing I found quite offensive was when the BMW was mentioned, and they spelt out what it stood for. The panel did pick up on the intended joke. It was that very unconscious racial stereotyping, accepted by everybody that really disturbed me."

But producer Trevor Taylor defended the use of the plant's full name and said the discussion was "entertaining". Mr Taylor said the humour came from Swithinbank's brave attempt to answer the question "without laughing or backing into a corner". He denied there was racial stereotyping, adding: "The name is descriptive. The bluebell is known as such because it is blue and shaped like a bell."

I found this story highly amusing and had to nick it from Arbroath Thanks!

Elvis priest

SORBO, Italy - Romanian-born Antoniu Petrescu believes you can worship God and Elvis at the same time: as a Catholic priest and Elvis Presley impersonator, he finds his spiritual inspiration in the late rock legend.

"People ask me 'How can you reconcile Elvis impersonations with your choice of professional work?"' said Petrescu, who puts on his glittery suits and swivels his hips when not working as a parish priest in the Italian town of Avezzano.

Interviewed by Reuters on a church visit to the tiny town of Sorbo -- population, 52 -- in southern Italy, the priest said he believes Elvis is an appropriate inspiration for Christian worship because he sang of "love in general."

The 34-year-old's Web site (www.antoniupetrescu.com) has two separate entries -- one for the priest, another for the artist, which talks about his "fiery voice" and discography including the singles "Lovin' Arms" and "Reach out to Jesus."

The pop doesn't stop at Elvis: Petrescu also incorporates the lyrics of singers like Celine Dion into his sermons.

Petrescu feels his responsibility as a priest is to "walk this Earth in love for Jesus Christ," a task in which he is inspired by Elvis's "search for spirituality in his own life."

His MySpace website has several videos of him singing with a church choir backing