A 25-cent Dutch Coin

A 25-cent Dutch coin has been delivered to the British Aircraft Corporation's treasury at Filton, Bristol, where Concordes are built.

Dutch boy, Little Hans, anxious in case the Anglo-French project might not pay its way, donated it through his Rotterdam MP.



Source:
Straits Times, Monday, January 1, 1973

Whims For Rent

One man wanted a talking robot to deliver a marriage proposal to the woman he loved.

Another devillish soul sought a horse to leave in a friend's apartment as a gag Christmas gift.

A mother wanted a marching band to strut down the street on her son's birthday.

All these people were customers of Whims For Rent, a Philadelphia firm that caters to these flamboyant people who love jokes and crazy parties.

"Our motto is: We fulfill your fantasies, just as long as it's legal," said Joseph Ball, president of Americal Advertising Services Inc., which created Whims For Rent.

The unusual 4-year-old firm has the contacts to supply a belly dancer for a club picnic, a football star to serve as a butler at a dinner party, or a man dressed in a gorilla suit to deliver a bouquet of flowers.

Whims for Rent has so many requests for girls to jump out of cakes, that the company built its own cardboard cake, 2-metre in diameter. "Sometimes we can't get it through doors," Mr Ball said.

"A common request that we have to say 'no' to is the pie in the face," Mr Ball said. "That's assault and battery. A lot of people want to do it as a joke to people they like. They think it's funny." - UPI


Source: Straits Times, Monday, January 12, 1981

The BBC announcer ran out of news

London, Monday, January 5, 1959

The BBC announcer reading the 1 p.m. news yesterday came to a sudden pause.

The pause went on...and on...and on. Then the announcer said: "I am sorry for the delay, ladies and gentlemen, but I have run out of news, and no one has supplied me with any more."

There was another, shorter pause. Then the announcer said: "Here it is now" and the BBC 1 p.m. news continued.


Source: The Straits Times

What sex is that chicken?

MALACCA, Friday, January 24, 1959

A dead chicken, its feathers plucked, lay on a bench in the magistrates court while two police inspectors peered closely at it to determine its sex.

After sometime, Inspector Ismail Bin Mahmood announced that it was a hen. But Inspector S.M. Pillay declared it was a cockeral.

The magistrate, Mr Ramanatha Iyer, who had asked for the information to get the record straight, said "I think it is best to send it to a veterinary officer for a decision".

Before the court was a housewife, Teh Ah Nya, 34, of Kampong Ujong Pasir, accused of stealing the chicken from a neighbour.

The case was adjourned.


Source: The Straits Times

"Not Fish Soup"

PEKING, Tuesday, September 28, 1948

The Daily News had this to say about Nanking reports of an offer for 1,000 gold yuan reward for capture alive of Communist leader Mao Tse-tung or Communist commander-in-chief Chu Teh.

"Mao and Chu are hard to take alive. Why not take them dead? They are not fish soup which must be kept fresh."


Source: Associated Press