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Weird and Wonderful Weekly

May 08, 2009 9:39 AM

Bizarre Incidents, Quotes and People From Around the World

By GABRIEL O'RORKE, ABC News London

Quotes of the Week

"They wanted to call me grandpa but daddy is better, don't you think?" – Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, explaining the reason behind his nickname from an 18-year-old model who calls him Papi.

“Sometimes I wish I had a gold sovereign for every time that phrase is used … so I could put them in a sock to smack over the head the next person who says it.” – Stephen Fry got straight to the point when he told the Royal Geographical Society how he feels about being described as a “quintessential Englishman.”

“Isn’t it clear you’re just not up to the job? The public know it. Your party know it and now the cabinet knows it!” --  said David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

WWW News

Stuck in the … Bath: Rosemarie Batey, a 49-year-old from County Durham, has sworn to lose weight after spending the night wedged in her bath tub. Batey was taking a shower when the bath cracked, and she slipped and got stuck. Her son found her the next morning and called firefighters who used an electronic saw to cut away the bath to free the naked victim.

Lone Porker: The only known pig in Afghanistan has been quarantined due to the recent outbreak of swine flu. Pigs are a curiosity in Muslim Afghanistan, because pork is illegal and considered sacrilegious. This little piggy from Kabul zoo normally spends his days munching on grass alongside deer and goats.

Official Misbehavior:
- The Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko was prevented from boarding his flight at Frankfurt, Germany, airport and detained by police on the grounds of drunken and disorderly behavior. Meanwhile, in London a speed camera boss has been banned for speeding. Tom Riall, a senior executive, admitted to driving at 103 mph in a 70 mph limit zone.

Facts and Figures

$120 million. The cost of a typing error. Kenya's Finance Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, told reporters that a typo was behind the six-digit inflation on funds for the 2008/09 fiscal year.

34 years old. The age of the man with the "best job in the world." Ben Southall, a British charity fundraiser, beat 34,700 entrants from 200 countries to become the caretaker of an Australian tropical island.

85 feet. The distance Philip German-Robin threw a biscuit. German-Robin, from Dorset, England, was named biscuit-throwing world champion.

Read more blogs by Gabriel O'Rorke

Read more blogs by ABC News staff

May 8, 2009 in Gabriel O'Rorke | Permalink | User Comments (1)

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Posted by: badfish2829 | May 8, 2009 11:03:32 AM

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