Table talk
Well, that's one way to get smashed at New Year…
An Oxfordshire farmer demolished his own 17th century pub with a mechanical digger when bar staff refused to serve him on New Year's Eve. A dozen regular customers had been enjoying a lock-in when Robert Tyrrell, 46, burst into the North Star pub in Steventon, Oxfordshire, and demanded a drink. When staff refused to serve him, he became enraged and stormed out of the bar. He returned at the wheel of a huge mechanical digger, which he used as a battering ram, smashing it into the walls of the historic pub. He then calmly drove home in the digger. Simon Jones, a regular, told The Times: "He could have killed someone… but I must say it was a novel way of calling time." Tyrrell appears before magistrates today charged with criminal damage and endangering lives.
Time for some stiff upper lip, guests?
Ask any concierge about the requests they get from hotel guests and the answers will range from the bizarre to the ridiculous. But spare a thought for the ever-patient GPs who get called out to deal with a whole range of "emergencies". Doctorcall, a mobile GP service in London, reveals that recent call-outs have involved removing a wedding ring, stopping hiccups and dealing with an allergic reaction to a Jaffa Cake (not all by the same guest). However, by far the most common of the unusual call-outs are requests for Viagra.
Spud-u-light: a farmer's dream come true
Scientists have pioneered a genetically modified super-potato that glows when it needs water. Researchers at Edinburgh University injected potato plants with a fluorescence gene borrowed from the luminous jellyfish, aequorea victoria, which causes their leaves to glow green when dehydrated. The potatoes are not intended to be eaten but to act as "sentinels" planted beside the commercial crop to alert a farmer that the rest of his crop needs watering.
Houston, we have a problem
When she was commissioned to design a new hotel in Houston, Texas, Dayna Lee used her background as concert producer for singer Sting and imagined the hotel was the home of an ageing British rock star. And she dreamed up the perfect name for her geriatric Anglo-Saxon hell-raiser: Derek. (It is not yet known whether Hotel Derek's room service includes assistance with lifting TV sets out of windows.)
Clinton gets aural again
Evidence of Bill Clinton's legendary charm reaches us from a Hollywood restaurant. Last week, the seemingly inseparable ex-president and his buddy Kevin Spacey, plus a few others trooped out to Japanese restaurant Sushi Roku. Clinton's security staff had gone ahead to secure the table he wanted. The only problem was that Priscilla Presley and a group of friends were already sitting there and refused to budge, despite pleas from the security men and the restaurant staff. Eventually, with everyone's eyes on him, Clinton strolled up to Priscilla and whispered in her ear. We don't know what he said, but she smiled, got up and left quite happily.
