DAVID ADAMS reports on the odder side of life…
But does it stand for Volkswagen or Voltswagen? PICTURE: Erik Mclean/Unsplash
• Car maker Volkswagen was apparently ahead of schedule with this year’s April Fools Day joke. The company’s US arm reportedly issued an unfinished press release this week announcing it was renaming itself as “Voltswagen” from May US honour of its “renewed focus” on electric cars (and representatives were then said to doubledown and repeat the claim after calls from journalists). But the company subsequently confirmed the news was actually part of an April Fool’s Day joke to highlight the launch of the company’s all-electric ID.4 SUV. There is apparently more to come.
• A US-based pastor who issued a call for people in Japan to make paper cranes to decorate a hospital he was working at was surprised at the number that flew in. Japanese Pastor Kazuhiro Sekino, who started work at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis in July, 2020 (his first job outside of Japan), reportedly had the idea for the appeal after, when facing meeting his first COVID-19 patient with limitations on language and time, he decided to make a paper crane and hand it to him “as a symbol of healing and hope”. The pastor then posted a video on YouTube asking his followers in Japan to send him cranes and has ended up with more than 16,000. Most of the cranes are now on display in the hospital.
• Now that’s a fan. A Florida man was recently awarded a Guinness World Record after he saw the film Avengers: Endgame in movie theatres nearly 200 times. Romiro Alanis made the attempt for most cinema productions attended of the same film over 90 days ending on 29th July, 2019, but only finally received word he’d broken the record this month. The previous record holder was also a Marvel fan – Anthony Mitchell saw Avengers: Infinity War, the previous film in the franchise, some 103 times. Alanis told Guinness the character he best related to in the film was Steve Rogers (aka Captain America), played by Chris Evans. “His character embodies many values that I stand for, righteousness, kindness, thinking about others before himself.”
