DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
PICTURE: Christopher Alvarenga/Unsplash
• Police were recently called to a home in Essex in England to investigate a report of a screaming woman. But when they turned up to the home on Canvey Island, they quickly found the noise was, in fact, being made by a parrot, three-year-old Freddie. The homeower, Steve Wood – himself a retired police officer – told the BBC he was surprised it hadn’t happened before. “Police have done the right thing and the caller has done the right thing – there is no bad feelings on my part,” he said.
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• Organisers of a rodeo in Canada have set a new Guinness World Record after they served up more than 17,000 pancakes over an eight hour period. The Calgary Stampede said a total of 17,182 pancakes were flipped over the eight hour period starting at 8:30am on Sunday. Guinness World Records adjudicator Brittany Dunn was present at the event – and while 15 pancakes were disqualified from the total, it still came in at more than 2,900 more than the previous record. In other recent, food-related records, the brand Russell Stover (USA) recently created the world’s biggest box of chocolates, weighing a massive 2,547.50 kilograms, while in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, a 648.40 kilogram marshmallow – the world’s largest – was unveiled in April as part of its bicentennial celebrations.
PICTURE: Razvan Cristea/Unsplash
• Fans of snail-racing will be delighted to hear the sport’s world championships were held in England last week for the first time since they were suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Held in the community of Congham in Norfolk, the race – which reportedly now holds the Guiness World Record for the longest running humane snail-racing world championships – have been held every year since 1970 and sees snails competing against each other over a 33 centimetre circular course . The world record – two minutes – was set by Archie in 1995. This year’s event was won by Evie with a time of seven minutes, 24 seconds. First prize was a tankard of lettuce.
