A Stranger's London
Castrate all men, says gran
Granny Elsie Mayall came up with a shock solution to the problem of unmarried mums: "Castrate all men!"Elsie, 69, who has two daughters and two grandchildren, is the Labour spokesman for social services on the Gloucestershire County Council.
Her outburst shocked other councillors when the social services committee was discussing converting local buildings for unmarried mothers.
Last week Elsie apologised.
She said: "I was so mad. Everyone was talking about how to prevent girls from getting pregnant, I just came out with the only way I could think of". £434,000 for a ruined life A loving family man has won a record £434,090 damages after a car crash wrecked his life. Father of three Vivien Pritchard, 39, suffered brain damage, which made him callous and aggressive, said a High Court judge.
Eventually he was rejected by his wife, his children and his friends. He also lost his job at the Defence Ministry. Mr Pritchard was left paralysed down one side and blind in his right eye after the crash at Swallowfield, Berks.
He and his wife were divorced last year. Mrs Pritchard, who still shares the same house with her husband in Nunton near Salisbury, Wilts, was told she was entitled to £18,000 of the award.
The damages were against lorry driver Malcolm Parrott and his employers J. H. Cobden of Martock, Somerset. They admitted liability.
What a rotten wedding!
Newlyweds Don and Karen Falcone don't want to remember their big day. It was a shambles from start to finish. The chaos began even before Don and Karen got to church.First the top hat and tails ordered by motor mechanic Don, 25, and his father Fillipo went astray. The clothes turned up at the last minute.
Over at Karen's home, a friend due to do her make-up arrived only 15 minutes before the bride was due at the church.
Karen then arrived at the venue anhour late, only to discover the best man had forgotten the ring. She had to borrow her sister's.
Miraculously, the service at the St Joseph's Catholic Church in Melksham, Wilts, went ahead smoothly. But there were more problems to come at the reception.
The wedding cake had vanished. It finally turned up after being delivered to four other wedding receptions by mistake.
Then the staff opened the champagne too early. It quickly went flat and the 150 guests had to toast the bride and groom with wine.
To round off a day of disaster, the party came to a standstill for an hour because the disco was late.
The bride's stepmother, Mrs Marion Perrett said: "The two families were really living on their nerves. There were so many hiccups.
"We really had a bit of a last minute scramble. It's certainly a day none of us will ever forget".
Don and Karen are now enjoying a two-week honeymoon in Greece. So far, it's been trouble free. . .
The angels let Musyoka into heaven at last
Shepherd Musyoka Mutata has been buried in his home village. It was his fourth and final funeral.The 60-year-old Kenyan was a legend in his country as the man who cheated death three times.
Mutata, who lived in Kitvi, 100 miles east of Nairobi, first 'died' at the age of three. His body was being lowered into the ground when he let out a cry.
When he was 22 his apparently lifeless body was found in a field incident. after he had been missing for six days. He forced open the coffin lid as it was being lowered.
Funeral number three was in May this year after he 'died' of cholera.
He lay in state for a day, then woke.
Mutata's explanation was that on all three occasions the angels in heaven told him it was a case of mistaken identity and sent him back to earth. This time, after the body was left unburied for two days in case of another resurrection, it seems the angels finally got him!
Nicked! Soccer cops arrest the other team
A police soccer team looked like getting their revenge after a 12 thrashing. They arrested one of their opponents just before the return match and took him away on suspicion of car theft. Detectives then showed a second player the red card after the match got under way. He too was invited to help them with inquiries of an unsportsmanlike nature. But the police still failed to chalk up a win.The other team, made up of unemployed youths and men, fielded two substitutes and hammered the bobbies 6-0 in the holiday league at Keele, Staffordshire. A spokesman for the police at Newcastle-Under-Lyme, said yesterday: "After the 12-0 result, we joked about arresting their forward line before the next match. "We never expected it would happen.
"It's certainly not a new way we have of trying to win matches". The spokesman added that the two men are now in custody. A third man is also helping with an investigation into car thefts in the Burslem area of Stoke- on-Trent.
Jumpy policeman's mistake
A 42-year-old inspector, Inspector Douglas Lovelock with 21 years experience, accidentally fired and shot Mrs Sherry Groce at Brixton at the weekend and sparked off a riot leaving many injured and shops, bars and cars burnt.The officer was looking for Mrs Groce's son Michael, 19, to question him in connection with a shooting Initial reports said she was hit in the back but hospital spokesman later said only one bullet had struck her, in the front of the left shoulder.
Meanwhile, another policeman who accidentally shot dead five-year-old John Shorthouse has been referred to a psychiatrist.
PC Brian Chester, 36 has been suspended since the tragedy during a police raid on John's parents' home in Birmingham last month.
Colleagues say he is devastated
