Largest collection of old newspapers

The largest collection of old newspapers is owned by Doris Windowell, of Yorkshire, Britain. She has a collection of 95, 000 copies of The Gromville Chronicle, her free local paper. She boasted,

“35, 000 copies are from 11th May, 1936, when my husband, Stan got his picture in there for winning the County gardening fete, 20, 000 are from 19th October 1962, when my son Arthur had his picture printed for winning his school talent competition, 15,000 are in there from 22nd June 1981 when I had my picture printed for having Yorkshire’s biggest collection of newspapers, and 25, 000 are from 3rd July 1981, when my picture was printed for having Britain’s largest collection of newspapers. After that I wasn’t allowed to buy The Chronicle any more.”

Doris pictured in 1981, receiving her award for having Britain's largest collection of newspapers. Picture courtesy of the quinn.anya agency.

©2009 James Mathurin

Most convoluted Rhyming slang

The record for most convoluted example of Rhyming Slang was set by ‘Dodgy’ Danny Phillips at the 2001 Cockney Games in Hackney, London. He constructed a sequence of 92 phrases, which led from “Neo-conservative” to “Polyphonic ring tone.”

‘Dodgy’ Danny Phillips pictured here celebrating his victory, which saw him unseat the encumbent champion Eddie 'Berkshire Hunt' Andrews. Photo by law_keven

©2009 James Mathurin

Fotheringtonistan

The smallest nation in the world is Fotheringtonistan. This tiny nation has no citizens, and is located within the borders of Kenya. It exists as a result of a disputed land contract signed by British explorer, entrepreneur, slave trader, and fish tycoon, Martin Roberts-Roberts-Fotherington, on 11th April 1804. Roberts-Roberts-Fotherington was so outraged when he found out that the contract, which he had re-mortgaged his second-largest Haddock-trawler to pay for, only covered an area comprised of 3.24 square metres on the side of a hill, that he renounced his British citizenship, and declared the patch of land to be an independent republic, upon which he would settle and rule. Unfortunately, his boat sank on the journey to his republic, when it collided with the edge of Africa. His wife, Edith, insisted that the land remain independent, and created both a flag and national anthem for Fotheringtonistan. Despite the family refusing to alter the status of the country, it is not actually recognised by the United Nations or any other country, and has not been retaken by the Kenyan government only because they say it is “useless”.

This fence, photographed in 1974 by TW Angel representes the entire Western border of Fotheringtonistan.

©2009 James Mathurin

Most teeth lost in an hour

The highest number of teeth lost in one hour was 27, by Art “Bridges” McBride, 37, of New Jersey, in the United States of America. At 11:30 AM, on June 25th 1984, Art had just had his 6-monthly company health check-up, at the Smilin’ Uncle Bernie Hubcap Corporation’s New York State Headquarters, and it was confirmed that he had 29 teeth, all healthy. At 12:17 PM, however, he had checked into his local hospital’s Emergency Room, with only 2 teeth remaining, his 2nd upper and lower molars. Although it was suspected that he had either knocked them out himself, had got into a fight, or sold them on the Black Market, there was no sign of physical trauma, or even bleeding, which seemed to discount all of these possibilities. McBride said, “I have no idea what happened. The first I knew was when I went to bite into a carrot and meatball ciabbatta, and all I could do was make this slurping sound. What really worries me is if there’s some jerk out there, running around with my teeth.”

McBride, pictured three weeks before the 'Ciabatta Incident'. Photo courtesy of Spiky Gaijin

©2009 James Mathurin

The record for shouting “Cha cha taxi Chi chi”

The record for shouting “Cha cha taxi Chi chi” most times in 52 seconds was set by Cyril Barnaby, 58, from Chipperwick, Hants in 1985, which he directd at Jenss Tjóblid, the visiting mayor of Bornbild, the Danish town with which Chpperwick is twinned. He later told his local newspaper, “It started out as a joke, but it quickly became my passion. I feel I’ve left a legacy for my grandchildren, and I hope it will persuade Britons not to go into the EEC.”

Cyril Barnaby pictured half way through his record-breakig attempt, captured by indepedent news organisation, closelyobserved.

©2009 James Mathurin

The largest number of phones to explode in one house in one year

The largest number of phones to explode in one house in one year is 24, in 1997. It was in the house of Mary Davies, a resident of Columbus, Ohio. She told her local news channel, “A lot of people have said it was because of my pet Bush Baby, Bronson, marking them as his territory, but I think this is how angels communicate with us.”

Bronson, pictured in his habitat, which is now required by local ordnance to be kept at least 15 metres from any telephonic device. Photo courtesy of Eggybird

©2009 James Mathurin

Fights in a pre-match boxing press conference

The most number of fights to break out in a pre-match boxing press conference was 17, before a 1999 bout in London between Clarence ‘Badger Baiter’ McFadden and Jimbo ‘Peter’ Thatchell. Because of the promoter’s insistence that the conference be finished, it eventually lasted 1 hour and 44 minutes, although by the end, all but 3 members of the press had evacuated the conference hall. A further 31 fights broke out as the players returned to their hotel. Thatchell’s manager, Moses Jones, said, “with hindsight, we knew there was bad blood between the boys after one of Jimbo’s mates sold Badger’s mum a dodgy amplifier, so getting them adjoining rooms was a silly mistake on my part.”

Manager Moses Jones is led to meet Clarence ‘Badger Baiter’ McFadden's mother to offer her a new amplifier as a 'peace offering'. Photo by fredcamino.

©2008 James Mathurin