Most restrictive electoral requirements

The most restrictive electoral requirement is found in the English town of Fag End in Derbyshire. No one in the town may become mayor unless they have an allergy to carrots. It is believed that the requirement dates back to an attempt in the 17^th Century to prevent an ‘undesirable’ family of carpenters from being able to hold a position of power in the community.

The official Mayoral cottage, on the High Street in Fag End. Since the "carrot Ordnance" of 1669 was passed, only 5 mayors have assumed the office, and inhabited the cottage. One of those, Samuel Blinkford, mayor between 1752 and 1763 was eventually evicted, when he was tried, according to the official town records, for, 

"beinge of a fraudulente character, specifically in that he did, with mischief aforethought, pretende to be cursed with an intolerance of carrotes, to gain the office of Mayor."

 Photograph by Martin Pettitt.

 ©2012 James Mathurin

The world’s most offensive joke

The world’s most offensive joke was told my comedian Lee Pitton in an audience-participation segment of his stand-up show The Oxtail Soup Monologues in Bradford in 1996. It is illegal to recount the joke, after an emergency UN resolution, but it has since been responsible for an estimated 4 international and diplomatic incidents, 9 riots, 34 deaths and the collapse of 4 national economies. Pitton retired after the joke was connected to a narrowly-averted mass-suicide attempt by the ‘Nashie’ cult movement of Oklahoma, America in 2003.

This photograph was taken in London in 2002, when a recording of Pitton's routine was played at a retirement party at the headquarters of Natwest Bank. The fight that resulted proceeded to spill out into the surrounding area until it had engulfed much of London's 'Square Mile' banking district, and lasted for 17 hours.Photograph by Kashklick.

 ©2012 James Mathurin

The most money found down the back of a sofa

The most money found down the back of a sofa was the Gross Domestic Product of Paraguay for 1934, which was assumed to have been stolen by the country’s former Minister of Finance, who was executed in 1937, 3 years before the discovery which proved his innocence.

To commemorate the discovery of the money, many Paraguayans celebrate el Día del sofá suerte, or "Day of the Lucky Sofa" on July 17th by leaving old and used sofas out on the road outside their houses, often with money or sweets tucked behind the seats for children to find. Photograph  by walknboston.

 ©2012 James Mathurin

The world’s worst donut flavour

The world’s worst donut flavour was Stinky Bishop Icing with dry Marmite Sprinkles. The topping was developed was developed as part of a 1998 experiment by the Research & Development Department of Tasty Treets inc., a confectionary company based in New Zealand. At an inquest called after 3 people went blind at a taste trial fro the donut, head of development, Buddy ‘Bud’ Chappers said, “We have spent several years chasing the Holy Grail of the perfect flavour, or ‘PF’, and after running into dead end after dead end, we decided to try to formulate the worst flavour possible, or ‘WFP’, and try to reverse it. I never expected that it could permanently disable someone.”

There are few surviving photographs of the offending donuts. Few photographers could stand the smell long enough to focus their cameras. This photograph by tommy.chheng was taken with the aid of a gas mask, which was then disposed of in a hospital furnace.

 ©2012 James Mathurin

The ‘Punchy’ cult (The Fifth Pentecostal Glorification of the Beloved Saviour of the Sinners of East London)

The ‘Punchy’ cult (The Fifth Pentecostal Glorification of the Beloved Saviour of the Sinners of East London) achieved notoriety by predicting the Apocalypse 18 times in one year. Thomas Dobie, the leader of the cult, which was based out of Dagenham, London, preached to his 59 followers that God had revealed to him that the world would end when his son, Dave, brought a jar of mustard to his house, and that this would happen on 15th June 1985.

When Dave forgot the jar of mustard on June 15th, Dobie made the statement,

We know we cannot be wrong. God told me this was the date for the Apocalypse, but it appears not to have happened. What does this mean? That my vision was wrong? That I was misled? Impossible! Clearly our calendars have been altered by demonic forces, and the Apocalypse will happen, according

Unfortunately for Dobie, Dave failed to bring the mustard the next week, forcing Dobie to reset the date of the Apocalypse again, to the 22nd. The mustard being forgotten on that day, Dobie's reinterpretation of the calendar in relation to the Apocalypse once again allowed him to move his prediction to a week later. 

This process continued over 3 months, until September, when Dave finally revealed to his father that he had been deliberately leaving the mustard behind as an act of revenge for the time that Thomas had been devoting to his cult, at the expense of his parental duties. In the fight which ensued, Thomas and several members of the cult were arrested and charged with affray. Both Dobies and 3 of Thomas' followers were sentenced to a total of 19 years in prison, effectively ending the Punchy organisation.

The Punchies headquarters in Dagenham. After the imprisonment of the Dobies and the collapse of the cult, it became an off-license, where 10 ex-members of the cult are still regular customers. Photograph by J@ck!.

©2012 James Mathurin

The worst ever lapse of memory

The worst ever lapse of memory came from Danish butcher Peter Dreichs, who announced to his wife Gherta, on the 15^th May 2002 that he had just remembered that he was actually Rich Cummings, the mayor of Craniville, Ohio, USA, and had simply forgotten both his job, name, home, wife and three children while on holiday in Denmark 12 years previously. Medical examination found no physical reason for his lapse, and a psychologist told the media, “It really does appear that he just forgot. His life was like a peanut down the back of a sofa.”

Peter Dreichsreturned to Craniville in 2004, but found his family had sold their house to the Kaufmann Tire company in the intervening years. He was eventually reunited with them on a special edition of the Ellen Degeneres Show in 2009. Photograph by Dougtone.

 ©2012 James Mathurin

Karmisticia Festival of Spoken Food

With Karmisticia being a mobile nation, as detailed in this previous post, its economy is unable to follow many conventional models. The climate means that agriculture faces many difficulties, and the tiny population and limited space mean that industry is also a non-starter.

As a result, the government of Karmisticia commissioned a tourism bureau, in order to manufacture "distinctive and uniquely Karmistician events, which will attract international tourism". The first of these events is the Karmisticia Festival of Spoken Food, an event where "Speakers" (poets, writers, actors and performers) are invited to pair up with chefs from around the world, whereupon they will share and discuss a 3-Course meal cooked by the chef, which the Speaker will then turn interpret into a 5-minute monologue.

French chef Andron Mibeu, preparing his meal's monologue with Lithuanian beatboxer Drops2. Photograph by C John Thompson.

©2012 James Mathurin