The youngest case of steroid use

The youngest case of steroid use in a sporting event was when Anwar al Hadat was found to have used the banned steroid Nandrolone, in the three-legged race at his Turkish school’s Sports Day in 2003. He was aged 6 years and 122 days at the time.

Hasim Uyger, father of one of the other boys at the sports day, who lost out to al Hadat. Interviewed when news of the doping came out he said,

"How do I feel? I felt excited at first, that maybe I had seen a great athlete of the future. Now I feel disappointed that my boy was robbed of third in the sack race."

 Photograph by bgrimmni.

 ©2012 James Mathurin 

The biggest ever mushroom omelette

The biggest ever mushroom omelette covered an area of 0.73 square miles, and was formed by a gas explosion at a farm just outside of Leipzig, Germany in 1974. The farmer, Helvig Kreucker, said, “I am relieved that the omelette has been declared a record breaker, as I am hoping I can use it to finance the repairs to my chicken coop and greenhouse. There was a fear that the judges would refuse to recognise it as an omelette at first, due to the hole in the middle the explosion made. Some of them wanted to call it some kind of donut, but fortunately, they relented.”

Kreucker's barn, where the omlette-causing explosion originated. This photograph was taken by an insurance assessor, after the egg had been cleaned up. Photograph  by dé.wé..

 ©2012 James Mathurin 

The largest scale apology

For 3 months in the Summer of 1864, the Principality of Montenegro carried out what is, in the eyes of most scholars, the largest apology on record. 

During the period of June to August of that year, the lyrics of the national anthem were changed to give an official apology to the Spanish government, for the accidental arrest and execution of their ambassador, Miguel Ballasteros, in March of that year.

With their vulnerability to an attack along their Mediterranean coastline, the Montenegrins made the decision to carry out a daily rendition

This bay was the site of the final apology / anthem, on 17th August 1864. One resident, whose name was given as Igor Tuden, said, "While it hurt my national pride to sing such a shanty, I will miss it." Photograph by k.ivoutin.

  ©2012 James Mathurin 

Another contender for best lie

In 1988, Governor Peter Mintrell, of New Jersey, found himself running for re-election against Cherie Switzler, the prostitute he’d been caught having sex with in the back of his official limousine 3 months previously, the scandal of which had led to the snap election. Mintrell had attempted to play the incident down, claiming at a press conference that he had been forced to sleep with the prostitute because of ‘a hysterical psychological condition she suffers from, which sends her into fits which can only be prevented by sexual intercourse.’ Mintrell, with his wife Sally by his side, further claimed that his limousine had only been in Switzler’s vicinity because his driver, Ernie Ballenti, had taken a detour to pick up a sick relative who lived there, leaving Mintrell alone in the car when he saw Mss. Switzler going in to convulsions.  

“I pulled her into the limousine because I thought she’d have less chance of injuring herself on the leather seats than if I left her on the sidewallk,”

he said, continuing, 

“Once in the limousine, I recognised her symptoms from a Discovery documentary I’d seen the week before, and knew that, no matter how uncomfortable I felt with it, my having sexual intercourse with this young lady may well have been the only way to save her life.”

Switzler entered the election race as an Independent, under the slogan ‘I’ve swallowed a lot of things, but I wouldn’t swallow that story.’ She pulled out of the race when Mintrell offered her a position on his staff.

©2012 James Mathurin 

The tallest mound of chewing gum

The tallest mound of chewing gum measured 19.35 metres, and was left behind after a thunderstorm in Quebec on April 20^th 1946. Professor Morton Signet, a meteorologist, concluded, “This is a similar sort of phenomenon to rains of frogs, where a freak weather system picks something up, probably from a body of water, and deposits it a great distance away. I am guessing that the moisture and movement within the storm cloud imitated a gigantic mouth, thus chewing the pieces of gum into one object, which was later deposited here in Quebec.” The mound collapsed five days later, killing a local poultry merchant.

Although the area has built up in the intervening years, this traffic sign is effectively used by academics and fans as representing the site of the chewing gum mound. Photograph by Dougtone.

   ©2012 James Mathurin 

The highest political office held by a sleepwalking sleepwalker

The highest political office held by a sleepwalker while sleepwalking was that of Chair of the District Council of Turlington Ohio, which was held by Noel Thursen between October 1976 and June the following year. Thursen only found out he had the position in May of 1977, and decided to step down so that he could attend a sleep clinic to treat his condition. The Mayor of Turlington, Chrissie Swank, told the local newspaper, “Initially we only let Noel keep the position because we were worried of what may happen if we woke him up, but we’ve actually lost a darn good Chairman.”

Noel Thursen(left), pictured with the Turlington District Comptroller, Jackson McKauleigh, discussing sanitation budgets in February 1977. It later transpired that Thursen had been asleep for 7 hours at the time, and was actually wearing his pyjamas under his suit. Photograph by juggernautco.

©2012 James Mathurin