The Odd Files

A mother has posed naked in a charity calender to raise awareness of the BRCA breast cancer gene. Frances Howarth, of Tooting, joined 24 other women who have all had mastectomies to reduce their risk of developing breast cancer. All of the women participating had discovered they were carrying the mutated BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, which has been linked to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. The BRCA Babes calender aims to raise thousands for charity, while removing the stigma attached to having mastectomy surgery. Mrs Howarth, 42, said: “We decided to do a calender to help others to say you are beautiful with scars. We were all really nervous when we went in there, it was really liberating when we were done.” The mother-of-three, who works in Sainsbury’s in Brixton, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010, despite having no family history of the disease. After going through chemotherapy and radiotherapy she was tested for the faulty gene, discovering she w...

Brown University is about to play host to a week-long celebration of nudity. The "Nudity in the Upspace" week goes from Sept. 30 to Oct. 5 on the Ivy league campus in Providence, R.I. The organizers write on the Facebook page the week intends to confront stigmas about the naked body and open a space space for discussions on it, with "All bodies welcome!" So what will go on at nudity week? On Tuesday, Oct. 1, there will be a nude yoga class that promises to "stretch your body perhaps in ways that it hasn’t been stretched before." Organizers will provide mats, but ask attendees to bring a towel. There will be nude cabaret, nude open mic night, nude body painting, personal testimonies about nudity and a panel on how issues like race and class intersect with nudity and body image. All events will be held in the Production Workshop Upspace in one of the campus buildings. The organizers were clear to note on the Facebook page "absolutely no p...

Superman, Batman and the Honey Monster were among the mourners at a biker’s funeral. Those attending Gary Pattison’s funeral were asked to wear fancy dress to remember their friend, who one said had ‘a wicked sense of humour’. Also present among the 250 friends and family were Fred Flintstone, a Star Wars stormtrooper and Super Mario. They were greeted at the crematorium by a fire-breather and juggler before a final message from Mr Pattison that asked those who wanted to make a speech during the service to use words such as ‘bacon’ and ‘discombobulated’. He also wanted ‘what’s left of my savings’ to be put behind the bar, but no Beatles or Paul Weller songs were to be played. The 42,-year-old, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, added: ‘In the words of Warner Brothers, “That’s all folks!” Enjoy and do me proud.’ The motorbike instructor died five days after he was involved in a collision near Leek on August 26. He leaves a daughter, Becca, 13. - Metro UK ...

Citizens of Scott Township, Pa., are in a nutty battle over a set of concrete pillars that some people feel look like concrete penises. The pillars, actually bollards, were recently erected to keep traffic from driving into nearby structures. Four were installed at a bus stop near a church while six others are arrayed across the street, Philly.com reported. In theory, most locals were behind the idea, but the elongated shape and rounded top of the pillars have aroused the wrong kind of community, according to resident Pat Martin. "People are laughing at it. They're calling it Penis Road," she told the township commissioners Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. One commissioner, Eileen Meyers, said she didn't see the bollards before they were ordered and conceded that she would have preferred "something more antique" Commissioner Bill Wells suggested flattening the tops of the bollards might improve the appearance, but offi...

ANIMAL-lover Ary Borges was worried about the plight of endangered tigers- so he moved SEVEN of the massive cats into his own house. The dad-of-three rescued two of the tigers from a circus eight years ago, and has since multiplied the endangered species in his home in Brazil.  The striped man-eaters now live in a garden sanctuary alongside Ary and his wife and three daughters. The tigers even swim with Nayara, 20, Uyara, 23, and Deusanira, 24, in the family's backyard pool.  Ary, 43, said: "I was never worried about my daughters co-existing with these animals. "You have to show the animals respect and love - that's how you get it back from them." The girls feed meat directly into the mouths of the fully-grown cats as they join their human friends in the kitchen for dinner- and they even lounge around the house in the evenings. Perhaps more shockingly, Ary even lets his two-year-old granddaughter Rayara take a ride on the backs of the...

They look like old cooking utensils you might find in the back of your Gran's kitchen cupboards. But it seems egg whisks had a far more exciting purpose back in the Victorian era. This stunning collection of vintage vibrators brought cheeky smiles to the faces of many rich Victorian ladies, proving that sex was in fact not invented in the swinging 60s. And it seems we have the respectable doctors of the 1890s to thank for the invention of the sex toy as we know it today. These vintage self-massages were devised to carry out 'pelvic massage' on women as a common treatment in Victorian times for female hysteria. Doctors found the process of administering massage by hand too tiring and time-consuming so invented these bad boys to do the job for them. Dr Macaura's Pulsocon Hand Crank Vibrator, resembling an old-fashioned egg whisk, is among the fascinating collection on display at Littledean Jail in the Forest of Dean. The visitor attraction offe...

Football pundit Robbie Fowler ­apologised to TV viewers yesterday after accusing two Premiership stars of “pulling at each other like a pair of girls”. The former Liverpool striker made his controversial remarks on BBC1’s Final Score show while discussing clashes between Fernando Torres and Jan Vertonghen during the Chelsea v Spurs game. He later apologised, saying: “I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean to offend anyone.” His comments were made on the same day that former Radio 4 newsreader Charlotte Green became the first female to read the classified football results on BBC Radio 5 live. Angry viewers took to Twitter suggesting that Fowler, 38, was being derogatory about women’s football. Celebrity publicist Mark Borkowski wrote: “Robbie Fowler eating humble pie for dissing women’s football on #BBCFinalScore. ­Charlotte Green 10 v sexist git 0. New pundit in the wings.” But others tweeted in support of the former England player, and criticised the BBC for being too po...

A man working in his garden cheated death by millimetres after he swung a pickaxe which bounced off the washing line and flew into his forehead, entering his skull. Sheldon Mpofu, 37, was turning soil when he swung the massive tool but hit his washing line on the way down. The pick-axe swung back and the pointed end hit him in the middle of the head, missing his brain and entering a sinus - an empty space in the skull. Despite his injury he still took a bus to hospital where doctors were stunned the pickaxe had not killed him. Medics did not immediately realise how serious the injury was but an X-ray and CT scan showed how far the tool had penetrated. Sheldon, of Morley, West Yorkshire, said: ''They said there are sinuses in the forehead which are essentially empty spaces. It was just a few millimetres from entering my brain. "How it didn't go through was amazing. They told me I was a celebrity around the hospital. The doctor said 'do you realise ...

A squashed nerve had meant the slightest touch on his face caused agony. Now surgeons have inserted Teflon in his skull to stop contact with a nearby artery which sparked the spasms. Happier Mark and his wife Pain from Trigeminal Neuralgia, which affects 12 out of 100,000 people in the UK each year, is so intense nearly a third of victims resort to suicide. Relieved father-of-three Mark, a probation officer, said: “I can’t say how wonderful it is to kiss Louise and my kids again. “The disease destroyed my life, the pain is so debilitating you can’t do anything. “Once I was at my parents’ house for dinner and before the spoon even got to my mouth I was on the floor in agony. "It feels like you have been hit in the face with a bolt of lightning, or at it’s worst like a whole thunder storm has hit you. “There were up to 250 attacks a day. Sometimes the pain would drop me to my knees, other times it would feel like all of my teeth on the right hand side w...

A 72-year-old car crash victim had been in a German morgue for several hours Monday when a worker there noticed something odd: She was still breathing. The woman was injured when her 18-year-old grandson veered into oncoming traffic on a highway about 35 miles north of Hamburg. The resulting crash killed the woman's daughter, who had been in the back with her four sons, the youngest of whom also died; paramedics believed the grandmother had suffered the same fate. Unable to find any signs of life, they assumed she'd died of head trauma, the Local reports. "What exactly happened next, no one knows," says a hospital spokesperson. When the morgue worker realized they were wrong, the woman was rushed to the hospital, where she was operated on for four hours. She is currently in a coma. NEWSER

A psychic has been accused of hiding a man in an attic to make knocking noises on the ceiling during a hotel “ghost tour”. Chris Date Chris Date, a paranormal medium, is alleged to have rapidly driven away from the scene after suspicious staff who hung around after his tour spotted a man climbing down from the roof. The 38-year-old, who calls himself Knight Guider, tells guests who pay £12-a-head for the ghost hunt that he can contact the spirit world. During a recent tour of the “haunted” Halfway Hotel in Llanelli, South Wales, 14 people paid to join him in trying to contact the spirit world. The ghost hunters were led into the hotel stables where Mr Date asked a spirit to knock twice in answer to a question. The guests were hushed as two ghostly knocks were heard coming from the ceiling above. Hotel owner Paul Francis, 33, said: "A member of staff and a member of the public wanted to see if someone came down from the attic where the knocking was coming from. ...

A two-year-old girl escaped from a nursery and walked half a mile back home after an alarming safety breach. Little Louise Hilton was able to leave the pre-school and walk unaided to her home even crossing roads during her 20-minute journey. Louise with her mother, Samantha The tot’s solo journey took her past a pub, through two underground subways, woodland and past a canal, but still no passer-by stopped her. Louise waddled back through her front door where she told her astonished mother Samantha: “I have walked home on my own, aren’t I a big girl?” Samantha, 30, who had dropped her daughter off hours earlier, was preparing to pick up Louise at 2.30pm when she answered the door to the youngster at 1.50pm. Police in Runcorn, Cheshire, are now probing the incident yesterday as her father John furiously blasted the nursery for refusing to apologise to them. The breach happened on only Louise’s third day at the nursery and her parents have vowed she will not return to Win...

A university graduate has told of his ‘humiliation’ after being forced to do a David Brent-style dance during a job interview at Currys. The company has been forced to apologise after jobseekers were asked to dance to a song by Daft Punk at their Cardiff megastore. Alan Bacon Alan Bacon was initially delighted to be offered an interview after handing in a CV after recently completing a degree from the University of South Wales. But the 21-year-old, who has applied for more than 300 jobs since graduating, was left incredulous after being asked to perform a ‘dance off’ for the sales assistant role. “I think everyone initially thought it was a joke,” Alan, from Newport, South Wales said. “But they were serious. All professionalism went out of the window. "I’d spent the past week researching the company and looking forward to being able to express myself and talk about what I love doing. “But I just felt so embarrassed and uncomfortable. I ended up dancing to ...

here's the bride A Brazilian man is to wed his pet goat – but has promised not to consummate the marriage. Former stonecutter Aparecido Castaldo, 74, has decided to end his days as a single man to marry his beloved Carmelita. The happy couple will walk, or trot, down the aisle on October 13 in Igreja do Diabo, or Devil’s Church, in the city of Jundiai, Brazil. Aparecido has been in love with the pet for two years and says a goat has advantages over a human companion. ‘She doesn’t speak and doesn’t want money,’ says the father of eight children – four women and four men from four different marriages. The ceremony is scheduled for midnight and will be followed by a big party on All Souls’ Day the following day. Carmelita ate her first wedding dress but has been found another, said Aparecido. ‘Whenever someone says I am doing something wrong I reply the goat does not speak, ask for money to go shopping and doesn’t get pregnant – and she can’t talk.’ The ceremony ...

Almost 2,000 Brits and 20,000 people in total threw 130 tons at the annual Tomatina festival held at the town of Bunol near Valencia. Six trucks carrying vegetables were brought to the town for the hour long event and portable showers were set up for revelers to wash in afterwards. The town's streets and walls also had to be washed with hoses after the food fight finished. The rules of the festivals state that tomatoes have to be squashed before being thrown to avoid injuries. The town's folklore claims the annual vegetable battle was inspired by a food fight that took place amongst children in 1945 in the town square. Last year the event attracted 40,000 people, but to restrict number participants were charged £8.60 to enter by the local council for the first time. The entry fee will also help boost public funds for the recession hit town. However, some 5,000 residents will allowed to take part in the mass food fight free of charge. ...

He and another man stormed into a hotel room and battered him before declaring “this is vengeance”, a court heard Sarah Penhaligon A cheated bride who was dumped on her honeymoon has defended her dad after he took brutal revenge on his two-timing son-in-law. Furious Stephen Thatcher, 51, and another man stormed into Philip Stow’s hotel room and battered him before declaring “this is vengeance”, a court heard. Mr Stow’s new lover Stacey Edwards was in bed with the love rat and was also attacked by Thatcher when she tried to intervene. But after her dad was locked up for a year, Sarah, 33, described him as a “very generous and kind-hearted man and a loving husband”. She said: “He was very remorseful. He texted Philip the next day. It was very out of character for him. “Philip has got justice but what justice have I got? I can’t get a divorce as it is still under a year since we got married. "He was cheating on me. We were together four-and-a-half yea...

He was jailed for five years and banned for eight years from going within a mile of any stadium where QPR are playing A “dangerous” football hooligan smirked and then burst out laughing after plunging a knife into the chest of a Good Samaritan who tried to stop a girl fan being attacked. QPR supporter Leon Hughes, 24, was jailed for five years and banned for eight years from going within a mile of any stadium where his team are playing. A court heard he travelled to Merseyside on a coach from London with a fish knife in his pocket before carrying out the attack following a Premier League game at Goodison Park. Victim Nikolas Lintott, 20, stepped in when he saw a gang of QPR fans, who had just watched their team lose 2-0 to Everton, picking on a female fan wearing the home team’s replica shirt. But Liverpool Crown Court heard he was punched and kicked before Hughes, 24, approached and stabbed him. Prosecutor Simon Duncan said: “He recalled seeing the blade bein...

He claimed his underpants had irritated his groin and he was using the shampoo to soothe it A pensioner caught masturbating on a bus told police he had just been shampooing his private parts. Philip Milne, 74, claimed his underpants had irritated his groin and he was using the shampoo to soothe it. He said: “What I did was wrong, but I was treated like a hardened criminal.” Bedford magistrates heard a mother with her son alerted the bus driver after seeing Milne with his zip undone. Milne, from Bletchley, Bucks, was fined £75 after admitting an act of outraging public decency. Mirror

A medal awarded to a dog for urinating on an incendiary bomb to extinguish it in the Blitz was found during a house clearance. Great Dane Juliana took action when the device fell through the roof of her owner’s home in 1941. In 1944, she got a second Blue Cross Medal for alerting customers to a fire in her master’s shop. Auctioneers found one medal and a portrait, which carried a plaque describing Juliana’s brave deeds, in a Bristol house. The two items sold together for £1,100, more than 18 times the £60 pre-sale estimate. Philip Taubenheim, auctioneer at Wotton Auction Rooms, Glos, said: “These items tell a fantastic story. "One can only assume this was a Great Dane with a great bladder.” Juliana met a sad end in 1946 when she was killed by poison posted through her owner’s letterbox. Mirror

The ‘ball-cutter’ fish, which reportedly bites human testicles, could be on its way to the UK after being found in France. 'ball-cutter' fish Male swimmers in Britain could soon have to wear extra protection down below after the pacu was caught worryingly close to these shores in Paris’s Seine river. Police in the French capital took a photo of the Amazon based fish and said it measured 1ft. It can grow as large as 35in (90cm) and weigh up to 55lb (25kg). The pacu, which has reportedly caused men to bleed to death after biting their testicles, had previously turned up in Sweden. ‘The pacu is not normally dangerous to people but it has quite a serious bite,’ said fish expert Henrik Carl. ‘There have been incidents in other countries, such as Papua New Guinea where some men have had their testicles bitten off. ‘They bite because they’re hungry, and testicles sit nicely in their mouth.’ Metro

If you’ve ever wanted to study a course based on a zombie TV show then you are in luck after it was announced the University of California would be helping to set one up. zombie course? There have been plenty of weird degrees on offer at higher education institutes in the past, including learning how to become a clown and also mastering the training methods of the Jedi. But the latest course available, which focuses on the hit zombie survival series The Walking Dead, could be the strangest yet. The show’s maker AMC has teamed up with the University of California to offer an online course that will include topics such as ‘what can an apocalypse teach us about anthropology and sociology?’ and ‘nutrition and stress physiology in a high-stress environment’. The massive open online course (MOOC) will last for eight weeks and open on October 14, which is a day after the fourth series of the show begins in the US. Metro

He was left in agony but has been told by police they cannot take action against the boy as he is under 10 – the age of criminal responsibility. The postman A postman was almost blinded by an eight-year-old boy who shot him with an air rifle as he did his rounds. The tiny thug told Steven Tuck, “I’m going to shoot you” before firing a pellet at his temple, missing his eye by centimetres. Dad-of-one Steven, 51, was left in agony but has been told by police they cannot take action against the boy as he is under 10 – the age of criminal responsibility. The furious postie said: “If this boy is doing these kind of things now and he’s eight, what is he going to be like as a teenager?” Describing Saturday’s attack in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, Steven said: “I’m doing my normal delivery when I saw two young boys. “I wasn’t paying much attention but then I heard one of them shout, ‘I’m going to shoot you’. “I looked around and the next thing I knew I had been hit ...

A poker player who gloated just before he got knocked out of a high stakes game proved you should never start toasting your victory until you have actually won. Unlucky Carter Gill heckled his opponent as he sat across him at the table. He was in a confident mood as the 10s and two pair of aces he possessed meant he had a 93 per cent chance of winning. ‘All you need is a queen man, all you need is a queen,’ he said to his opponent David Paredes, who had little chance of claiming victory with his one pair of aces. But in the end the underdog called the bet and to the surprise of him and even more so, Gill, a queen was drawn as a river card. The previously confident Gill, who was all in, immediately sat back and his face dropped as he realised he had been knocked out of the World Series of Poker game. This meant he had lost out on the chance of winning nearly £500,000 and to add further injury the video of his reaction has become an internet hit. Metro

With a name like the Apocalypse Burger, there can be no coming back for anyone brave enough to tackle this giant meat feast. Britain's biggest burger Restaurant owners Dave Cossar and Justin Meaney might need some bigger plates after creating Britain’s biggest burger. The 11kg (25lb) monster meal at JD’s Grill in Plymouth contains 25,000 calories and was created to celebrate the restaurant’s one-year anniversary. It took three chefs six hours to prepare and cook the jumbo burger which contains £150 worth of ingredients. ‘The burger was originally created to celebrate our anniversary but we are looking at how we could put it on the menu,’ explained Mr Meaney. ‘We would have to find a way to bring the price down a little and make it easier to build and cook in the kitchen without compromising on the quality of the ingredients.’ He added: ‘We served it up to about 14 or 15 people and they absolutely loved it. ‘It was one massive burger, and a real sig...