Interesting to know

The Man Who Could Turn Back The Clock

Once upon a time there was a men who had the power to turn back the clock. Whenever he regretted something he had done or said, he could repeat the event in the light of experience.

Now one day it happened that this man was out for a walk when it started to rain, so he took shelter in a barn. After a few minutes the man was joined by a very beautiful young lady and her dog, who were also seeking shelter. The downpour lasted about an hour.

The man went home to his wife and told her why he was late. Immediately his wife was suspicious of her husband’s behaviour with the young lady. She questioned him about what had happened. The man replied in a surprised and hurt voice: “Why, nothing happend. I was a perfect gentleman. What do you expect? Especially when she had such a large dog with her.”

His wife was furious: “What! Only the dog stopped you!”

The man realized his mistake and immediately he turned the clock back a few minutes and tried the conversation again. This time when his wife expressed her suspicion, he said “It’s true the girl was very beautiful and she seemed to like me but my deep love for you gave me the strength to resist temptation.”

However, his wife was even more furious: “What!! You wanted to kiss her! An immoral thought is as bad as an immoral deed.”

Than he turned the clock back again! And this time he replied: “What? She wasn’t beautiful, she was ugly! I am a man with good taste, which is why I married you, my darling!”

When she heard this, she flung her arms around his neck and cried, “I love you!“

Celia Young

I asked Celia Young why she had written another romantic novel. She said that she found romantic fiction easy to write, but that her next novel woudn’t be a romance. She was hoping to write something different, possibly a detective story.

I told her that I was interested in the character of Felix, and I asked if he was anyone she knew from real life. Celia laughed and replied that she was glad that she didn’t have a Felix in her life, and that she had been happily married for over fifteen years to Richard Marsh, the politician. I said that she had now written five novels, and I asked when she had started writing. She answered that she had written stories and poems all her life and that she would continue to write even when she was an old lady.

I thanked her for talking to me and said that I hoped that Hot Lips would be successful.

Flying - then and now

My first flight was from Paris to Portsmouth in 1959. The pilot arrived late, with the stewardess. He wore a leather coat, old trousers, and wellington boots. The stewardess had holes in her stockings and wore mirrored sunglasses. They Both went into the cockpit without a word. When we were at the English coast, the stewardess appeared in the cabin. She was still wearing sunglasses, but her lipstick was smudged. “Southend? Anyone for Southend?” she shouted. The boy in front of me put up his hand. The DC3 suddenly landed. The boy was shown the door and he felt down onto the grass field, and we took off again. The stewardess went back into the cockpit. I remember thinking at the time that flying woudn’t always be like this.

Coca-cola was born

Coca-Cola is enjoyed all over the world. 1.6 billion gallos are sold every year, in over one hundred and sixty countries. The drink was inventer by Dr John Pemberton in Atlanta, on 8 May 1886, but it was given the name Coca-Cola by his partner, Frank Robinson. In the first year, only nine drinks a day were sold.

The business was bought by a man called Asa Candler in 1888, and the first factory was opened in Dallas, Texas, in 1895. Coca-Cola is still made there. Billions of bottles and cans have been produced since 1895.

Diet Coke has been made since 1982, and over the years many clever advertisements have been used to sell the producn.

Women died for the vote

The suffragette movement started in the middli of the 19th century. Women demanded not only the right to vote, but also better education for girls. However, there was strong opposition. Many men argued that women were less intelligent and more emotional than men, and therefore could not make important decisions.

The first suffragettes believed in being legal and peaceful. They used to write letters to Parliament and organize petitions. Nothing happened. Nobody noticed them.

By 1903, a woman called Emmeline Pankhurst and daughters Christabel and Sylvia decided they needed publicity for their cause. They Encouraged women to break the law. Soon the newspapers were full of shocking stories about these new-style suffragettes.

Living in the skies

Imagine one third of the height of Mount Everest, built by robots, and containing a whole city. Imagine you can walk out of your front door in a T-shirt and shorts on a cold winter’s day and take a lift down 500 floors to school. Imagine you can see the sea a mile below you. Imagine you can never open a window. Imagine…

Well, if Japanese architects find enough money for their project, in the 21st century you’ll be able to live in a building like that.

Ohbayashi Gumi has designed a two-kilometre high building, Aeropolis, which will stand right in the middle of Tokyo Bay. Over 300,000 people will live in it. It will be 500 flors high, and in special lifts it will take just 15 minutes to get from top to bottom. Restaurants, offices, flats, cinemas, school, hospitals, and post office will all be just a few lift stops away. According to the architects, Aeropolis will be the first ‘city to touch the skies’.

It was real tiger

Last year I went to Nepal for three months to work in a hospital. I think it’s much of a country as you can, but it is difficult to travel around Nepal. The hospital let me have a few days’ holiday, so I decided to go into the jungle and I asked a Pepalese guide, Kamal Rai, to go with me.

We started preparing for the trip at six in the morning, and left camp with two elephants carrying our equipment. It was hot, but Kamal made me wear shoes and trousers to protect me from snakes. In the jungle there was a lot of wildlife, but we were trying to find big cats, especially tigers. We climbed onto the elephants’ backs to get a better view, but it is unuseal to find tigers in the afternoon because they sleep in the heat of the day.

Then, in the distance, we saw a tiger, and Kamal told me to be very quiet. We crept nearer and found a dead deer, still bleeding. This was the tiger’s lunch! Suddenly I started to feel very frightened.

We heard the tiger a second before we saw it. It jumped out like a flash of lightning, five hundred kilos plus and four metres long. I looked into its eyes and face, and saw right down the animal’s throat. It grabbed Kamal’s leg between its teeth, but I managed to pull Kamal away. One of our elephants ran at the tiger and made it go back into the grass, so we quickly escaped to let the tiger ear its lunch. That night it was impossible to sleep!

It’s a penny or Britain’s favourite store

Marks & Spencer (or M&S) is Britain’s favourite store. Tourists love it too. It attracts a great variety of customers, from housewives to millionaires. The Duchess of York, Dustin Hoffman, and the British Prime Minister are just a few of its famous customers.

How did it all begin?

It all started 105 years ago, when a young Polish immigrant, Michael Marks, had a stall in Leeds market. He didn’t have many things to sell: some cotton, a little wool, lots of buttons, and a few shoelaces. Above his stall he put the now famous notice: DON’T ASK HOW MUCH - IT’S A PENNY

Ten years later, he met Tom Spencer and together they started Penny Stalls in many towns in the north of England. Today there are 564 branches of M&S all over the world - im America, Canada, Spain, France, Belgium, and Hungary.

Couple who survived at sea

A couple from Miami, Bill and Simone Butler, spent sixty-six days in a life-raft in the seas of Central America after their yacht sank. They survived in very good condition.

Twenty-one days after they left Panama in their yacht, Siboney, they met some whales. “They started to hit the side of the boat”, said Bill, “and then suddenly we heard water”. Two minutes later, the yacht was sinking. They jumped into the life-raft and wathced the boat go under the water.

Fot twenty days they had tins of food, biscuits, and bottles of water. They also had a fishing-line and a machine to make salt water into drinking water - two things which saved their lives. They caught eight to ten fish a day and ate them raw. Then the line broke. “So we had no more fish until something very strange happened. Some sharks came to feed, and the fish under the raft were afraid and came to the surface. I caught them with my hands.

About twenty ships passed them, but no one saw them. After fifty days at sea their life-raft was beginning to break up. Then suddenly it was all over. A fishing boat saw them and picked them up. They couldn’t stand up, so the captain carried them onto his boat and took them to Costa Rica. Their two months at sea was over.

My grandma’s a bank robber

Kitty Currie is everyine’s favourite grandma. She is sixty-eight yeaes old, has snow-white hair and always wears a pink cardigan and carries a big gandbag. Sha likes knitting and looking after her five lovely grandsons. But she’s not looking after them at the moment. Kitty Currit has gone to prison! Two months ago, Kitty, who lives in the village of Bovdon in Devon, robbed a bank! She took her grandson’s toy gun, put a stocking over her face, and walked into Barclays Bank. She pointed the gun at the cashier and asked for some money. The cashier gave her 20$. Kitty smiled, said “Thank you very much”, and left. The cashier called the police, and they caught Kitty in the next street. The money, the gun, and the stocking were all in her bag.

Kitty says , “I got married when I was sixteen. All my life I’ve looked after my home and my children. I’ve got a lovely husband and I’ve had a happy life but I’ve never done anything really exciting. I’ve never been abroad. I’ve never even had a jov. Now I’m famous. I’ve been on TV and in the newspapers! But I’m not going to rob another bank!”