UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Britain seeks safer pints

LONDON, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- The British Home Office has convened a team of designers to create an alternative to the traditional pint glass for beer in pubs.

Home Office officials said the designers have been charged with creating several new drinking vessels within four months as alternatives to the traditional pint glass, which has been linked to a growing number of injuries in violent incidents at pubs, The Times of London reported Monday.

Sebastian Conran, head of the Home Office's Design and Technology Alliance Against Crime, said pint glasses are involved in an estimated 87,000 injuries each year. He said the largest obstacle to creating a replacement for the glasses is finding a design the public will embrace.

"There are existing plastic glasses and if you go to a baseball game in the United States you can buy beer in a paper cup," he said. "People are quite used to drinking beer out of plastic and paper things but there is a feeling that in public, it is a traditional thing to drink beer out of a glass."

Police: Robber cited bad jerky as motive

CLEVELAND, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Authorities in Cleveland said a barber who admitted to robbing a store two doors from his business was angry at the shop for selling him bad beef jerky.

Police said the 28-year-old barber, who was known to the clerk at the party store, covered his mouth with a small cloth and demanded money from the clerk Thursday evening at the shop, which is two doors away from the barbershop, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Monday.

The clerk told police the robber became irate at being recognized and ran out of the store with the cash register, which contained $98.

The first police officer to respond to the scene was a customer of the barber, authorities said. The suspect was found at his girlfriend's house and told detectives he used the money from the robbery to buy a pizza in Little Italy.

Sgt. Tom Shoulders said officers were baffled by the barber's explanation for why he targeted the party store.

"He bought a beef stick, and it got him and his dog sick," Shoulders said. "That's why he robbed the place. He said it with a straight face."

The suspect was taken to jail on suspicion of aggravated robbery.

Confused tourist locked in town hall

DANNEMARIE, France, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- A British woman who confused a French town hall for a hotel was locked in the building overnight, town officials said.

Mayor Paul Mumbach of Dannemarie said the tourist entered the building Friday night while officials were in a meeting and the officials left and locked the doors behind them while the woman was in the lavatory, The Times of London reported Monday.

Mumbach said the woman attempted to attract attention by turning on the town halls' lights and leaving a note on the door in broken but comprehensible French reading: "I am shut in. Can someone open the door?"

The message was seen Saturday morning by the councilor, who called Mumbach to come unlock the doors.

"I came across a woman of about 30. She explained in English to me that she was British and that she had been looking for a hotel," he said. "She kept apologizing and then left as quickly as possible."

Men plan 4,000-mile 'sauna' drive

SEVENOAKS, England, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- A pair of British men have announced plans to drive 4,000 miles in a 20-year-old Volvo nicknamed the "sauna on wheels."

Tom Sharrad, 23, and Chris Wilkinson, 24, of Sevenoaks, England, said they spent months covering the outside of the Volvo, which has driven more than 187,000 miles, with Scandinavian pine reminiscent of traditional sauna decor, The Daily Telelgraph reported Monday.

The men, who will wear nothing but Turkish bath towels during their cross-Europe trek, said they are planning to visit 12 countries in 14 days during the trip, which was concocted to raise money for the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumor Trust, a research and support organization for people suffering from tumors and their families.

"The idea of going to Sweden came about because we wanted to take the car back to its spiritual home. We've also wanted for a long time to give something back to a brain tumor charity and thought this was the best way," said Sharrad, who made a full recovery from a brain tumor he was diagnosed with at 18-months-old.

"Although there's not a proper sauna inside the car, when it's going along it does get pretty hot in there," Wilkinson said.

The men are planning to depart Thursday.