Squirrel-flavoured crisps go on sale in UK

Crisps that taste of chilli and chocolate, onion bhaji and even Cajun squirrel will be unleashed on the public today as part of a Walkers competition to find a new flavour.

Walkers launched its Do Us A Flavour campaign last July, challenging members of the public to think up a unique flavour of crisp.

Fish and chips, crispy duck and hoi sin, and builder's breakfast have also made the finals of the public search.

Chef Heston Blumenthal and a judging panel picked the top six entries from more than one million, and Walkers turned the ideas into reality.

The crisps can be bought from all supermarkets from today until May, either individually or in a special multipack containing all six flavours.

Blumenthal said: "The complexities of flavour fascinate me and to watch the British public get so excited about taste has been absolutely inspiring.

"We've had an incredible response and sifting through the entries has been quite incredible. I can't wait to see which on the public choose as their winner!"

Votes cast on the Walkers website between now and May 1 will decide which flavour stays permanently on sale, and the creator will win £50,000, on top of the £10,000 that each finalist has already received.

One per cent of profits from all future sales will also be handed to the winner. The crisp manufacturer revealed that, if sales should reach that of its BBQ flavour for example, the winner would receive around £57,000 a year.

Chilli and chocolate is the brainchild of Catherine Veitch, from High Wycombe, who entered the competition with her friend Sian Smith from Oxfordshire.

The pair, who work in educational publishing, took more than 500 pictures as part of their entry Ms Veitch said: "Chilli and chocolate might sound like a crazy idea for a crisp, but the combination is actually scrumptious. Spicy heat with a cocoa kick!"

Fish and chips creator Jane Hallam, 45, does not eat fish because she is a strict vegetarian, but can eat her own crisps because they do not contain any fish.

The social worker, who lives in Sheffield, chose fish and chips because it is a popular comfort food. She submitted a picture of a queue of people outside a fish and chip shop in Whitby as part of her entry.

She said: "Fish and chips is one of the most famous national dishes, so I felt sure that it would be something that could be enjoyed by everyone."

Onion bhaji is 53-year-old Carole Wood's entry, and the civil servant from Durham said she fancies her chances of winning.

The mother-of-two chose the unusual flavour because it is a family favourite and she has kept the Walkers steak and onion pack that prompted her entry as a good luck token.

Mrs Wood said: "Onion bhaji has a delicious, mildly spicy taste and will taste great as a crisp."

Crispy duck and hoi sin sauce is the invention of Vicky Howard, from Northwich in Cheshire.

The 21-year-old, who draws maps for a living, made a crisp packet to accompany her entry by scanning a packet into her computer and replacing the traditional image with one of a duck made from crisps.

She said: "Crispy duck and hoi sin has been a long-time coming - it's a favourite Chinese dish, so hopefully it will be everyone's favourite crisp too."

Builder's breakfast is the brainchild of Emma Rushin from Belper in Derbyshire. The 27-year-old midwife, who has two children, combined bacon, buttered toast, eggs and tomato sauce to create her flavour.

She said "The combination is mouth-watering and I know it will be a hit with the British public." Meanwhile Cajun squirrel is the wacky flavour created by Martyn Wright, 26, the only man to have made the final six.

The online marketer, who lives in Hednesford, Staffordshire, was inspired to enter when he saw squirrel on a restaurant menu and he believes the public will be so intrigued that they will have to buy a pack.

He said: "This gentle Cajun flavouring will be delicious for the public and although the idea might sound bizarre, it really works. No squirrels were harmed in the making of these crisps!"

Six-year-old expelled for bringing a gun to school

The gun was the cause of the sagging pants

A six-year-old who was sent to the principal's office for sagging pants was found to be carrying a loaded gun and quickly expelled.

The school administrator was pulling the boy's pants up when he found a pistol in his pocket.

The boy said he found the gun in his father's car and wanted to show it off to his friends.

They boy's father, 34 year old Michael Lewis, was arrested possession of a firearm by a felon and having stolen property after finding that the .45 caliber gun had been stolen

The school said it had a "zero tolerance policy" on weapons but didn't release a baggy pants statement.

Arrested woman fakes giving birth

You must be at least this pregnant to fake labour pains

A woman in America has discovered the hard way that faking going into labour doesn't help you escape arrest for shoplifting.

The woman was arrested in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, after police were called to a mall over a report of a woman stealing a keychain. They also found pain medication without a prescription in her purse, and so also arrested her on drug charges.

But while being arrested, the woman complained of birth pains and said she was going into labour. She was taken to a local hospital by ambulance.

But when doctors examined her at the hospital, they found that she wasn't going into labour at all. In fact, in what might have a been a slight flaw in her otherwise perfect scheme, it turned out she wasn't even pregnant.

Not only did she remain under arrest, but she's now facing a bill for the ambulance ride and hospital visit.

6-year-old crashes car trying to get to school

What a car crash might look like

A 6-year-old Virginia boy who missed his school bus proved unexpectedly keen on getting to school - so much so that he took the family car and tried to drive to school.

Unsurprisingly, he crashed it.

State police say the boy suffered only minor injuries, and authorities drove him to school after he was evaluated at a local hospital. Sgt. Tom Cunningham says the boy arrived shortly after lunch.

The crash happened around 7:40 a.m. Monday on Route 360 in Virginia, about 60 miles east of the state capital Richmond.

Police say that after missing the bus, the boy - who hasn't been named - took the keys to his family's 2005 Ford Taurus while his mother was asleep, and drove 10 miles toward school.

He ran off the road several times before finally hitting an embankment and utility pole about a mile and a half from school. So he almost made it.

Police say he wasn't wearing a safety belt.

Did you pack this yourself, sir?

Luggage featuring embossed images of a gun, knife or axe is likely to spark alerts at airports, security experts warned yesterday.

The cases, sold online for up to £98, were described as bringing 'a touch of black humour and novelty to an object which is usually rather boring' by retailer kidslovedesign.com.

But aviation security expert Bruce Schneier warned: 'They're not in good taste... It's a funny joke, but remember that there are no jokes when it comes to airport security.'

Wackiest home insurance claims revealed

A man accidentally shot his TV set while cleaning an antique gun.

Well, it's one way to turn off your TV... permanently. A man accidentally shot his set while cleaning an antique gun.

The case tops the list of wackiest home insurance claims received by Lloyds TSB last year.

Other quirky cases include the shameless policyholder who claimed for a new bed because he had worn out his old one by having too much sex.

One claimant whose home was burgled supplied the receipts for a collection of sex toys that had gone missing.

Another claimed for loss of his glasses – after a magpie flew in through the bedroom window and pinched them from a bedside cabinet.

And there were many claims for damage to electronics such as players and mobiles from people who admitted putting them in the dishwasher to clean.

Others had been operating their device in the bath and then wondered why it wouldn't work after falling in.

Phil Loney, of Lloyds, said: 'I never cease to be intrigued by the variety of claims we receive. It's impossible to predict what's around the corner.'

The burglars who only ate stale sarnies

The burglars who only ate stale sarnies

Three 'buttie burglars' have paid a high price for grabbing out-of-date sandwiches for a free feast.

The trio – who worked in a nearby electrical store – believed they had permission to take the snacks from the shopping centre café after it closed.

But when the food – worth a total of £26 – went missing, the police were called in, CCTV film studied and the three culprits charged with burglary.

The theft happened at the Middleton Grange mall in Hartlepool.

The café had no shopfront and its counter was accessible to the three, who worked late at BrightHouse electrics.

The trio admitted taking the items in November but believed they had the 'right to do so', Clare Donaldson, prosecuting, told Hartlepool magistrates court.

Mitigating, Dave Smith said colleagues at BrightHouse had told the three it was all right to take out-of-date stock from the café.

'While burglary is a big word and is not a pleasant word to hear or read on somebody's record, this is about as bottom end as a burglary can be without falling off the scale,' he said.

Alex Bell, 35, Emma Berry, 18, both of Hartlepool, and Jeffrey Marchant, 39, of Middlesbrough, admitted burglary and were given 12-month conditional discharges and ordered to pay £8.66 compensation and £90 costs each.

All had no previous convictions. Marchant may now have to quit his role as a school governor, the court heard.

Burglar stole 'Jungle Jane' blow up dolls for alleyway sex session

A burglar broke into three adult shops, had sex with blow up dolls named "Jungle Jane" and then dumped his plastic conquests in a nearby alley.

"It's totally bizarre. It's a real concern that someone like that is out on the street," said one of the owners of the adult sex shops in Cairns in northern Queensland state.

"He has been taking the dolls out the back and blowing them up and using the dolls and leaving them in the alley," the owner, who gave the name of Vogue, told the Cairns Post newspaper.

Police told the Cairns Post that scientific officers had taken DNA samples, fingerprints and pictures of the crime scene.

Schoolboy defeats hedgehog ban

A hedgehog: no longer banned in Lawrence

A schoolboy in Kansas has emerged victorious in his battle to change the law of his city - so that could have a pet hedgehog.

11-year-old Judson King triumphed after campaigning against local laws that banned the animals from the city of Lawrence.

Inspired by a love of Sonic the Hedgehog, and determined to own a real-life version, King spent three years researching how to change the law before presenting his case to city commissioners.

The commissioners were impressed by his prepared speech, and the dossier he had prepared with information about hedgehogs.

And, despite some initial concerns that hedgehogs - which are not native to North America - might harbour foot-and-mouth disease, the commissioners could find no reason to continue banning hedgehogs from the city limits.

'I think he ought to run for City Commission in April,' said impressed City Commissioner Sue Hack said after King's presentation.

At the same meeting, a proposed ban on chickens in the city was turned down.

Preliminary approval for lifting the hedgehog ban was given on December 2, and the prohibition was officially lifted on December 30. By that time, Judson had already reaped the reward for his efforts - he was given a hedgehog called Little Luke for Christmas.

Doctors get to bottom of hairspray X -Ray

It's a medical mystery that surgeons never got to the bottom of in a hospital casualty room - how a woman patient ended up with a can of hairspray up her backside.

Mirela Gradinaru, 37, turned up at the clinic in Arad, western Romania, in agony begging doctors to help her.

Doctors had to remove the giant can of hairspray

But she refused to say just how the can came to be there even after a successful, delicate operation to remove the aerosol.

Doctor Mirandolina Prisca explained: "We had X-rays done to localise the object and then we carried out the operation. The patient was fine after it."

"This was a massive can of hairspray"

"She was very embarrassed. She was clearly in a lot of pain, however it got there.

"This was not just a little can of deodorant, this was a massive can of hairspray," said one hospital worker.

Wheelchair criminal flees on foot

Police say a woman who begged from a wheelchair was caught running from a crime scene on foot in Monterrey, Mexico.

Police spokeswoman Sidlayin Robles says 30-year-old Ana Victoria Perez fled on foot after she and her husband allegedly threw a stone through the front window of a furniture store.

Perez was a regular fixture along a main Monterrey road, asking for change from motorists as she sat in a wheelchair pushed by her husband.

Robles said Monday that the couple apparently planned to rob the furniture store but were scared off by a security guard. They have been charged with vandalism.

Police arrested the couple when they returned for the wheelchair.

Bush shoe-chucking becomes an art form

An art gallery in America joined the hot trend of throwing shoes at George Bush, as they opened a new exhibit with a paint-splattered fundraiser that featured a 'shoe throw' at an image of the departing President.

91-year-old Marjorie Mather reacts with joy after hitting a picture of President Bush with a paint-covered shoe

Eric Navickas, a City Councilor in Ashland, Oregon, who opened the MAda Shell Gallery by slathering a layer of red paint on the soles of sneakers, boots and sandals. People then took turns to fire the footwear at an 8-foot image of Bush.

Each shot cost $1 at Friday's opening, with the funds to go toward future gallery exhibits.

Godard said the exhibit is a 'statement of solidarity' with Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist who was arrested after hurling two shoes at Bush in protest during a Baghdad news conference last month.

One contributor was 91-year-old Marjorie Mather.

'Wow, I didn't know that was going to be so much fun,' she said after smacking a shoe into the picture of Bush.

Woman who set husband's testicles on fire charged with murder

Goodness, gracious

A woman has been charged with murder after allegedly setting her husband's genitals on fire because she thought he was having an affair.

Prosecutors told the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday that 44-year-old Rajini Narayan confessed to neighbors that she set her husband on fire on December 8, 2008, after she saw him hug another woman.

She was initially charged with endangering life and arson but the charges were upgraded to murder after her 47-year-old husband, Satish Narayan, died from his injuries last week.

Prosecutor Lucy Boord said Narayan told neighbors she was a "jealous wife" but she hadn't meant to kill him when she doused the sleeping man's genitals with an alcohol-based solvent and then set him on fire.

Boord quoted Narayan allegedly saying: "I just wanted to burn his penis so it belongs to me and no one else ... I didn't mean this to happen."

The husband jumped out of bed and knocked over the bottle of alcohol, causing the fire to spread and resulting in 1 million Australian dollars ($715 million) of damage to their town house and an adjacent property, the Adelaide Advertiser reported.

Narayan was remanded in custody for psychological assessment and will reappear in court Friday. She has been charged with murder, arson and three counts of endangering life, as the couple's three children were at home during the incident.

Balloon priest wins Darwin Award for stupidity

There he goes: Di Carli, the balloon priest

A daredevil Catholic priest who was killed after floating out to sea suspended by 1,000 helium-filled party balloons has been honoured for his idiocy.

Reverend Adelir Antonio di Carli had been trying to break a record for the longest time in-flight with party balloons when he disappeared.

Three months later his body was discovered off the south-eastern coast of Brazil.

But now he has won the 2008 Darwin Awards which commemorates people who die in a stupid fashion.

Di Carli: blowing in the wind

Rev di Carli planned to use the money raised in his attempt to break the 19-hour record to fund a "spiritual" rest-stop for truckers in Paranagua, home to Brazil's largest grain port.

Second place went to Italian Ivece Plattner, 68, who got trapped in between a level crossing in his beloved Porsche.

It took Plattner a while to realise he was stuck, according to witnesses. Finally, he jumped from the car and started to run - towards the oncoming train, waving his arms in an attempt to save his car.

The attempt was successful. The car received less damage than its owner.

Burglar scared off by man dressed as Thor

Torvald Alexander, the Norse god of thunder!

A builder scared off a house-breaker by running at him dressed as the Norse god Thor.

The terrified intruder leapt from a first floor window to escape Torvald Alexander, who was dressed as the Norse god of thunder in a red cape and silver helmet and breastplate.

Mr Alexander had just returned from a New Year's Eve fancy dress party when he discovered the man in his home in Inverleith, Edinburgh.

He said he acted instinctively to chase the intruder away, and believed his costume may have added impact.

Mr Alexander, 39, said: "We were both startled but then the instant reaction was that I ran at him and he just jumped straight out of the window.

"I think I would be quite scared if someone looking almost like a gladiator ran at them.

"He might have thought the property was empty.

"He probably would not have expected to meet a strong builder, especially dressed in tinfoil and silver."

The house-breaker did not steal anything but left behind his shoes and the garden fork he used to break in.

He landed on a pitched roof outside the window which broke his fall, and made his escape. Mr Alexander, whose name has Norwegian roots, was inspired to dress as Thor by the Marvel comics series.

He made his costume himself, using large quantities of tinfoil.

The Norse believed that Thor rode through the heavens during thunderstorms on his chariot, which was pulled by two goats.

Lightning flashed whenever he threw his hammer Mjollnir, which magically returned to him. He was usually depicted as a big, powerful man with eyes of lightning and a red beard.

Mr Alexander, who runs building firm Alexander & Summers, said he will report the incident to police.

Lothian and Borders Police said they have not yet received a report.