And other stories from the stranger side of life
BBC radio is to re-broadcast a play for a listener who missed the ending in 1978. Sue Reilly was “gripped” by The Gazebo, a comic murder mystery by Alec Coppel, when she first heard it on the World Service in August 1978, said The Telegraph, but she missed the closing minutes and never heard the conclusion of the story. After she wrote to the BBC, Radio 4 Extra will broadcast the play on 6 August at as part of its All Request Weekend. “After 45 years I will finally know what happened,” she said.
Zoo denies bears are people
A zoo in China has insisted its sun bears are real rather than humans in disguise, after footage of one animal standing like a person created a whirlwind of online speculation. Responding to a viral video of a bear on its hind legs, Hangzhou Zoo said people “don’t understand” the species. A zoo employee said visits were being arranged for reporters to see the bears and verify their authenticity. Another zoo in China was once accused of painting donkeys to make them look like zebras, said The Guardian.
Mystery object ‘rocket debris’
Officials believe that a mysterious large object discovered on an Australian beach has been identified as debris from an Indian rocket. The huge barnacle-covered cylinder discovered on Green Head Beach in Western Australia “left many stumped” when it appeared earlier this month, said Sky News. Now, the Australian Space Agency said the object was “most likely” debris from an “expended third-stage of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle”.
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