Oh no, you can't

General News : Monday December 10, 2007

Oh no, you can't

It has been traditional at British pantomimes for the performers to throw sweets to children in the spirit of Christmas. But not anymore. It is too perilous for panto, stars have been warned.

Theatre chiefs have been issued a legal warning that they could be sued if a chocolate tossed from the stage hurts someone in the audience.

Theatre director Kevin Lynch said: ''We have to make sure we do not open ourselves to being sued. In the past children have bumped heads jumping for sweets and you get a few tears from those who don't get them.''

He said children would still get the sweets, but they would be passed around, not thrown from the stage.

But Helen McDermott, artistic director of one panto hit by the ban, disagreed. ''This is just another example of the health and safety culture going mad. Throwing sweets is one of the great traditional parts of pantomimes and children have enjoyed it for years.''

Dangerous

weapon A woman in the US ended up knocking her husband unconscious in a Yuletide row _ with a large potato.

According to Sky News.com tension mounted as the couple prepared a traditional American meal in Nicholson, Georgia. When the woman's husband called her a rude name she apparently reached for the nearest thing and flung it at his head.

The rogue potato scored a direct hit, landing squarely on his nose, and knocked him out cold.

After he regained consciousness he vowed he would be more careful about what he called her the next time they have an argument.

Not indoors,

please! A social club in Devon has banned a 77-year-old man from breaking wind while indoors.

Maurice Fox received a letter from Kirkham Street Sports and Social Club in Paignton asking him to consider his actions, which ''disgusted'' members.

Fox, a club regular for 20 years, said: ''I am happy to oblige them, there is no problem. I do get a bit windy _ I am an old fart now.''

He said he had to leave the club about three times a night so as not to offend fellow members.

Say cheese

Italian investigators have busted a ring of cheese-loving cops who demanded mozzarella bribes from motorists.

Police officers in the Campagnia region, famous for its mozzarella, stopped cheese delivery vans and forced them to hand over cheese or face a hefty fine.

The police are thought to have used the cheese for their own consumption.

Teaching

manners Pupils at Wellington College, Berkshire, are being told to touch the brim of their hats to passing teachers and take their hands out of their pockets when singing hymns or the National Anthem.

According to the Daily Telegraph, boys are also required to open car doors for women or elderly visitors and always stand when an adult enters the room.

The rules were devised amid fears that children were growing up without a grounding in good manners.

By : Bangkok Post