Sea snakes ‘mistaking divers for sex partners’
And other stories from the stranger side of life

Sea snakes are mistaking divers for potential sexual partners, a study has revealed. Researchers at Macquarie University in Australia found that the creatures charging at, biting, and coiling around divers may simply be engaging in a misdirected seduction. The approaches, which included the creatures flicking their tongues at people, were found to occur more often during the mating season, which runs from May until August.
Only Fools and Horses fan lands garage door
A fan of Only Fools and Horses has donated a “significant sum” to charity for a red garage door that featured in the TV comedy series. Scott Harrington said he hoped to set up a museum to display memorabilia so people “could take a trip down memory lane”. His donation has gone to the Film and TV Charity to help the industry recover from the pandemic.
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Video fanatic collects 20,000 tapes from landfill
A film buff has rescued more than 20,000 VHS tapes from landfill after travelling 300 miles to collect them. Andy Johnson, who runs what is said to be the UK's last video shop, drove from Liverpool to Dundee to collect the haul, which more than doubles his existing 15,000-strong collection. Johnson, who owns VideOdyssey, said: “I've never seen anything this big.”
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Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
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