Revealed: the name most likely to land you in jail
And other stories from the stranger side of life

Men named Michael are most likely to end up in prison, according to a new study. Figures released by the Ministry of Justice revealed the first names of all the 82,000 men and women currently locked up in England and Wales, including 1,777 Michaels. In women’s prisons, where more than 3,000 inmates are being held, the most common name is Emma, of whom there are 57. This equates to nearly 2% of the female prison population.
Four-year-old takes mum’s car for a spin
A four-year-old boy has been compared to an F1 star after taking his mother’s car for a drive in the Netherlands. Officers said the child crashed into two parked cars and was found walking around in his pyjamas and bare feet in Utrecht. On Instagram, police said they had discovered a “new Max Verstappen”, adding that no one was hurt in the incident. The boy was checked by paramedics and taken to a police station where he was given a hot chocolate, said Sky News.
Maradona shirt breaks auction records
The shirt worn by Diego Maradona when he scored the “hand of God” goal to knock England out of the 1986 World Cup has sold for a record-breaking £7.1m at auction. The Argentinian star previously described his controversial goal in the quarter-final as “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God”. The previous auction record for sports memorabilia was for an original autographed manuscript of the Olympic manifesto from 1892, sold at Sotheby’s for $8.8m in 2019, £7.05m at today’s exchange rate.
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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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