Charles Dickens raged against postal delivery plan

Charles Dickens campaigned for postal deliveries on Sundays in his Kent village, The Times reported. A letter has emerged in which the author bemoaned his neighbours’ bid to end a Sunday postal delivery and warned that he would leave the area if it was discontinued. The “proposed cessation of the Sunday Delivery of letters” may not affect his neighbours, who had not objected, he wrote. But “my case as a public man with a large correspondence is very much greater than theirs, and should far outweigh it”.

Man paddles in a hollowed-out pumpkin

A man in the US has set a new world record after he paddled 38 miles down a river in a huge, hollowed-out pumpkin he grew himself. Duane Hansen of Syracuse, Nebraska, said the journey was a gruelling experience. “I went 38 miles down the river without standing up in that pumpkin and my knees still hurt,” he told Reuters. “I probably won’t try this again.” The Guardian advised readers not to follow his example, telling them: “You’d butternut try this at home.”

A man has been jailed for almost three years after he farted in a police officer’s face as he was arrested for shoplifting. Matthew Hapgood, 41, was apprehended in Tesco pocketing £33 worth of beer and cider. Oxford Crown Court heard that as he was caught he “broke wind in the officer’s face during the course of that arrest” on 21 March. He was jailed for 34 months having pleaded guilty to robbery, shoplifting, possession of a bladed article and criminal damage, the Daily Star reported.

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