Irish skeleton ‘cancels itself’

And other stories from the stranger side of life

A skull

An Irish skeleton has been “granted privacy”, said The Times. The 7ft 7in skeleton of Charles Byrne, the “Irish Giant” of the 18th century, will not be displayed at the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, almost 250 years after Byrne said that he did not wish to be used by anatomists. “If anything,” said the newspaper, the exhibit has “cancelled itself”. However, it is believed that students will be allowed to see the skeleton in private.

Man breaks hurled sausage roll record

Journal could solve wreck mysteries

Historians hope that a journal recovered from the wreck of HMS Erebus could “lead to a wealth of revelations” as to the fate of its doomed crew, said CBC. HMS Erebus and its sister ship the Terror were trapped in Arctic sea ice in the far north of Canada in the 1840s. The crews, who abandoned their ships and tried to reach safety overland, are believed to have resorted to cannibalism to survive. Ryan Harris, a diver with Parks Canada, said that the leather-bound journal was “one of the most remarkable finds of the summer”.

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