90-year-old beats teen in fencing
And other stories from the stranger side of life
A 90-year-old woman is winning fencing matches against teenage opponents, said The Telegraph. Joy Fleetham “dons her breeches, body protector, jacket and mask” for weekly sessions against younger opponents, said the paper. She has beaten a 17-year-old Japanese boy. “He was astounded and so was I,” she said. Fleetham has acquired local fame as a result. “When I go into town people stop me and say: ‘Hello fencing lady, are you still doing it?’” she said.
Salt and pepper pot divide in Yorkshire town
Residents in the east Yorkshire town of Goole are divided over which of its water towers is the salt pot and which is the pepper pot. The towers have been a “source of local pride for almost 100 years”, said The Guardian, but now “a debate has ignited over which structure is which” after the local historical society announced plans to immortalise them in a salt and pepper pots. Margaret Hicks-Clarke, the society’s chair, said there appeared to be a generational divide over which way round it is.
Awkward misspelling on US road
The word 'School’ has been misspelt as ‘Shcool' on a Massachusetts road, reported UPI. Officials in the town of Holden said the word, a warning about the reduced speed limit outside Mountview Middle School, was painted a fortnight ago and contractors have been unable to correct it because of recent weather conditions. “We expect it to be corrected shortly and we are eternally grateful for everyone’s input on this matter,” the town said in a Facebook post.
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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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