WhiteBoard News for Monday, June 16, 2003
United Arab Emirates (The Australian):
An Emirati who has 63 children has married for the 12th time in a bid to ensure his place in the Guinness Book of Records with 100 offspring, according to a newspaper report.
And his name is Dad.
Dad Mohammad Murad, 53, married an 18-year-old in the emirate of Ajman, just north of Dubai, Al-Bayan said.
In line with local tradition the girl was not named.
Ajman ruler Sheikh Hamid bin Rashid Al-Nuaimi attended and paid for the festivities.
Murad told the daily that he had divorced four of his wives, while four others had died.
The new bride will join three other wives living in four houses provided by the ruler of Ajman, who supplements Murad's army pension.
"I hope to have 100 children and get in the Guinness Book of Records," said Murad, who thanked a diet of fish and dates for his stamina.
With 30 sons and 33 daughters - the youngest just 47 days old - he should get on well with new father-in-law Mohammad Azim Taj, who has 23 children from two wives.
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Edinburgh, Scotland (Ananova):
An athlete dressed in a deep-sea diving suit has set a new world record for the slowest marathon time.
Lloyd Scott, 41, finished the Edinburgh Marathon six days, four hours, 30 minutes and 56 seconds after setting off in his 130lb diving suit.
The former footballer and firefighter who previously battled to overcome leukaemia, completed the 26 mile 385 yards course to raise money for charity.
Mr Scott, a father of three from Rainham in east London, crossed the finish line at the Meadowbank Stadium in the Scottish capital shortly after 1pm.
He said: "I'm feeling OK. It was a fantastic finish at the stadium, everyone was on their feet clapping and we had a piper. It was a wonderful reception. I'm still on a bit of a high and I will probably still be on one tomorrow when I realise I don't have to get the suit on. Now I'm having a dram of whisky to celebrate."
Last year Mr Scott took five days to complete the London and New York marathons in the suit, but this time it took him even longer because he was hit by food poisoning.
He said: "I had to keep dashing to the loo and on the Royal Yacht Britannia there was a problem trying to get the suit off in time to get to the toilet."
Mr Scott walked for an average nine hours a day and covered just half a mile every hour although on the Wednesday he only managed one mile because of stomach cramps.
Despite his slow time, Mr Scott was not the last person to cross the finish line because he set off on Monday while the other runners started this morning.
Later this year he is hoping to complete a marathon under water by walking the full length of Loch Ness in diving equipment, and next year he is planning to run the Edinburgh marathon in a suit of mediaeval armour.
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London, England (Ananova):
A shop has opened in London which only sells tomato ketchup.
Shopkeeper Tammy Omoniabipi and sister Patsy decided to open their store after reading in their local paper that Kilburn is ketchup capital of the UK.
They have filled their Heinz Tomato Ketchup-only grocery store with 9,432 bottles of ketchup.
The average Kilburn household gets through 4,400g of Ketchup per annum compared to the national average of 3,300g.
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Bucharest, Romania (Ananova):
A Romanian woman is filing for divorce after finding a diary in which her husband listed his entire sexual history.
The 60-year-old, from Bucharest, had listed nearly 10,000 sexual acts. Only around 3,000 of them involved his wife.
The former tax office clerk included masturbation and even "accidental ejaculations" in his diary.
He told National newspaper that he decided to keep the diary to challenge a theory he had heard as a teenager that a man could have no more than 10,000 sexual acts in a lifetime.
The man said he now regretted that he was going to lose his family and also his "most precious" diary.
His wife is using the diary in court as evidence of her husband's infidelity.
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Chow
SuperChef
www.joeha.com