STRANGE BUT TRUE

If you watch TV’S Modern Family regularly, you’re probably aware that Phil Dunphy has an amusing phobia – but he’s not alone. In the US, 10 to 20 per cent of the population suffers from “coulrophobia”, which is a fear of clowns, just like Phil. In Linden, California, a man saw a rabbit scurry into an irrigation pipe. Worried about the animal’s safety, he got two other men to help him lift the 15-metre-long pipe and urge the rabbit out. Their kindly behaviour wasn’t rewarded, however; while the men were lifting it, the pipe touched a 12,000-volt electrical wire, electrocuting all three of the Good Samaritans.

Those who suffer from Moebius syndrome are incapable of showing expressions on their faces – not a frown or a smile or a quizzical lift of an eyebrow. They often are found sleeping with their eyes open. Between 1976 and 1987, no red M&MS were produced.

A collection of items that belonged to Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler’s long-time companion (and, very briefly, his wife), recently went up for auction. Among the items was a pair of her underwear, lilac with white lace and ribbon trim, embroidered with her initials. An unnamed collector bought the undergarment for more than $3500. If you want to get a karat’s worth of diamond, you’ll have to mine, on average, 23 tonnes of ore.