WEIRDWORLD

Record leap

A British gymnast has wowed the public by breaking a world record Spider-Man would be proud of.

Ashley Watson, who won silver on the parallel bars at the 2016 British Championships, earned his latest award by hurling himself nearly six metres through the air at Leeds Gymnastics Club.

Watson, 26, posted a video of his achievement to Instagram with the caption: “My official Guinness World Records attempt! ‘The farthest backflip between horizontal bars’ 5.87m! #OfficiallyAmazing.”

Bell sale

AN ancient bell dug up at a farm in the 1920s is set to fetch around £3,000 at auction after it was estimated to be 1,500 years old.

The monastic ornament, which is believed to date back to the 5th or 6th century, had been kept in a box in the owners’ garage until they discovered its value.

It is made of iron plate mixed with a copper alloy and resembles the bell of St Patrick, which has been exhibited at museums in Ireland.

The bell was discovered at a Gloucestershire farm and had been used as an ornament.

Tower defence

ITALY’S Leaning Tower Of Pisa is straightening itself out – after more than two decades of efforts, engineers say the famed Tuscan bell tower has recovered four centimetres more.

Nunziante Sabia, a consultant to the international committee monitoring the tilt, said that while the progressive recovery of tilt is good news, the overall structural health of the tower is more important – and it is in better shape than previously predicted.

The 12th-century tower reopened to the public in 2001 after being closed for more than a decade to let workers reduce its slant. By using hundreds of tons of lead counterweights at the base, engineers shaved 43cm off the lean.