NEWS OF THE WEIRD
Off to fire the wizard
The City Council of Christchurch, New Zealand, has officially ended its contract with The Wizard of New Zealand (also known as Ian Brackenbury Channell) after 23 years.
The Wizard cast spells and entertained tourists to the tune of $16,000 per year, but the city no longer believes his services are necessary, Oddee.com reported. Christchurch’s “promotional landscape is changing,” said the council’s assistant chief executive Lynn Mcclelland, with “programs that will ... showcase a vibrant, diverse, modern city.”
The Wizard called the council “a bunch of bureaucrats who have no imagination. … They will have to kill me to stop me.”
Protect, serve, chat
ABC News reported Oct. 20 that in Wellington, New Zealand, police went above and beyond.
When a dispatcher answered a call, a little voice said, “Hi. Police lady?” The 4-year-old went on to say, “I’ve got some toys for you. Come over and see them.” An adult took the phone, confirming it was not an emergency, but the dispatcher sent Constable Kurt over anyway.
The boy showed his toys to the officer and had a “good, educational chat” about use of the emergency number.”
“He did have cool toys,” Constable Kurt confirmed. He reciprocated by turning on his patrol car’s lights for the boy.
Round and round
When Vojin Kusic, 72, of Srbac, Bosnia-herzegovina, built a home years ago, his wife, Ljubica, wanted the bedrooms to face the sun, so the living room faced away from the road.
In time, Ljubica became distressed that she couldn’t see visitors approaching, so Vojin remodeled it. Now, with their children grown, Vojin has constructed the home of Ljubica’s dreams: It rotates 360 degrees so she can turn it as she sees fit, the Associated Press reported.
“Now, our front door also rotates, so if she spots unwanted guests heading our way, she can spin the house and make them turn away,” Vojin said.
Station’s moonshot
During an Oct. 17 weather segment on KREM-TV in Spokane, Wash., viewers were stunned to see a 13-second clip of a woman’s bare behind on a display behind the meteorologist, Yahoo! News reported.
Viewers began calling the Spokane Police Department, which is now working with the station to find out how the video made it to the broadcast.
Fake cliffhanger
Fire officials in Santa Barbara County, Calif., received calls Oct. 4 about a person hanging on the side of a cliff, NBC New York reported.
Emergency crews were dispatched, but the “person” was just a mannequin with long hair. Apparently, it had been used in a movie shoot a few days earlier, Daniel Bertucelli of Santa Barbara County said, reminding residents, “Better to call than not!”
Not who they thought
At a ceremony Oct. 16 to award the Planeta literary prize in Spain, fans of Carmen Mola were stunned to learn the author is actually three male writers: Agustin Martinez, Jorge Diaz and Antonio Mercero, who accepted the award.
Mola’s unpublished novel “The Beast” won the 1 million euro prize. Mola had been described as a female university professor who uses a pseudonym, People.com reported, but Diaz said, “We are three friends who one day four years ago decided to combine our talent to tell a story.”
Some have called the trio “scammers,” but Mercero argued, “We didn’t hide behind a woman, we hid behind a name.”