Brilliant insight: Illustrator and author of Ideas of Note: One Man's Philosophy of Life on Post-It Notes book, Chaz Huton,
Q: Do you work out before you go on tour?
A: "About 10 years ago I decided that it might be a good idea to get in shape for an upcoming tour and so I booked some training sessions at a local gym in Brighton. I'd never trained or even entered a gym before and I also didn't have any kit, and so, in preparation, I ordered a tracksuit from Amazon. When it arrived, the tracksuit was very small — I think it was actually a child's size. I had forgotten to order trainers but found an old pair of giant white sneakers that had belonged to one of the kids. As I left the house for my first session at the gym I was aware that I looked ridiculous and so I stuck on a bucket hat that was lying around in an effort to disguise myself. I spent the most punishing hour of my life in the gym that day, with a trainer who, as far as I'm concerned, basically violated me. Drenched in sweat, I left the gym vowing never to return. On the drive home I suddenly remembered that I had promised Susie that I would pick her up from Heathrow — I also realised that I was late and had no time to go home to change out of my gym clothes ... When I arrived at the airport, I needed to have a piss so I stopped at the bathrooms and as I walked back out, in my tiny tracksuit, my giant white trainers and my bucket hat, there, walking toward me, was Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones. He had silver hair and was dressed in an elegant pearl-grey three-piece suit, a button-down checked shirt and a tie. He literally glowed with a kind of inner serenity, and as we passed each other we locked eyes for a moment and he smiled at me — not an unkind smile, but not a kind one either, rather the impassive look one animal might give to another in the wild, that signalled their complete and total supremacy."
A Peruvian family whose pet dog started chasing and eating neighbours' chickens and ducks were shocked to learn that their 3-month-old Husky was actually an Andean fox. Maribel Sotelo, from Comas in Peru, had no choice but to call the Forest and Wildlife Service and ask for assistance with her pet dog, Run Run, after neighbours started complaining that he was the reason that their poultry and guinea pigs – which are edible in Peru, by the way – were going missing. Sotelo had also noticed the 3-month-old "Husky dog" chasing other animals around, but now her neighbours were asking to pay for the damages, so she notified the authorities.
When it came to the taxidermy creatures of the Victorian period, some had more dignified afterlives than others. Positioning stuffed animals in typically human scenarios became a popular theme within the art form. Memorable anthropomorphic pieces from the era depicted ice-skating hedgehogs, a classroom full of rabbits, and a wedding attended by kittens decked out in highly detailed garb.