"I was in London doing my OE and my friend Richard phoned me one night (I think late December 1963) and asked if I was still drumming," writes Nigel Rees from Waiheke Island. "I had been in a band from high school as a drummer. Richard said afriend of his was forming a band and they needed a drummer and recommended me to him. He rang me and his mate, Mick, had said to get me over to their session they were having that night in a garage in Twickenham as they needed a drummer. I declined as it was a black cold London night and driving to an area in London I was not familiar with and sitting in a cold garage did not sound very appealing. And as I was recently married, I did not have playing in a band for long nights on my list. I asked Richard next week who his mate was and he said Mick Jagger!"
Long-winded boasting still earns long sentence
A judge in Germany said she regretted not interrupting the "excessive digressions" of a bank robber who embarked on a 20-hour-long statement in court. During his epic monologue, Michael Jauernik said he was "more intelligent and clever than any employee of the criminal police agency" and bragged about his fitness regime, which included sit ups, three times each day. None of this saved him — he was sentenced to 12½ years in prison for three bank robberies.
1. Can't chat right now Emz, I'm literally in Cambodia
@AdamCSharp
Real rail service
Photo / Supplied
Interesting read on Japanese trains and the official apology issued for being 20 seconds late. A reader writes: "I've been in Japan many times and the train system runs so incredibly precise you could set your watch by it. Twenty secs early is a lot ... Even the shinkansen (bullet train) runs with this precision. If the train is to arrive at 3.00pm it will arrive at the time between 3.00 and 3.01 almost guaranteed and leave at its schedule time. Really only breakdowns (seldom) and earthquakes (quite frequent) stop the trains."
