A first edition of Charles Darwin's seminal On the Origin of Species will be sold this week after it was found in a family's toilet in southern Britain. The book, which was first printed in 1859, was bought by a family for just a few shillings in a shop about
40 years ago, Christie's auction house said. The family have since kept the work on a bookcase in the guest lavatory at their home in the Oxford area. The book will go under the hammer in London tomorrow, to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the publication of the famous work by the father of the theory of evolution. The book, about 1250 copies of which were first printed, is expected to fetch 60,000 ($137,000).
* * *
More inventive names for real businesses: Plant nursery on Sydney's North Shore called "The Itchy Palm"; Waitakere creative enterprise "A Kick in the Arts Ltd"; a surfing gear shop in Margaret River, Western Australia, called "Wet Dreams"; Personal trainer sessions at the Mt Eden Swimming Pool called "Gym and Tonic".
* * *
Anna Read of Huntly writes: "Rupert might like to consider that the disabled parks are the ones nearest to the bank and that Armourguard people carry huge amounts of money. Armourguard are in and out very quickly, after all. Security alone would justify their using the nearest empty parking space. Don't be so mean-spirited."
* * *
Robert remembers seeing the band cleverly named Free Beer: "That was the name of a band in San Francisco in the late 60s, summer of love and all that. One summer day in the Haight-Ashbury (hippie central), signs appeared announcing Free Beer at Speedway Meadows on Saturday, 1pm. (Speedway Meadows is in Golden Gate Park at the end of Haight St.) Of course the hordes descended, only to find a third-rate rock band taking the stage with the name ... well, you know. They were driven from the park post-haste and it became a legendary story in San Francisco. I know because, well, I was a callow youth of 17 in the city when it all went down."
* * *
Just saw the cutest thing, declares a reader. "A man holding up all the traffic with his big car in Central Auckland so he could help an injured bird off the road. Not one single vehicle beeped or got impatient because we could see what he was doing. Bless you, sir, there is a place in heaven just for you, Mr blue Holden V8 man!"
* * *
Today's Webpick: This will crack you up! The EZ Cracker help you crack an egg…. Go here and check it out.
Follow Ana Samways on Twitter