In what must be one of Vodafone's cheaper marketing initiatives (winners get an "all-expenses-paid" trip to Dunedin and tickets to the rugby) these are the craziest stories from former Otago University students:
* Bill Throp, 85, a retired GP & orthodontist from Napier, who in 1939 with a fellow student galloped
artillery horses bareback through the Otago University Medical Corp tent lines at Burnham, shouting "Hi-Ho, Silver".
* Louis Rattray, 32, of Auckland, who pulled up a manhole cover to explore the tunnels under Dunedin, but was spotted. Police, using dogs, chased him underground for more than an hour, but he escaped.
* Jo Boniface, 30, now living in Dublin, Ireland, who built a spa pool out of a wardrobe, heated water on the barbecue and used a vacuum cleaner on reverse for bubbles. She and her friends then enjoyed group spa evenings in the backyard.
* Campbell Wright, 29, of Auckland, who tied up a naked mate, painted him red, covered him with feathers and then took him to KFC and pushed him into the drive-thru with no one else in the car.
* Bruce Gilmour, 46, of Hastings, who went into Joe Tui's Chinese takeaway when it was packed, dumped a possum on the counter and said: "That's the last one until you pay for the rest." He then ran for his life.
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Here's one for all those who say you can't put a price on the jersey. A former All Black, back in town and overheard at a suburban cafe yesterday: "I got a quote to put central heating in ... The guy's a rugby nut so I slung him four old jerseys I had lying in a box and he knocked $3000 off the price."
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Is the Colin Amery of Manurewa - who suggested in the Herald's letters column this week that refugee Ahmed Zaoui is likely to be a terrorist because two foreign justice systems and the New Zealand SIS say he is - the same Mr Amery, barrister, who frequently acts for asylum-seekers in the courts? If so, will he be putting a copy of the letter on his office door for prospective clients to refer to?
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A reader from Henderson newly returned from a trip to Australia says many Aussies are less than comfortable with John Howard's snuggling up to President George Bush. "The Australian media now refer to the ruler of the free world as George Shrub and their own leader as Bonsai Howard."
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