Always with a joke - Monty Python

After they had successfully entertained television viewers from all around the world in the late sixties and early seventies of past century, the group Monty Python started making full-length movies and publishing books.

Although their fans expect similar gags in their movies, hardly anyone expected from silly Britons to make pell-mell even in publishing venture.

For a book titled "The Brand New Monty Python Bok" (sequel to Monty Python's Big Red Book with striking blue cover), Terry Jones hired his sister-in-law Katharine Hepburn (accidentally with same name as the famous American actress) to assist them.

The cover was realistically made to look like it was greasy and filled with dirty fingerprints. It was made so realistic that many readers didn’t wanted to buy the book, asking for "newer" and more preserved copy.

However, there was also another thing - the cover could be peeled off and reveal hidden pictures of naked girls. 

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Friends of Sport and Alcohol – Welcome to Belfast!

Belfast, a city that was known as the European Beirut, is now one of the most important touristic centers on the island of Ireland. Brief description? The locals are spending much of their time in pubs, while Catholics and Protestants are now conflicting just once a year.




Imagine a city where for nearly 100 years, half of the population is trying to massacre the other half. A city that was throughout the history ravaged by Vikings, plagues, fires, famine…A city where the greatest marine disaster in the history of mankind began…It’s hard to imagine such hell on earth, isn’t it? Have you ever heard of Belfast?

The capital of Northern Ireland is maybe not on the list of 100 most visited tourist destination but it is probably one of the most vivid places in the UK. This is, of course, due to the fact that less than two decades ago, it was carrying an epithet of European Beirut because of the war between the Irish Catholics (who wanted to be united with Republic of Ireland) and British Protestants (who were loyal to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II).

But today, 13 years after the Irish Republican Army laid down their arms, Belfast is almost perfectly safe city with the lowest crime rate in the UK and Northern Ireland. Incidents are rare, but Catholics and Protestants do get into conflict once a year, just to remind themselves of good old times. That usually happens somewhere in mid June when Protestants are marching through the city, celebrating the victory of King William III of Orange over Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. With that victory, the Protestants have strengthened their position on this part of the Island.

However, conflicts are rare these days, primarily because Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods are separated – often with real walls that have barbed wires.  There are twenty such structures in the city and the police often patrol near them. The British government has tried several times to remove these barriers, but the Catholic population insists that they remain. 

These walls are now decorated with many political sketches, slogans and famous murals. Thus, they have become a tourist attraction. For a couple of pounds, every taxi driver in Belfast will offer himself to take you to see them, and there are also bus tours specifically for that.

The second largest tourist attraction in Belfast is – shipyard. Of course, this is no ordinary shipyard. This is the famous Harland and Wolff shipyard where, in 1911, the biggest, most luxurious, most beautiful and, obviously, the most tragic ship in the world was made - the legendary "Titanic". 


One part of Belfast is even named Titanic Quarter. The place where the ship was built is still there, and it can be visited as part of tourist tour that costs around ten pounds. Large cranes with Harland and Wolff initials are still the highest structures in Belfast, and this year, in front of them, people of Belfast marked 100 years since the launch of "Titanic".

Person would think that those who claimed that they have built an unsinkable ship should perhaps not brag about him now, given that already on his first journey "Titanic" ended at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, taking with him more than 1,500 human lives. However, people in Belfast have a perfect excuse.

The Irish built the ship, the British sank it – is a line that you’ll find on pendants, lighters, magnets and so on. With this, the Irish are clearly pointing out that “Titanic” went from Belfast to Southampton, and on to New York, in perfect condition, but British crew, led by Captain Edward J. Smith, eventually destroyed him.

This kind of humor, along with conflicts on religious grounds that shook Belfast, are clear evidence that people from the island of Ireland, both Catholics and Protestants, have little in common with their neighbors from the British island. When compared to cold, measured, cynical and sarcastic Englishmen, the Irishmen appear as if someone has taken them from the Mediterranean and threw them to this piece of land in the Atlantic Ocean.

Restaurants and bars in Belfast are always full, no matter if it is working day or not.  Favorite leisure of any Irishmen in Belfast is watching football or horse races in a pub, with friends and a glass of whiskey or Guinness. The mentality of locals is sufficiently illustrated with the fact that one of their two airports is named after a man who is greatly remembered for saying:” I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.” That man was, of course, the best UK footballer of all times - George Best.

This unsurpassed master of football was born in Belfast. He played for the national team of Northern Ireland even though he was offered to play for England.  The fact that the airport is named after him, and that his picture is the first thing every traveler sees after passing the passport control, is only a fraction of the honors that his countrymen have reserved for him.

Best is an icon in Belfast (primarily for the Protestant part of the population). His image is the second most common theme of mighty murals for which this city is known.  In the first place are, of course, fighters of the Irish Republican Army on Catholic side, and loyalist heroes on the Protestant side.

And even though world class football isn’t played on the fields in Belfast and across entire Northern Ireland, this sport is the main pastime of the local population. There are several teams from this city that are competing in the IFA Premiership (national football league in Northern Ireland), but the locals are more fond of several English and Scottish teams. 

The most popular English club in Belfast is Liverpool, regardless the fact that George Best played for Manchester United. Other English clubs also have supporters in Belfast, particularly those from the north of England - Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough…Among the Catholic population, the most popular is Scottish Celtic. 

Besides football, the main entertainment in Belfast is - drinking. But beware, it is strictly prohibited to drink alcohol on the street - the penalty is £500.

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The miraculous life of Ronnie Biggs.

Participator of the Great Train Robbery who voluntarily gave himself to British authorities in 2001 has become a national hero. The legend of his life and his “work” – avoiding to be caught – is alive even today. 

He robbed a train full of money, became a national hero, spend the best years of his life in Brazil as a free man, and received a lifetime achievement award for his services to crime! This is, in short, the miraculous life of Ronald “Ronnie” Biggs, one of the most famous thieves of all times, and participator of the Great Train Robbery that took place in England, on 8 August 1963. And that’s not all, in 2001, Biggs turned himself in to British authorities.

On his 34th birthday, along with 14 of his "colleagues", Biggs intercepted a train at Bridego Railway Bridge in Buckinghamshire. With well planned action, experienced thieves stole £ 2.6 million, which was amazingly large sum of money at the time (equivalent of around £40 million or US$67 million today).

So, what is necessary for a quality, successful and lucrative train robbery like the one Biggs and his team pulled out?  First, you need an informant, an insider so to speak, who will alarm the gang when the train is full of money. Bruce Reynolds, the man who devised the whole robbery, met with a certain Ulsterman (men whose identity was never uncovered), who gave him an information worth of gold – schedule of trains that are carrying mail and bags full of money on the line Glasgow - London. The robbers were probably expecting to find around £ 300,000 in the wagons, which was the amount of money that was averagely transferred by train. However, Biggs’ lucky star venerated him on his birthday with a much larger sum – it turned out that banks in Glasgow didn’t work for several days because of holidays, and the wagons were filled during that time with almost £ 3 million.

Around three o’clock in the morning, at a place known as 'Sears Crossing', the robbers covered the green signal light and then reconnected the wires in order to switch it to red signal light. When the train came and stopped because of the signal light, the robbers very quickly took control over it from the regular train operating staff.  The only person who got hurt in this robbery was a train driver Jack Mills, who refused to move the train some 800 meters further. After that, he accepted. In 30 minutes, the money was taken out of the train and then brotherly divided. Each robber got around £ 150.000. They managed to spend most of that money, and only around £ 400,000 was eventually recovered by the police. 

During the following months, robbers were arrested one by one – almost the entire crew. Discrete roguish hero, Ronnie Biggs, was among them.

British Justice severely punishment the robbers – they were sentenced around 30 years each. The criminal biography of each robber would probably be interesting for the story (along with three robbers that have never been arrested). But Ronnie Biggs, the man who played just supporting role in the original plan of this great robbery and was responsible to do something only if the train driver refuses to start the train, has managed to escape. 

In July of 1965, along with a group of convicts, Ronnie Biggs escaped form HM Prison Wandsworth. He escaped through the window, with the help of homemade rope ladder.  Thanks to the loot from previous robbery, he was able to pay a trip to Paris and underwent plastic surgery.

When he got his hands on false documents and a new face, Ronnie bought a plane ticket and went to Australia. With this trip, he started a journey on which many of us would envy him. His wife and two sons joined him in Melbourne. Enjoying the Australian air, Biggs expanded his family with one more child.


The police had already given up on him, but the always-curious journalists didn’t. Thus, Reuters reported that Ronnie is in Melbourne. Being aware of that, he left his wife and children, traveled by ship to Panama and then to Brazil. Scotland Yard was at his heels, but wise Ronnie took advantage of good old legal loophole - Brazil had no extradition treaty with England. 

Sweet freedom, spiced with socializing with beautiful Brazilian women, was for the first time interrupted briefly in 1974. Scotland Yard detective Jack Slipper who, like in some movie, devoted his career to hunting down Biggs, arrested him in Rio de Janeiro. Ronnie got away thanks to his womanizing skills – he was already a father to a boy that emerged from his extramarital relationship with one Brazilian dancer. Also, during his fugitive years he filed for divorce from his wife.  And Brazilians were not ready to extradite a father of Brazilian child to the British authorities. As far as the town carnivals was concerned, he was a free man.

He was in some sort of house detention, but that didn’t prevented him to organize parties where his fans were coming to listen to his anecdotes about the famous robbery. Joyful and enterprising people of Rio figured out that they could make some money on their illustrious guest, so they started making T-shirts and mugs with Ronnie’s image. 

In 1977, Ronnie almost fell into the hands of the law while sipping a drink on the British ship in the harbor of Rio.

Quiet days in Rio were once again interrupted in 1981, when Biggs was kidnapped and taken to Barbados (even in chains the old thief couldn’t avoid exotic locations). Former British soldiers who kidnapped him hoped that they would take the money from the prize that was offered by British police for Biggs’ head. But… Neither Barbados had an extradition treaty with England. They were forced to return him to Brazil, to the mother of his child, Raimunda de Castro, whom he married in 2002.

Decades went on and on, and Biggs enjoyed his life on the beaches of Atlantic. But then, at the age of 72, he decided to return to his country. On 7 May 2001, British tabloid "Sun" paid £ 20,000 for Biggs’ transport in a private plane to London, where he was supposed to pay his debt in front of justice. Of course, with that money they also obtained exclusive rights to the story.

Ooops, I almost forgot. Why did good old Ronnie surrendered himself? There is only one explanation – he squandered all the money from the robbery and he was unable to pay for his health insurance, so he figured it out that the English prison could be a solid option of a nursing home for an old thief like him.

Biggs himself, who was adorned by media for many years, said that the reason behind his decision was nostalgia.

“My last wish is to walk into a Margate pub as an Englishman and buy a pint of bitter.”

He spent the next eight years in prison. During that time, he persistently asked for a reduction in sentence on the basis of poor health. He was supposed to serve 28 years – that was his original sentence. But, eventually, he was locked up just 8 years. Two days before his 80th birthday, the state took pity on Ronnie, who was already a severe heart patient, and freed him. 

In 2011, tabloid newspaper "Mirror" gave him lifetime achievement award for his services to crime... They thought he had only seven days left to live. The last news about Ronnie Biggs was the release of his new and updated autobiography, "Odd Man Out: The Last Straw". The old thief is still alive...

The conclusion? When I grow up I’m gonna be Ronnie Biggs. Just an irrelevant player in a great train robbery. And then, I am heading strait to Brazil.

Biggs as a singer, author and pop icon

It is difficult to enumerate all of those who have honored Biggs. This train robber was most famous during eighties, when he was practically a pop icon. He attracted the attention of the greatest punk band of all times, "Sex Pistols". In 1980, for the film “The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle”, Biggs recorded vocals for the song "No One is Innocent" in collaboration with guitarist and drummer of already disbanded "Pistols"

A bunch of books is written regarding the character and life of this charming thief. Biggs himself wrote his biography, and his son Michael (from the relationship with the Brazilian dancer) wrote a confession of his father. Also, writer Mike Gray wrote Ronnie’s version of the Great Train Robbery. British television filmed two documentaries about Biggs, in 2003 and in 2006. It0s needless to say that most of the participants in the robbery attempted to capitalize on their fame through confessions and books.

Biggs has also collaborated with the German punk band Die Toten Hosen with whom he sang the song "Carnival in Rio".

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The real „FarmVille“

One British farm has done  quite an unusual move: it decided to be owned by 10.000 internet users, who will, just like in a popular on-line game on Facebook, FarmVille, make all the important decisions. 

From May 2011, a large farm near Cambridgeshire in England is in ownership of internet users across the globe, who will vote for every decision, even the smallest one, regarding cows, pigs, sheep and mowing – just like in a mega-popular on-line game on Facebook – FarmVille.

The experiment called "MyFarm" is located on 2,500 acres of Wimpole Estate near Cambridgeshire. Up to 10.000 internet farmers will jointly make decisions which bulls to buy, crop to plant and how often the soil will be irrigated. All they have to do is to pay a one-time fee of £30, and that fee includes even the option to come and visit the farm for themselves. 

“I will put in here whatever the online farmers want to grow”, says Richard Morris, Wimpole's manager. “Farming is always a compromise. There is never a right or a wrong answer. If I choose one thing, my neighbor will be leaning over the fence shaking his head. The online farmers will not be able to choose to grow cannabis or bananas, but undoubtedly there will be some strange decisions, some decisions I would not have made.”

Fiona Reynolds, Director-General of The National Trust, who owns the Wimpole Estate, believes that this whole idea will also have an educational significance. “This is all about reconnecting people to where their food comes from. Our TNS poll showed that only 8% of mothers feel confident talking to their children about where their food comes from. That's really poignant.”

Project’s manager, John Alexander, agrees that FarmVille, a virtual game that, with each month, at least for a few hours, entertains almost 50 million players, was a big inspiration for this venture. “But this is a real farm”, says Alexander, who came up with this idea while working for an advertising agency.

On-line farmers will manage the estate through discussions that will always end with a voting. The winning option will be the one with the most votes. One of the first decisions was, what to grow in the Pond Field. This field covers 21 hectares. Participants, or “bosses”, will receive all necessary information through blogs and video clips. That will be of great importance before any decision because, all major decisions, and even the not-so-important ones, will be delegated to the users of “MyFarm”. In this way, the on-line farmers will not only decide whether to grow a fruit or wheat somewhere, but also and  what kind of wheat. 

“I am making decisions every day”, Richard Morris said. "The first thing I do after getting up is look at the weather out of the window, and that sets the day going”.

Currently, on the Wimpole Estate, there are about 300 lambs. The unusually dry weather for Britain this year has left many fields without enough grass. Because of that, the heard is mostly spending time in the barn. 

Morris also has an idea to develop an application for smartphones, which will allow him to receive instant advices from on-line farmers at any time of day and night.  “For example, if I have wheat in the field, ripe and ready, but rain in the morning means it is damp, do we risk waiting and losing some of the crop, or combining [harvesting] it now and incurring some extra drying costs?”.

Of course, not everyone accepted this idea with equal enthusiasm. And among them are not just farmers. Nicholas Lovell, one of the most famous journalists who write about computer games, says he is not convinced in success of this idea. “There is something in the idea that people like to grow, nurture and beautify things. But Farmville's success is down to the craftsmanship of hooking into basic human psychology: the need to finish things we've started, to return gifts when we're given them and many, many more. A Farmville for which people had to pay £30 to access would have flopped miserably.”

The thing that can comfort Richard Morris is the fact that the Wimpole Estate is located in a rural area, where the signal for mobile phones is rather bad. "I know where I am heading, if things get tough”, Morris was joking.

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Despised poetry - Oscar Wilde

One could say that the British writer Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was not a big fan of Alexander Pope’s (1688-1744) poetry, despite the fact that Pope was an eminent English poet.

On one occasion, Wilde wrote:

“There are two ways of disliking poetry; one way is to dislike it, the other is to read Pope.”

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Compensation – Admiral Lord Nelson

When he lost his right eye in a naval battle, famous British Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) demanded monetary compensation for his injury from the Royal Navy. He was told that he could not receive any kind of compensation if a ship doctor didn’t immediately recorded how exactly he lost his eye.

Nelson pursued this issue for several years, and eventually got a very small amount of money.

In the meantime, he also lost his right arm. Once more, he had to pursue monetary compensation from the Navy, but this time even longer.

“I guess I'll be rich when I loose a leg because it’s larger than both, the eye and the hand!” – Nelson said angrily when he was forced to humiliate himself in front of doctors.

Nelson, however, never lost his leg. He lost his life in the Battle of Trafalgar, in 1805.

In his testament, he emphasized that he doesn’t want to be buried in Westminster Abbey, along with other British great men. Allegedly, he had heard that the abbey was built on the landslide and that all the dead will slip into the Thames.

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Fake library – Charles Dickens

Before he moved to his country home, Gads Hill Place, Charles Dickens (1812-1870) made a draft of a secret door that led to a secret chamber, which he chose to be his workroom.

The secret door was actually a fake library, whose shelves, as well as books, were fake.   While making this mask for the door, Dickens also devised a series of humorous book titles, which occupied the false shelves.

Here are some of those titles: Hansard's Guide to Refreshing Sleep, History of a Short Chancery Suit (in twenty-one volumes), Socrates on Wedlock, King Henry the Eighth's Evidences of Christianity, the series The Wisdom of Our Ancestors: I Ignorance, II Superstition, III The Block, IV The Stake, V The Rack, VI Dirt, and VII Disease.

Among those humorous titles there was also a very narrow dummy volume entitled The Virtues of Our Ancestors.

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Perfect mask – Winston Churchill and Nancy Astor

Humorous bickering between the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874 -1965) and Lady Nancy Astor (1879-1964) were very common in public. Lady Nancy Astor was known as a fighter for women's rights but she was also engaged in politics.

On one occasion, unable to resist not to tease her in front of many people, Winston Churchill asked Lady Astor:

“So, you are once again organizing some stupid masquerade ball. What disguise should I wear so that nobody recognizes me?”

"Why don't you come sober, Prime Minister?" – Lady Astor replied sarcastically.

On other occasion, Lady Astor said to Churchill, "If you were my husband, I'd poison your tea," to which he responded, "Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!"

Probably the most known exchange of such words between them was when Lady Astor said to him "Winston, you are drunk", to which he replied "And you, madam, are ugly. But I shall be sober in the morning".

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When, not how - Sir Malcolm Sargent

An acquaintance of Sir Malcolm Sargent (1895-1967), famous British conductor, asked him once what does a musician has to know in order to play cymbals in the orchestra.

"Practically nothing,” Sargent replied, "He just has to know when".

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Jealous teacher – Sean Connery and Steven Seagal

While filming “Never Say Never Again” (one of the films about British Secret Service agent James Bond 007), Sean Connery (1930) was taking martial arts classes. However, during one class, an angry teacher broke his wrist.

Sean Connery claimed that the teacher did it out of pure malice because he himself wanted to become an actor.

And who was Sean Connery’s martial arts teacher?

 

Steven Seagal (1952), who later played leading roles in action movies “Machete”, “Marked for Death”, “Above the Law”, “Under Siege”, “Hard to Kill”…

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German opera – Evelyn Waugh

When in June 1941 famous English writer Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966) returned from Greek battlefield, where he participated in the battle for Crete as a British soldier, he was asked to describe his first war experience.

Everyone expected an extensive report. However, Evelyn Waugh was brief. He wrote only this:

„War is like German opera, too long and too loud“

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Noisy breasts – Beatrice Stella Campbell (Mrs. Patrick)

Famous British actress Beatrice Stella Campbell (1865-1940), better known as Mrs. Patrick, once tried to smuggle her poodle across the border. She tucked her poodle inside the upper part of her cape.

Unfortunately, she failed.

“Ah, it seemed that everything was going splendidly”, Mrs. Patrick later remarked, “until the moment when my breasts began to bark and howl in front of the customs official”.

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Elephant that washes windows - Dante Gabriel Rossetti

British painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) had many different animals in the courtyard of his house. One day, he decided to buy an elephant.  

His friends asked him why he wanted such a large animal, why an elephant. This is what Dante Gabriel Rossetti told them:

“Why? So I can teach it to wash the windows of my house. Then everyone would stare and say, 'That elephant is washing the windows of the house in which lives Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the famous artist.”

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Artistic vanity – Gore Vidal

After one international meeting of writers in Sofia (Bulgaria), British novelist Anthony Powell (1905-2000) was surprised when he saw that American writer Gore Vidal (1925) is curiously flipping through Bulgarian daily newspapers searching for culture articles.

- Here I am! I knew it! - enthusiastically shouted Vidal.

When he saw that Powell was staring at him with puzzled look, Vidal explained to him what was going on:

- I just love it when my picture comes out in some newspaper. That is why I always sit down next to a man wearing a turban. Photographers always take pictures of them. The same happened here. I was sitting next to a writer from India – and they took picture of me.

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Diplomatic scandals from Top Gear's kitchen!

Top Gear trio raced with an aircraft, went to France with a tank, blew "Yugo" ... Now they have insulted Mexicans, and fled from robbery in Albania with Zastava 101.

It is known that international scandals usually occur because of spy affairs. But even TV shows can cause them. And that exactly happened with a mega popular show Top Gear, which deals with the world of motor vehicles.

Hosts of this high-octane show have fueled Mexico by not sparing the dictionary of political incorrectness. The famous and nutty trio of Top Gear predicted that Mexican sports car Mastretta was going to be like Mexicans, "a lazy, feckless and flatulent oaf with a moustache, leaning against a fence asleep, looking at a cactus with a blanket with a hole in the middle on as a coat".

Ambassador of Mexico in London, Eduardo Medina-Mora, reacted immediately, protesting that his country was described as "lazy and irresponsible”. BBC apologized, but the stars of Top Gear didn’t. Their unofficial boss, Jeremy Clarkson, said that Mexicans have no sense of humor. He added that "Mexico doesn’t participate in the Olympics because everyone who can run, jump and swim has already crossed the border", referring to illegal immigrants who are fleeing to the United States.

Almost immediately after that, stellar trio "dived" into another international excess. While shooting in Albania, they called this land a nest of mafia car thieves. However, Albanians didn’t react.

In the same show, Serbia was also “scratched” through Zastava 101. Hosts of Top Gear staged a bank robbery, after which Clarkson escapes from police in a Mercedes, Hammond in Rolls Royce while May is left in the lurch and stack with "Zastava 101", which happens to have Kosovo plates. Otherwise, this was not the first appearance of the Serbian car. Yugo 45 was Clarkson’s target in one show, which he destroyed with a tank, and before that, he tested it, proving that even cyclists can be faster than "Yugo”.

For years now, Top Gear is world’s best show about motor vehicles, and its not watched only by those who are interested in four-wheelers. Since 40 percent of their audience are women, this form has shown that shows about motor vehicles can be interesting and to the broadest range of viewers.

Top Gear trio, which consists of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, is known for original ideas. In the show about Romania, they raced in Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Ferrari through the poorest parts of that country. They raced with the French fast train in Aston Martin. They even put a nun to drive a monster truck. They had raced with planes and helicopters, and they even landed with parachute into a moving car. The favorite part of the show is the one where celebrities participate. They drive laps on the racetrack in the car assigned to them, and are trying to break a record of their predecessors.

Of course, everything that is worth, costs a lot. Top Gear’s annual budget is around 46.5 million euros! It also includes salaries, which are annually around 14 million. Since they are making 20 episodes per year, it means that each episode costs an average of 1.6 million euros. These figures have leaked from BBC and the producers have never publicly disclosed the actual costs.

Top Gear is for years the most watched show on BBC and has about 350 million viewers worldwide. Of course, the backbone of this TV show is the mentioned trio.

Jeremy Clarkson

Head of Top Gear is accused of homophobia, sexism, racism, and he is often labeled as an ultra-rightist. He started as a salesman selling toys, but soon he abandoned that job. His television career began in 1989, in the 10th season of Top Gear. Besides the popularity and nasty labels, in his career he managed to receive and honorary doctorate from Oxford University. Clarkson has caused many scandals with his behavior. The most famous one is when he made disparaging remarks aimed at Gordon Brown, in February 2009, calling him a "one-eyed Scottish idiot" and accused him of lying.

James May

The second member of this crew is known for reaching a speed of 417.6 km/h with Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (the fastest road-legal car in the world). Also, he made a successful visit to the North Pole and, along with his friends, he became one of the first persons who came to the freezing point by car. His education has nothing to do with motor vehicles. James May studied music at Lancaster University.

Richard Hammond

The youngest member of this trio. After graduating, he started working for BBC where his first job was reading an ad for the sale of sheep, on the radio. He later went to work as a PR for Ferrari and Renault. In September 2006, while shooting an episode for the show, he was driving a car at the speed of 464 km/h. During the ride, a tire on the front right wheel broke, and he hit the ground with his head. It was a true miracle that he survived because, at the time of the accident, he was moving at a speed of 373 km/h.

The Stig mystery - Phantom in the white is Ben Collins.

Stig is the fourth and unidentified character in the show. He always appeared with a helmet, hiding his identity. Mystery over the identity of Stig lasted seven years. Speculations about the true identity of white phantom have been a hot topic of the media, who brought news that Michael Schumacher, and even actor Roan Atkinson, is hiding behind the Stig's helmet. But then it was discovered that Stig is a stunt and rally driver Ben Collins, who dubbed in the James Bond films.

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Greatest PR disaster – John Prescott

In December 1999, The British newspaper “The Guardian” has announced traditional parliamentary awards.

By unanimous decision, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, won the “Greatest PR disaster“ award.

Why?

Because he used a car to cross a 150 meters to the conference hall where he gave a speech about how British people should avoid, as frequent as possible, using their cars, in order to protect their environment!

After a huge public criticism, Deputy Prime Minister was forced to explain himself.

He shocked everybody with his unexpected explanation.

Apparently, John Prescott was forced to use a car, to cross those hundred and fifty meters, because his wife was with him. And she had just been at the hairdresser. Since she didn’t want the wind to spoil her hair, Ms. Prescott demanded that they "travel" by car.

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Opera is not a thriller – Alfred Hitchcock

“What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out”, claimed famous British film director Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980).

When he was asked why he never wrote some operatic piece, the creator of "Psycho" answered:

- “Well, after the second act all the main characters would certainly have been murdered. Who would then remain to sing?”

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Don't insult me, I’m not the king – British King George V and Princess Victoria

Every day, after breakfast, at exactly half past nine, the British King George V (1865-1936) called his sister, Princess Victoria, on the phone. That was a kind of ritual between them. 

Knowing that it was always him at that time, Princess Victoria often greeted her brother like this:

- Hello, you old fool!

- Excuse me, Your Royal Highness, you are mistaken.  This is the Buckingham Palace operator. His Majesty is not yet on the line. – The operator corrected her regularly. 

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