Status Updates From Bizarre England: Discover t...

1994: When the two halves of the Channel Tunnel linked up it was discovered that, rather than meeting halfway, the English diggers had made greater headway than the French. Eleven massive boring machines had been used to excavate the tunnels, one of which was later sold on eBay for £39,999.

In Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, The Holiday Inn Elstree on Barnet bypass replaced a 1930’s mock-Tudor thatched barn. During the war years this was ‘Station XV’ where SOE (Special Operations Executive) agents would prepare for missions into occupied France. These included author Pierre Boulle, two of whose novels were hit films - Bridge Over the River Kwai (1957) & Planet of the Apes (1968, 2001).

This book is full of random facts, and I am here for it! eg: Windsor Safari Park (now Legoland) featured in the horror movie The Omen (1976), when a family of crazed baboons attacked a car containing Lee Remick. The warden who helped to film the scene was killed by a lion the following day, fuelling rumours that the film was cursed.