IRISH TIMES ODDITIES: A needle's journey:An account of a broken needle, which travelled through a girl's body from foot to head, comes from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
It appears that in June, 1926, Miss Dora Watkinson, a maid at Westly Hall, trod on a darning needle, which entered her right foot and broke. The foot was X-rayed. Apparently she felt no ill-effects and no more was thought of the needle. A few days ago, however, she felt a scratch on her tongue. Placing a finger in her mouth she withdrew half an inch of broken needle, which was emerging from between two teeth in the left lower jaw. Nurse King of Westly Hall, who has been attending the girl, told a Press Association representative last night that the broken needle had been travelling about the maid's body for over 12 months. The girl felt no ill-effects after she had extricated the needle from her mouth.
July 7th, 1927
A bird from Asia
An unusual bird captured by Mr Jack Cahill, of Kilmore, Co Wexford, has been identified as a waxwing from Asia. The bird is about the size of a starling. The back and wings are grey and brown, relieved by black and white markings. There are three wax-like appendages to the tips of the secondary wing feathers and those of the tail - hence the bird's name. The bird has a handsome crest and a yellow tail.
February 15th, 1956
Germany and war guilt
Any foreigner living in Germany who publicly by word of mouth or writing declares that Germany deliberately caused the world war will be liable to imprisonment for a period of not less that three months, and expulsion from Germany, if the bill which the German National Party proposes to submit in the Reichstag is adopted. A German committing this "crime" will be similarly imprisoned, and will lose his civil rights. There is, however, little prospect that the bill will be passed.
December 21st, 1928
Pub strike has lasted 11 years
The strike at the public-house owned by Mr James Downey, Upper George's Street, Dún Laoghaire, is 11 years old today. The strike started in March 1939, and involved barmen and porters who are members of the Irish National Union of Vintners' Grocers' and Allied Trades' Assistants. Members of the union have picketed the public-house during opening hours ever since. Mr Downey plans to hold a party at the public-house to celebrate the anniversary of the strike, and on Saturday he decorated the lounge and public bar with bunting and paper decorations.
March 6th, 1950
Taken for a ride
James Wright (72), like youngsters of any age, likes to scream through the traffic behind a siren. Four times in a few days ambulances roared through the streets of Chester, Pennsylvania, taking him to hospital after heart attacks. Each time doctors found nothing wrong with him. Then a filling-station attendant reported that a man had staggered in saying he had been stabbed. The ambulance arrived. Wright was waiting, unstabbed, but ready for a ride. He got it - to the police station and a 90-day sentence for disorderly conduct.
February 13th, 1950
• Culled from the archives ofThe Irish Times , available online at www.irishtimes.com/archive