Compiled by MARY HANNIGAN
In that a UFO over the Olympics? You bet it is
When Kevin Coakley walked in to his local branch of William Hill in Cardiff on Friday and asked for the odds on a UFO appearing over the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony, you’d have to bet a bit of giggling went on behind the counter. Still, he was given odds of 1000-1 so he put on a quid, and sat back and waited.
You probably know what happened next: a flying object was spotted over the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony. Whether it’s unidentified is the issue, though, with Goodyear claiming it was probably one of their blimps being used by NBC.
Coakley is unconvinced and wants William Hill to pay up. They, however, are insisting confirmation that something spookily unidentified was up there has to come from a higher power.
“The conditions of all bets that we take are that there has to be an independent adjudicator to confirm the result before we pay out,” a William Hill spokesman told Wales Online. In the event of an extraterrestrial sighting, the confirmation has to come from either the British prime minister or the US president, who will confirm that their respective air forces have spotted and recorded this current and intelligent life in the sky. So, sadly for Mr Coakley and others who have made the same bet, until Mr Cameron or Mr Obama make such an announcement we are unable to pay out.”
Coakley was a bit unimpressed with the response. “I didn’t make the bet with Mr Cameron, Mr Obama, the Air Force or anyone else apart from William Hill. They can see the same footage as me, so I can’t understand why they won’t pay out. Even if I don’t get my £1,000, I want an official explanation for what everyone can see on those news clips. If David Cameron, or whoever, is not prepared to admit that it is a flying saucer, then at least let’s hear what was flying in the sky.”
You get the feeling the switchboards at No 10 and the White House are about to get an odd call, but with £1,000 at stake, you couldn’t blame Kevin for trying.
Sidelined: Brazil go nuts over bus
It would, perhaps, be hard to top the Brazilian women's football team in the "not ideal preparations" stakes the day before last night's game against the hosts. The squad set off on their bus for training but it broke down and they were left stranded for five hours. Yes, five.
After two hours their driver flagged down an empty London 2012 bus, but "the driver of this bus had already worked his daily quota of hours and could not drive the team to London without a permit".
I wasn't impressed, a tournament of this size, and the delay in taking any initiative to resolve the situation was absurd," said coach Jorge Barcellos.
It's just as well Roy Keane wasn't on the bus.
Positive spin: Give it time, says Boris
While the hosts haven't been doing too badly, picking up a few medals so far, the British press, by and large, is not overly happy with the tally to date, even getting a touch critical at times.
London Mayor Boris Johnson, though, has put quite a positive spin on it all: I think we are showing great natural restraint and politeness as host nation in not hoarding the medals more so far, he said during an appearance at the beach volleyball in Horse Guards Parade.
A thoroughly delightful way of looking at it.
Johnson also went on to to thank the weather, "the great British weather, for putting a cap on it all."
NBC miss punch-line with Holyfield
NBC, you might have heard by now, have been getting quite a bit of stick for their Olympic coverage, #NBCfail a rather frequently spotted hashtag on the Twitter machine.
It was with some amusement, then, their critics responded to a slightly embarrassing moment on the channel's Today Show, when a team of their London-based people did a report from outside Buckingham Palace.
"As part of its Olympic coverage, the Today Show stopped random people in front of Buckingham Palace to ask about Queen Elizabeth's performance with Daniel Craig during the opening ceremony," said the New York Daily News. "Among them was a man in a white baseball cap and blue T-shirt who called the Queen "wonderful".
What no one on the NBC team realised was that the random tourist was none other than heavyweight boxing legend Evander Holyfield.
The former world champion was very, very nice about it, though, when he responded on Twitter: "Look, the @todayshow did a good job. It was hard to recognize me with the baseball cap. This could happen to any reporter. LOL!!"
