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Bug daddy!

Updated on: 28 June,2020 07:10 AM IST  | 
Agencies |

A British broadcaster who found caterpillars in his broccoli decided to raise them as his own, instead of doing away with them

Bug daddy!

Cedric, from a caterpillar to a butterfly

British media personality Sam Darlaston recently added "caterpillar dad" to his Twitter bio, and with good reason. When Darlaston found a caterpillar in a broccoli that he had bought from a supermarket, he decided to keep the little one. After getting over the initial shock of having found a bug in the produce he purchased, he grew excited about raising a pet during the lockdown. "I did my research initially and discovered the exact type of caterpillar/butterfly we were dealing with [a cabbage white]," he told Huff Post. He named it Cedric and "…decided to build him a little home in my lounge with all the broccoli he wanted."


Sam Darlaston, the caterpillar dad
Sam Darlaston, the caterpillar dad


The supermarket, Tesco, refunded him for the cost of the infested broccoli and he decided to purchase more veggies with it. Turns out, there was more to come.


The second time Sam bought veggies, he found five more caterpillars in his broccoli. Pics/@samd_official, Twitter
The second time Sam bought veggies, he found five more caterpillars in his broccoli. Pics/@samd_official, Twitter

"The broccoli I'd got as a replacement contained five more. And then a third broccoli belonging to my housemate had another one. So, I had seven caterpillars overnight!" he remarked. Being a vegetarian and a firm believer in not harming any animals or insects, he decided to raise all of them and named them Broc, Olly, Carlos, Croc, Janine and Slim Eric.

The second time Sam bought veggies, he found five more caterpillars in his broccoli. Pics/@samd_official, Twitter

He started tweeting about the developments and soon, he had a sizeable audience diligently following his caterpillar thread. "The biggest challenge I faced while raising the caterpillars was their love of escaping! Especially when they are about to cocoon," he said. His oldest 'child' Cedric was the first to evolve into a butterfly, others followed suit. "I felt a tiny bit sad watching them spread their wings, but overall the feeling was happiness. I'm just happy at least one of us gets to go out during these times."

Bug daddy!

7
Number of caterpillars Sam raised

Bug daddy!

Speaking in tongues

A woman with foreign accent syndrome, speaks in four accents, even though she only knows English

Speaking in tongues

Emily Egan was born and bred in Essex. Egan only knows English and speaks no foreign language. But if you hear her speak, you will think otherwise. She has a thick European accent, sometimes Russian, and at other times French, Italian or Polish, depending on how tired she is.

The 31-year-old had complained of headaches for two weeks. By the time she got to the hospital, she lost her ability to speak, completely. Doctors ruled out a stroke and suspected that some form of a brain injury was responsible for her voice loss. On the recommendation of a neurologist, who asked her to relax as much
as possible, she decided to go to Thailand with her partner for a vacation.

A few days into the vacation, she started speaking again. However, her accent was remarkably different. "I was so thrilled when my voice started coming back, but now, I don't even recognise the voice that comes out of my mouth. It doesn't sound like me."

Dirty secret! Men don't give up on old undies

Dirty secret! Men don

Either men are very lazy, or they love their underwear too much, but a new poll in the UK has found that most British men hang on to their perished underwear for more than 20 years, until given no choice by their wives, girlfriends and, in some cases, mothers. The poll was conducted by clothing firm Tom Clinch, which found that the average British man only buys new underpants once every five years. Also, more than two in five of them admitted that their partners buy their underwear, while more than a third still rely on their mothers. The firm's founder Nick Clinch said it was "depressing" to find out how "infrequently" men invest in underwear.

This dog is the oldest Golden Retriever alive

Pic/GoldHeart Golden Retrievers Rescue
Pic/GoldHeart Golden Retrievers Rescue

A dog in Tennessee, US, has become the oldest known living Golden Retriever in history, after celebrating her 20th birthday in April. The dog, called August, or "Augie", who lives with owners Jennifer and Steve Hetterscheidt in Oakland, is surprisingly healthy, and still plays fetch in the pool.

Drive through a Tokyo garage for some spook

Drive through a Tokyo garage for some spook

A haunted house tour operator in Japan is offering the world's first horror drive-through experience, as a "responsible way of providing horror enthusiasts with summer scares" during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants have to bring their own cars and pay the admission price of 8,000 yen (R5,640). Those who don't have one, have to pay extra to use a car provided by the company.

Restored to imperfection

Pic/@byronldn, Twitter
Pic/@byronldn, Twitter

An attempt to restore a copy of Spanish baroque artist Bartolome Esteban Murillo's The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables, ended so badly, it has turned into an 'expectation vs reality' meme on the Internet. According to Europa Press, a collector enlisted the help of a restorer, who ended up disfiguring the 17th century painting completely.

Everyone loves pudgy Pitoe

Pic/@PitoeTheCat, Instagram
Pic/@PitoeTheCat, Instagram

Pitoe, a four-year-old shorthair with a crooked spine and a sweet face, who was almost euthanised as a kitten, has won herself a large fan following, after her owner started her Instagram page. Pitoe's curvature of the spine prevents her from being able to jump, "but she can waddle, run, play, and climb like a pro," her owner, who goes by the name Marie, says. Marie insists Pitoe is "pain-free."

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