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 Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: GG Riva  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 06:07

Hovis tune playing softly in the background....

"When I were a nipper, I used t' get comic called 'Rover & Wizard.' It were quite posh, with no pictures and 6 long stories to read each week....."

The comic also contained bizarre facts, some of which still stick in the mind after more years than I care to remember. My favourite one was along the lines of.....

"In 1913, there were two registered vehicles in the state of Oregon. On the 4th February, they were involved in a head on collision......" ๐Ÿ˜ƒ

Can anyone top that?



Not your average Sunday League player.
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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: The One Who Knocks  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 10:04

Sorry GG but that stat probably isn't true. In 1913 automobile production in the US was already standing at over 250k, up by 50k on the previous year. Although the population of Oregon was only 700k then (USA total population was 97m) i suspect there would have been more than two registered automobiles in Oregon by 1913.
A quick search online also throws up a similar claim to the 1913 Oregon one only this time it's 1836 and the state is Ohio.

And although my eyes were open
They just might as well be closed
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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: GG Riva  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 10:44

''Sorry GG but that stat probably isn't true. In 1913 automobile production in the US was already standing at over 250k, up by 50k on the previous year. Although the population of Oregon was only 700k then (USA total population was 97m) i suspect there would have been more than two registered automobiles in Oregon by 1913.
A quick search online also throws up a similar claim to the 1913 Oregon one only this time it's 1836 and the state is Ohio.''

The details I supply are almost certainly untrue, TOWK. That's why I said ''along the lines of.''

There certainly was an RTA involving the only two vehicles registered in a US state, but I'm going back more than 50 years and I don't remember either the state or the exact year. I wasn't deliberately trying to mislead anyone, just conveying the humour of it. (There was no suggestion that anyone was seriously hurt.)

Sadly, I forgot my DC Thomson collection in the attic when we moved house in 1977. They'd have been worth a few bob today.........



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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: The One Who Knocks  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 11:02

Ahh right. Like I said there is a claim that in 1896 the only two vehicles registered in the state of Ohio were involved in a head of collision. Alas that has also been debunked. One of the cars hit a tree.

And although my eyes were open
They just might as well be closed
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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: ipswichpar  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 11:10

Quote:

The One Who Knocks, Sun 9 Sep 11:02

Ahh right. Like I said there is a claim that in 1896 the only two vehicles registered in the state of Ohio were involved in a head of collision. Alas that has also been debunked. One of the cars hit a tree.


....it swerved to avoid the other vehicle though.
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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: The One Who Knocks  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 11:18

And what was extraordinary about that Ipswich is that both cars were being driven by twins who had been seperarted at birth 40 years previously and had never yet met.

And although my eyes were open
They just might as well be closed
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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: ipswichpar  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 11:46

Quote:

The One Who Knocks, Sun 9 Sep 11:18

And what was extraordinary about that Ipswich is that both cars were being driven by twins who had been seperarted at birth 40 years previously and had never yet met.


Well, at least the uncomfortable exchange of insurance details process had a silver lining.
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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: average white par  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 11:52

An interesting thread as ever GG...

I've never owned a drivers license, so my automobile stories are few and far between... however, I do have a slightly strange tale which was related to me by a friend...

This friend (for security purposes I will refer to him as Gennaro) was in Canada, and attempted to call a relative, for some relative purpose...

The conversation unfolded somewhat like this...

Gennaro - "Hi Uncle Vito, It's Gennaro!"

Other Person on phone - "Sorry son, ye've got a wrang number"

G - "Och sorry missus"

OPOP - "Nae bother son...are ye Scottish?"

G - "Yes I am as a matter of fact"

OPOP - "Whaur are ye fae son?"

G - "Erm, Cowdenbeath actually..."

OPOP - "Jings! Yer fae Cowden! Ah'm fae Cowden masel! Whit's yer name son?"

G - Well it's Gennaro...with two "n"s...

OPOP - "Yer joking! Are you the same laddie that used tae live at the back of Wee Jimmies in 1972!"

G - "Erm...aye"

OPOP - "Hiya son! I'm yer Auntie Jessie that used to babysit ye! Ye were an awfy laddie back then ah mind, but ye were awfy bonny tae! Ye were awfy keen oan the lassies ah mind but ye were a guid bairn etc"

Obviously I've jazzed this up a bit, but this is actually a true story about how a randomly dialled wrong number can lead to a bizarre situation like this...

Stranger than fiction?

Absolutely....

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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: The One Who Knocks  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 12:08

You'll probably find that it wasn't just a totally random wrong number though. This persons auntie Jessie probably lived near the relative he was attempting to call. Quite often when phone numbers are being allocated houses nearby will have almost the same number except for one digit. That was certainly the case when large swathes of Kirkcaldy got cable. Some houses almost had sequential numbering when it came to phone numbers.

And although my eyes were open
They just might as well be closed
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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: average white par  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 12:11

Aye whatever ya boring auld fud...

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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: The One Who Knocks  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 12:14

Sorry Adolf, I am an a bit of a mission today.๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ˜†

And although my eyes were open
They just might as well be closed
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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: ipswichpar  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 12:22

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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: The One Who Knocks  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 14:25

Mr Logic made his first Viz appearance in December 1981 issue 7 has has since made 18 further appearances.

And although my eyes were open
They just might as well be closed
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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: widtink  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 14:36

It's no as funny as it used to be though.

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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: ipswichpar  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 14:41

Quote:

The One Who Knocks, Sun 9 Sep 14:25

Mr Logic made his first Viz appearance in December 1981 issue 7 has has since made 18 further appearances.


Lol. Helpful and factually correct information.
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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: ipswichpar  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 14:41

Quote:

widtink, Sun 9 Sep 14:36

It's no as funny as it used to be though.


Gone the same way as here ๐Ÿ˜‰
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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: widtink  
Date:   Sun 9 Sep 15:02

Before my time Ipswich so I can neither agree or deny.
I do know my way around the world of Viz though... And it's a pale shadow of what it was in its early days.
Still funny.... In parts...
But not the cover to cover laugh it once was.

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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: GG Riva  
Date:   Mon 10 Sep 12:28

I had hoped this thread would generate a raft of scarcely credible true stories, but apart from AWP's apocryphal account, so eloquently embellished with wit and humour, it's mainly been about scrutinising the minutia of the posts, rather than the spirit they were intended in.

I was once given a book called ''The Big Book of Banana Blunders,'' some 40 years ago. (I think it was published by The Scotsman newspaper group.) It contained lots of amusing tales, but how true they might have been, I wouldn't like to say.

The very first story described a suicidal man who climbed to the top of a cliff to end his life. He drove a wooden stake into the ground, tied one end of a rope to it and the other end in a noose round his neck. He then doused himself with petrol and set fire to himself before jumping off the cliff and attempting to shoot himself as he fell. The bullet missed him but cut through the rope round his neck and the water in the sea put the fire out. He was then picked up by a fishing boat and taken to the nearest hospital............






where he died of hypothermia............ :-(



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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: red-star-par  
Date:   Mon 10 Sep 14:20

This thread has reminded me of a book I was given when I was about 14 or 15 called '1000 Questions And Answers'. I don't know quite why but I always disliked the book from the moment I was given it. I suppose I was hoping it was going to be a book about football or something I was interested in. Anyway, years passed, it was left on the shelf, unloved. It was unusual for me to have a book and never look at it, and one day I put it in one of those bags that comes round for charity, I hadn't wanted to sling it out straight away. Years later, maybe about 5 years, my girlfriend and I visited the Angus Folk Museum. It was a strange day, as I got talking to a guy who worked there, who reminded me a lot of my dead father. Like him, he had been a farmer and we chatted for ages, it was actually like having a conversation with my dad. After that I went and sat in the car while my girlfriend went into the shop. When she came back she said, 'I've got you a present' and pulled out '1000 Questions And Answers'. I thought it would be a different copy, but when I checked the inside back page my name had been written by me, all those years ago. What are the chances, it was a strange book to by me when I was a kid and an even stranger choice for a grown man
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 Re: Stranger than Fiction
Topic Originator: veteraneastender  
Date:   Tue 11 Sep 13:10

One true story that has always amazed me was about the US soldier who ended up fighting alongside the Red Army on the Eastern Front in 1945 and was invited to their annual reunion event in Russia after the war.

He landed in Normandy on D-Day but was captured by the following day. One of the Germans took his โ€œdog tagsโ€ but was killed later on - when the ID tags were recovered by the American forces they assumed their serviceman had been killed in action and his ID taken from his body.

Therefore his parents were informed that their son had been KIA.

In fact heโ€™d been shunted around POW camps, eventually escaped and made his way East where he meet up with Russian troops, who were very suspicious at first. They eventually accepted him and he served alongside on the advance to Berlin.

I think he was even awarded Soviet medals.

Even more amazing - his son became US Ambassador to Russia many years later.
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