The most entries in a two-person pantomime animal race was achieved by 53 teams (106 participants) in an event organized by ITV’s This Morning (UK) for the launch of their Christmas appeal “Text Santa”, at the Kempton Racecourse in Middlesex, UK, on 5 December 2013. The event was made up from participants from the British Heart Foundation, Help the Hospices, Barnardo’s, Beat Bullying, Age UK and CLIC Sargent.

On Monday 24 January 2011, private contractors working for the UK Ministry of Defence began the dismantling of new and nearly finished Nimrod MRA4 reconnaissance aircraft acquired for the Royal Air Force. One aircraft was already flying, one nearly ready to fly, and the remaining seven were allegedly close to completion for deliveries to begin in 2011. However, as a result of cuts in the defence budget the aircraft have been scrapped. At a reported cost of around £450 million each, it is the most Continue reading →

A rare, complete copy of John James Audubon’s Birds of America was sold for £7.3 million ($11.4 million) at Southeby’s in London, UK, on 7 December 2010. The book contains 1,000 life-size illustrations of 435 birds drawn and printed by the West Indian-born American artist Audubon (1785–1851) between 1827 and 1838. The illustrations were originally sold a page at a time to collectors, and only 119 complete editions are known to exist. Prior to the auction, the book formed part of the collection of Frederick Continue reading →

The most expensive book illustration sold at auction is a Beatrix Potter (UK) watercolour titled The Rabbits’ Christmas Party, created in the 1890’s, it was bought on 17 July 2008 by a British collector for $513,177 (?289,250). From BBC website: “The watercolour was one of 20 Potter illustrations, books, Christmas cards and letters offered for sale from a collection belonging to her brother, Bertram Potter. The entire collection, the most extensive body of Beatrix Potter artwork to have appeared on the market in decades, raised Continue reading →

The most expensive bathtub is £530,000 ($845,000) which was cut from a 10 ton (20,000 lbs) Amazonian crystal stone and is on sale at Harrods store in London, UK. It is 2 m (6 ft 6 in) long and weighs more than 2 ton (4,000 lbs) when full. The bath was designed by Luca Bojola for Italian interiors company Baldi. The bath is sculpted with diamond cuts and left partially rough to expose the natural beauty of the crystal.

The most valuable chocolate bar in the world is a 100-year old Cadbury’s chocolate bar which went on Captain Robert Scott’s first Discovery expedition (1901-1904) to the Antarctic. The bar, which is 10 cm (4 in) long, wrapped and uneaten in a cigarette tin, was bought for £470 ($687) by an anonymous buyer at Christie’s, London, UK on 25 September 2001. The bar was made at Cadbury’s Bournville factory in Birmingham and was part of 1,587 kg (3,500 lb) of cocoa and chocolate Scott took Continue reading →

A brioche was sold at auction at the Reve d’un Soir event in aid of Kids, London, UK for £4000 ($7,838) to Lady Aliai Forte (UK) on 1 February 2007.

The most expensive cricket bat was Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s bat sold at auction for £100,000 ($161,295), bought by R K Global Shares & Securities Ltd (India), at the M.S Dhoni’s ‘East Meets West’ Charity Dinner, in London, UK, on 18 July 2011. The bat was used by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in World Cup 2011 finals on 2 April 2011 art Wankhede Stadium at hit the winning shot.

The most expensive film costume is a black, cocktail dress designed by Hubert de Givenchy and worn by Audrey Hepburn (UK) in the iconic film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). The dress was sold to an anonymous bidder by author, Dominique Lapierre (France), for his City of Joy Aid charity at Christies, London, UK for ?467,200 (then $924,347) on 5 December 2006.

The most valuable diary in the world is a journal kept by Dr. Alexander Macklin, a surgeon on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s legendary Endurance adventure of 1914-1917, which was sold at Christie’s, London, UK on 25 September 2001 for £104,950 ($153,573).