Stamp sells for record £1m‎

The world’s most famous stamp, the elusive “Post Office Mauritius”, was sold yesterday for a record breaking £1,053,090 ($1,600,000) at Spink in London.

This is a record price for a stamp sold in the United Kingdom! Nearly half a dozen bidders in the room participated as the price of the lot shot skyward.

The stamp was one of the highlights of the Chartwell collection formed by businessman and philanthropist Sir Cyril Humphrey Cripps.

Over the next 18 months, Spink will sell The Chartwell Collection, which is the most valuable collection of stamps to come up for auction in modern times.

The collection consists of some of the finest material for Great Britain and the British Empire ever seen before and it is all material that is fresh to the marketplace.

Currently held in just over 80 stamp albums, The Chartwell Collection is estimated to fetch well in excess of £20,000,000 before the last lot is sold in December 2012.

Olivier Stocker, Chairman and CEO of Spink, comments: “The Chartwell Collection is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the biggest “wow” moments we have ever experienced here at Southampton Row.

When the collection arrived in London it was amazing to watch as our specialists turned the pages of what may be one of the finest philatelic collections of our time.

Over eighty albums were opened, examined and taken in and it was wonderful to see the faces of the Spink team as treasure after treasure was revealed.

The story behind this collection is absolutely amazing and so unusual in so many ways. It is a great pleasure to be a part of these momentous sales!”

Mickey bug eyes ... damselfly

Snake lover killed by reptile Snake man killed by his cobra

Breeder ... Luke Yeomans with one of his snakes

A SNAKE breeder has been killed by a bite from one of his king cobras - days after he boasted they would not harm him.

Luke Yeomans, 45, had a heart attack in Nottinghamshire after the bite from the deadly reptile injected venom into his bloodstream.

Dad Luke, who was planning to open his king cobra sanctuary of 24 snakes to the public this weekend, had insisted he was perfectly safe handling them.

He posed for a picture while kissing a cobra on the back of the head - despite their fearsome reputation as one of the most dangerous snake breeds.

Luke said: "They know that I provide them with fresh food and water and so they are not going to go out of their way to do harm to me when I do no harm to them whatsoever.

"People do say that I am mad. I think everything I am doing is good. I am maintaining this breeding colony of king cobras as a safety net - to protect the species from possible extinction."

Luke, whose daughter helped him at the sanctuary, had bred the endangered Asian king cobras in Eastwood for 30 years. He was known locally as the Steve Irwin of Eastwood after the Australian TV animal adventurer who was killed by a stingray.

A friend said: "Luke had maybe got a bit cavalier and believed he was invincible to snakes. He handled them without fear and it cost him his life."

Confident ... Luke strokes and kisses one of his snakes

Paramedics found Luke's body at the sanctuary, which was behind his home. Police said the killer snake had been contained and the public were in no danger. A neighbour said: "It's a complete shock. Luke was famous round here for his snakes.

"He'd kept them since a boy and had so much experience handling them. He'd think nothing of picking them up and wrapping them around him.

Face to face ... Luke and friend examine one of the deadly cobras

"It's such a tragedy. He dedicated his life to king cobras and said they would never become extinct as long as his sanctuary lived on." Luke had been bitten by a cobra in the past but had luckily got to hospital before the venom took full effect.

He told an interviewer: "When I got out of my car, I lost my legs and just went. Luckily, there were two nurses waiting for me with a bed."

Luke had 20 adult and four juvenile snakes. He planned to breed 100 more.

The king cobra is the longest of all venomous snakes. A single bite is poisonous enough to kill an elephant.

Pub jual air sperma kuda jantan

SEORANG pelayan wanita memegang dulang yang berisi gelas mengandungi air sperma kuda jantan di pub Green Man di Wellington, New Zealand baru-baru ini.

WELLINGTON - Sebuah pub di New Zealand memperkenalkan minuman terbaharu dalam menunya iaitu air sperma kuda berperisa epal, lapor sebuah akhbar semalam.

Pub Green Man di sini menawarkan minuman itu pada harga £12 (RM58) untuk setiap hidangan 30 mililiter.

Bahan mentah minuman itu diambil dari sebuah ladang kuda di sini dengan setiap hidangan mengandungi sekitar 300 juta sperma kuda.

Pemilik bersama pub berkenaan, Steven Drummond berkata, minuman itu yang dihidangkan sejuk, popular dalam kalangan pengunjung lelaki dan wanita.

Dia mendapat idea untuk menggunakan sperma kuda semasa cuba mencipta minuman baharu dalam satu pertandingan makanan tempatan. - Agensi

Pejabat Facebook tidak mewah disangkakan

Kanan: SEBUAH meja dan bangku dalam sebuah bilik untuk pekerja di ibu pejabat Facebook.

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MENLO PARK, California - Ibu pejabat baru Facebook di , Amerika Syarikat (AS) tidak mempunyai ciri-ciri kemewahan walaupun ia merupakan antara laman web paling kaya di dunia, lapor sebuah akhbar semalam.

Tiada permaidani dan hiasan dalaman yang mewah dalam pejabat tersebut.

Terdapat banyak paip terdedah yang dibaluti kertas kerajang perak dengan wayar bergantungan dalam bangunan ibu pejabat berkenaan.

Gambar-gambar ruang dalaman ibu pejabat baru Facebook yang dibina di kawasan seluas 23 hektar di sini disiarkan dalam laman web berkenaan awal bulan ini.

Para pengunjung mungkin terkejut kerana kedatangan mereka disambut dengan siling terbuka dan lantai konkrit tanpa karpet atau sofa mewah.

Ruang dalaman itu yang lebih menyerupai kilang banyak menggunakan kotak kayu yang diubah suai sebagai meja manakala susun atur tempat duduknya pelik kerana ada yang menghadap dinding.

Walaupun bangunan berkenaan mempunyai kapasiti untuk menempatkan 9,000 pekerja, Facebook kini mempunyai sekitar 2,000 kakitangan yang bekerja di premis barunya itu.

Laman Facebook yang bernilai AS$70 bilion (RM212.3 bilion) diramalkan memperoleh pendapatan sekitar AS$2 bilion (RM6 bilion) pada tahun ini.

Berdasarkan maklumat majalah Forbes, Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Facebook, Marck Zuckerberg merupakan orang ketiga paling kaya di dunia dalam sektor teknologi maklumat.

Zuckerberg yang berusia 27 tahun dilaporkan memiliki kekayaan sehingga mencecah AS$18 bilion (RM54.5 bilion). - Agensi