Amidst a sea of music, it was great to enjoy someone else’s misfortune.
First we learnt about the couple in Wales who’ve been living next to a bomb for over 60 years, but it gets worse as the previous owners of the house had also, unknowingly been literally sitting on a time bomb for the best part of 70 years!
Sian and Jeffrey Edwards of Milford Haven liked to have a few garden ornaments, like shells, one of which sat right outside their front door.
Unfortunately this “shell” turned out to be a real unexploded device, which the couple had painted red to match their windowsills.
Mrs Edwards also use to smack her trowel on it to remove clods of earth – which could have proved interesting to say the least.
However last week a police officer walking past their house, spotted the item and being concerned that it might actually be an unexploded device, took pictures which he passed to the MOD.
The following day the bomb squad turned up and after confirming that it still contained a live charge, carefully removed the item which was then taken to a quarry for detonation.
Apparently it was actually a 64lb naval projectile dating back to around 1880 to 1890, which had probably been fired from a warship using Broadhaven Beach for target practice.
It seems that the device had been found by the previous owner of the house, who used to go to Broad Haven with his horse and cart delivering lemonade.
After spotting the device and thinking it would look good outside his house, he struggled up the beach with it, loaded it onto his cart for the 7 mile bumpy ride back home, where he plonked it down outside the front door.
In the second hour of today’s show, we learnt of what might well prove to be the pinnacle of embarrassment.
It certainly resulted in the forced resignation of the chief of staff for the Paraguayan Minister of Agriculture, Armando Chamorro, after it emerged that he had signed deals with a non-existent country.
Oops!
He had even gone so far as to promise to use his influence to support the non existent country’s efforts to gain wider international recognition and membership to various international organisations.
The document signed by Mr Chamorro, which ultimately lead to his resignation, outlined his ‘sincere wish and recommendation for the government of Paraguay to consider, explore and actively seek the establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States of Kailasa and support their admission as a sovereign and independent state to various international organisations, including, among others, the United Nations.
Defending his actions, Mr Chamorro outlined how representatives of the imaginary nation had offered to develop several projects in Paraguay, although he admitted that he did not know where Kailasa was supposed to be on a map before signing the document.
Representatives of the “non existent” state were also introduced to the minister of Agriculture himself, Carlos Gimenez.
The fictional country, which has its own website, had been presented to Mr Chamorro as a real South American island by Swami Nithyananda, a self-declared Hindu mystic, who was actually on the run from rape and sexual assault charges in India going back to 2019.
This is not the first time that Mr Nithyananda has tried to invent new countries.
Back in 2009 he claimed to have established the ‘cosmic republic’ off the coast of Ecuador, which was promptly denied at the time by that country’s government.
A website for the non-existent country describes it as the ‘revival of the ancient enlightened Hindu civilisational nation which is being revived by displaced Hindus from around the world.’
So if you’ve ever fallen for a scam, it just shows that even people in authority can easily be taken for a ride.
I very much hope to have your company again tomorrow,
Scott
