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Hands Up!
Mr. Theodore Dunnet, of Oxford, England, ran amok in his house in December. He
ripped the telephone from the wall, threw a television set and a tape-deck into the
street, smashed to bits a three-piece suite, kicked a dresser down the stairs, and tore
the plumbing right out of the bath. He offered this explanation for his behavior: "I
was shocked by the over-commercialization of Christmas."
Late Bloomers
Some very remarkable adults are known to have experienced quite unremarkable
childhoods. English author G.K. Chesterton, for instance, could not read until the
age of 8, and he usually finished at the bottom of his class. "If we could open your
head," one of his teachers remarked, "we would not find any brain but only a lump
of fat." Chesterton eventually became a successful novelist. Similarly, Thomas
Edison was labelled a "dunce" by one of his teachers, and young James Watt was
called "dull and inept."
Mona Lisa
Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" is one of the most famous portraits in the history
of painting. Leonardo took four years to complete the painting: he had begun work
in 1503 and finished in 1507. Mona (or Madonna Lisa Gherardini) was from a
noble family in Naples, and Leonardo may have painted her on commission from
her husband. Leonardo is said to have entertained Mona Lisa with six musicians.
He installed a musical fountain where the water played on small glass spheres, and
he gave Mona a puppy and a white Persian cat to play with. Leonardo did what he
could to keep Mona smiling during the long hours she sat for him. But it is not
only Mona's mysterious smile that has impressed anyone who has ever viewed the
portrait: the background landscape is just as mysterious and beautiful. The portrait
can be seen today in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Hard Luck
A bank teller in Italy was jilted by his girlfriend and decided the only thing left to
do was kill himself. He stole a car with the idea of crashing it, but the car had
broken down. He stole another one, but it was too slow, and he barely dented a
fender when he crashed the car into a tree. The police arrived and charged the man
with auto theft. While being questioned, he stabbed himself in the chest with a
dagger. Quick action by the police officers saved the man's life. On the way to his
cell, he jumped out through a third-story window. A snowdrift broke his fall. A
judge suspended the man's sentence, saying, "I'm sure fate still has something in
store for you."