TRUE STORIES

British pub landlords have revived an old Irish method of getting rid of drinkers at closing time this Christmas. Pub bosses watched the reaction of customers to festive tunes and it was Cliff Richard singing his 1988 No 1 hit Mistletoe & Wine who cleared bars the fastest. British pub landlords have revived an old Irish method of getting rid of drinkers at closing time this Christmas. Pub bosses watched the reaction of customers to festive tunes and it was Cliff Richard singing his 1988 No 1 hit Mistletoe & Wine who cleared bars the fastest. In 1988 a publican in Co Meath put on a tape of the Rosary every closing time, which had a moving effect on customers. A lottery winner has been arrested after turning to crime to finance his luxury lifestyle after his winnings ran out. The 49-year-old from Thueringen, Germany, carried out dozens of burglaries to live the lifestyle to which he'd become accustomed after hitting the jackpot eight years ago. Police caught him red-handed during a break-in and later found the equivalent of ?10,000 in cash, jewellery and watches. A teacher in northwestern China is under investigation for getting his students to write their own epitaphs. Geng Xiaohong, who teaches at a secondary school in Xi'an, believes epitaph writing encourages students to think about the meaning of life. But the experiment has given thinkers of the old school the shivers because talking about death is considered taboo in China.