School pupils are trying to track down a teddy bear sent flying into the upper atmosphere for a science experiment. Bradfield Bear was launched on a high-altitude weather balloon from Lymington, Hampshire, by Year 7 and 8 students at Walhampton School. The little bear soared above the clouds and reached the stratosphere but then broke off from the balloon.
BBC News (Amanda Welles)
Frankenspoon’s monster
A paranormalist claims to have seen Mary Shelley’s spirit entering the Mary Shelley pub. Singer Brocarde said she saw a “gothic woman clad in a heavy velvet cloak” rise from the ground and hover above the grave. “The ghostly figure then led me across the churchyard and over the road, straight to the Wetherspoon pub named after the literary legend herself. I watched, in utter disbelief, as Mary Shelley’s spirit pulled a heart from her cloak and vanished through the closed doors of the pub, clutching it tightly,” she said. Bournemouth Daily Echo
(Leigh Hatts)
Unsaintly behaviour
A football mascot was relieved of his duties during an FA Cup match following what was described as “erratic and unprofessional” behaviour. Sammy the Saint, the official mascot of St Albans City, was seen stumbling over advertising boards ahead of the club’s 6-0 defeat at Burton Albion. “He was just stripped of his mascot duties and wasn’t allowed to wear the Sammy costume,” said a Burton spokesperson.
Metro (Steve Morley)
[Further reading: Martin Scorsese, priest of the silver screen]
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This article appears in the 04 Dec 2025 issue of the New Statesman, Books of the Year