Strictly unusual: offbeat stories from 2014

December 18, 2014
PARIS (AFP) - Some of the stranger stories from the year just ending:

- In January, a Japanese lingerie company said it had produced a bra -- the "True Love Tester" -- they claim will only unhook when the wearer is really in love.

- In February, a California couple out walking their dog struck it rich by unearthing a horde of buried gold coins, worth more than $10 million according to experts. It is believed to be the most valuable treasure trove ever discovered in the US.

- In March, a Danish travel company claimed it could boost Denmark's dwindling birth rates by sending more couples to romantic cities like Paris, in an advertising campaign titled "Do it for Denmark!"

- In April, a message in a bottle tossed in the sea in Germany 101 years ago, believed to be the world's oldest, was presented to the sender's granddaughter.

- In May, six police officers in Rio de Janeiro were arrested on charges of stopping trucks carrying women's underwear, stealing their panties and bras and extorting money from their drivers.

- In June, an 89-year-old World War II veteran ran away from his care home on southern England's coast to join the D-Day commemorations in northern France, wearing his medals under his coat.

- In July, South Korea's top Buddhist organisation held an experimental "prayer competition" in downtown Seoul, featuring rapping nuns and singing monks in a bid to attract new, younger followers.

- In August, a restaurant in Kunshan in China electrified customers by using more than a dozen robots to greet customers, cook and deliver food.

- In September a goldfish called George underwent "high risk" brain surgery in Melbourne, Australia. The owner of the 10-year-old fish decided to have it operated on rather than having it put to sleep.

- In October, a former poultry and mushroom farmer was crowned Miss Uganda following a major rebranding of the annual beauty pageant, which saw the glamour of the catwalk ditched for tests of milking cows and working with goats and sheep.

- In November, a 91-year-old Polish woman surprised morgue workers in eastern Poland when she started moving, 11 hours after being declared dead at home. "Once we got her home, she said she was freezing and asked for a hot cup of tea," her niece said.

- In December, an amorous Dutchman became a home-wrecker when the crane that was lowering him into his girlfriend's garden for a marriage proposal plunged through the neighbour's roof. She said yes, nonetheless.