MORE MISCELLANEOUS FACTS

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For many years, the lovely Rita Thunderbird thrilled audiences around the United Kingdom with her gold lamé bikini and her "human cannonball" routine. On at least two occasions, however, she remained inside the cannon despite being compelled by gunpowder to do otherwise. On one of these, at Battersea in 1977, fans were not completely disappointed. Miss Thunderbird remained lodged in the cannon but her gold lamé bikini top was fired across the River Thames!

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In 2002 television presenter Jamie Theakston visited a brothel. Some of the staff took unauthorised photographs of him and there was blackmail in the air. He sued to prevent publication of the story and accompanying photographs. He failed on the first limb but succeeded on the second. Mr Justice Ouseley at para [22] of his judgment in Theakston v MGN Ltd (2002) EWHC 137 (QB) said: ‘It is surprising that it was not apparent to the claimant on his first arrival that he was in a brothel and that that only became apparent, on his later return and after he had engaged in sexual activities.’ It was shortly after this that the superinjunction emerged. The ‘super’ element restrained publication of the fact that an injunction had even been secured.

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When police raided the home of Cynthia Payne in Streatham they found an orderly queue of gentlemen waiting to pay a visit to three prostitutes upstairs. The guests included a barrister, a member of the House of Lords, three accountants, and a vicar. She was convicted of running a disorderly house in 1980 and served four months in Holloway.

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Raymond McCray, in January 1983, was appearing in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on stage in the West End. Police officers stormed on stage to arrest Mr McCray, who stood 1.06m tall. His forte was robbing banks because his stature rendered him out of sight of the security cameras.

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Ruth Rendell, author of the Inspector Wexford stories, started her working life as a reporter on The Chigwell Times. She was required to write up a sporting dinner but could not be bothered to attend, so she looked at the guest list and conjured up a commentary. Sadly, her account omitted the slight detail that the after-dinner speaker had dropped dead part way through his oration. She was forced to resign.

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In English and Australian civil litigation, offers are made ‘without prejudice save as to costs’. The trial judge is not to be told about offers until the litigation is concluded. The financial consequences of a well-pitched offer can be vast. What happens when there is inadvertent disclosure of sensitive or privileged material and details of an offer are put into the trial bundle (documents relied upon in the trial by the parties) and are seen at the outset of trial by the judge? In the Court of Appeal case of Garratt v Saxby [2004] EWCA Civ 341, a judge ordered himself to forget what he had seen and was commended! The alternative would have meant abandoning the trial with resulting delay and expense.

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Princess Margaret, who died in 2002, was known for her love of a good party and regularly let loose when she was in her Caribbean holiday home of Mustique.

In the 1970s, it's alleged she had a fling with London gangster John Bindon, nicknamed ‘ Big John’, who entertained her by hanging five half-pint beer tankards from his penis. The short-lived romance is supposed to have taken place after Bindon spent three weeks at her home in Mustique.

The story comes from to John Bindon’s ex, Vicki Hodge, who incidentally also dated Prince Andrew, and was with John on the trip.

Princess Margaret poses in Mustique with Bindon, who is wearing a T-shirt with the slogan 'Enjoy Cocaine'

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Orson Welles was working on a scene (from 1944's Jane Eyre) in which he was about to be broiled to death in a fire and said “I now know what Joan of Arc endured!” Fellow actress Joan Fontaine replied, “Keep your spirits up, we'll let you know if we get the odour of burning ham.”

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Errol Flynn had it out with columnist Jimmy Fidler over the death of his beloved dog, Arno. The dog had leapt to his death from the Flynn yacht and the Coast Guard found the body. Flynn was asked if he wanted it, but he could only stand to accept the dog's collar and didn't want to be confronted with his faithful friend's corpse. Fidler wrongly interpreted this act as Flynn not caring enough to collect the body and printed such. Flynn soon saw him in a restaurant and beati him up but was stabbed in the ear by Fidler's wife! A lawsuit came soon after, but it was settled out of court and the men later became friends. Flynn remarked to Fidler, “Your wife has good table manners. She used the right fork.”