Tennis anyone?
Table Tennis (Ping Pong in the US) is a much bigger game in England than Americans are used to, perhaps because they have much rain throughout the year. They organize community games, leagues and tournaments like we might little league baseball. Wen Wei Xu, founder and coach of Brighton Table Tennis Club, set out to break a record for the volleying with the most opponents in one event. Wei unofficially broke a Guinness World Record when he faced 117 consecutive opponents in a single rally. The Brighton Club attempted the world record back in 2018 but failed. Evidence of Wei’s attempt will be submitted to Guinness for official recognition. The current record of 112 opponents was set by Keith Knox from the Ormeau Table Tennis Club in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Brighton Table Tennis Club said in a Facebook post that they hope Ormeau Table Tennis Club will take up the challenge and break the record again.
Wen Wei Xu, faced 117 players of all ages to break the record. The event on Sunday May 1st, marked the second time members of the club had descended on the Open Market Mall in Brighton to try and break the record. There were several restarts after an opponent missed a shot. Even after going through to 80 or 90 opponents a shot was missed and the count had to start over again. The video in the link below shows the line of opponents taking their turns retuning each volley. The crowd in the mall center court exploded when the milestone was crossed. While Wen Wei Xu has some miles on him, the oldest Ping Pong star is Dorothy de Low born October 1910 who was 97 years old when she represented Australia at the XIV World Veterans Table Tennis Championships, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The official longest table tennis rally was played by Brian and Steve Seibel (USA) for 8 hours, 15 min 1 sec at the Christown YMCA, Phoenix, Arizona, USA, on 14 August 2004.
Jolly Old England
During a debate in England’s House of Commons, one Member of Parliament shouted at another: “The right honorable gentleman has the manners of the pig!” Members of the opposition booed loudly and cried, “Retract, retract.” The member of Parliament replied: “I retract the last statement. The right honorable gentleman hasn’t the manners of a pig.”
I’m going to open a dollar store in England
I will name it: “Pound Town.”
I had a student named Miles in my 5th grade class who moved to England. Had to change his name to Kilometers.
He also shrunk by about 40% of his original height.
Only in England:
£800 fine if you are caught at a house party during lock-down.
But reduced to £400 if paid early.
If you catch covid at the party, the government will give you £500 to stay at home.
That’s £100 profit for not following the rules.
Birthdays on May 6th
1994 – Naomi Scott, 1996 – Tiera Skovbye, 1986 – Shirey Lazar, 1983 – Adrianne Palicki
1955 – Tom Bergeron, 1982 – Jason Whitten, 1961 – George Clooney, 1932 – Willie Mays