Here we go..
My grandfather designed something that looked suspiciously like a Strimmer (I've seen the original drawings), sent the design to Black & Decker, and they ripped him off, putting it on the shelves 2 years later. Did he get a look in? Did he bollocks.

My friend used to have an obsession with the Guinness book of records. He went through the whole book, trying to figure out the easiest way to get in. This turned out to be by making the world's largest milkshake. He hired one of those portable swimming pool thingys, bought an entire milk float of milk, and gallons of ice cream. He did it for a sponsored chaaridee kind of thing. Unfortunately, about 2 months later, he was beaten by some French people, about 2 months before publication, so didn't get in (though I think he got a footnote somewhere or something). We did, however, enjoy diving repeatedly into the milkshake. So it wasn't all bad.

Oh - one last one. I got a placement (work experience) with Sky News, shadowing Tim Marshall and his crew for a day. Halfway through the day, we heard that there had been a train crash at Hatfield. We were dispatched to the nearby hospital to report on casualties. We were stood (along with several other crews) near the entrance. It was very boring, waiting to go 'on the air', and we were just hanging around & talking. I didn't realise we were live and the camera was panning round, and was stood in the wrong place, just as someone cracked a joke. Cue me going out live, during a report on the Hatfield train crash tragedy, standing centre screen, outside the Hospital, pissing myself laughing. (FYI - Tim Marshall is a very nice man - although a bit of a bible basher)
(8-Ball, Fri 25 Feb 2005, 16:10, Reply)