AMOROUS COUPLES, GAY POLICE HORSES AND MORE.

• How embarrassing: amorous couple spark emergency rescue. Firefighters, paramedics, a mountain rescue team and even a helicopter were called out to recover a pair after they plunged 12ft down a steep embankment at a beauty spot in the Yorkshire Dales. The couple, who are in their early 30s, were in a 'amorous clinch' when the woman fell backwards over the wall, tumbling down the bank on the other side, pulling her partner over with her. MORE

• I don't know about police horses, gay or otherwise, but sometimes the law is an ass. A law which has been used to try to convict a student who said 'woof' to a police dog, or called a police horse 'gay' is to be changed after Home secretary Theresa May said the Government will accept a House of Lords amendment to remove the word 'insulting’ from Section 5 of the Public Order Act. Six years ago police tried to prosecute Oxford student Sam Brown under the act for making (silly) homophobic remarks after he said to a mounted officer: “Excuse me, do you realise your horse is gay?" MORE

• Busy decorating ourselves, I wish I'd thought of this ...... Seventeen months after slotting the first of 24,000 pieces together Amanda Warrington is displaying one of the world's biggest jigsaw puzzles, measuring 14ft by 5ft and, when boxed, weighing 2 stone, on the living room wall of her Bristol home. MORE

• A knitted tea cosy and a baby llama? A long list of gifts, including a knitted tea cosy, a baby llama, 19 tea towels, 78 portraits of herself and 9 jigsaws (presumably none of them as big as the one above. PW) have been revealed in a long list of gifts given to the Queen in her Diamond Jubilee year. MORE

• The latest in my growing list of collectors ..... A woman has converted her spare room into an exhibition space to house her collection of Smurf memorabilia which, including figurines, 1,200 stickers and books, 1,370 figurines and 117 stationary products, is said to be worth £20,000. MORE

• What were they thinking? Football (soccer to those of you living over the pond) fans of Chelsea, Manchester City, Everton, Fulham, West Ham, Arsenal, Newcastle and Rangers re paying £45 for grass clippings from their team's pitch. MORE

• Foaling around: One of the many jokes posted after horse meat was discovered in some of Tesco's beefburgers.... Jokers who dressed as a pantomime horse pretended to mourn the loss of their (equine) family in a Pembrokeshire Tescos. Cantering into the frozen food aisle the 'horse' was heard to sob "Mummy, Daddy ..... they're dead, they've gone." after more than 10 million burgers were cleared from the supermarket's shelves. MORE

•  Farmers baaa-ffled! A mysterious smiley face has appeared stamped on the side of hundreds of sheep across the UK. Thought to be the work of pranksters (though some internet users are convinced are responsible) the faces have been spotted in flocks as far away as Melton Mowbray, Perthshire in Scotland, and 500 miles away in Exeter (Devon). MORE (Photo taken by a friend on FaceBook)

• And last but not least, Husband dearest's find ..... Storms over the east coast have resulted in several unusual relics from World War II washing up on a beach in north east Scotland as four large, barrel-shaped pieces of lard have appeared on the shore. Believed to have escaped from the wreck of a merchant vessel that was bombed in WW II, Scottish Natural Heritage said the lard was still a brilliant white and smelled "good enough to have a fry up with." MORE

NB. Because of recent copyright issues experienced, photographs can be found by clicking on the relevant links after each article. PW.