If you spotted a number of people travelling around London or New York without their trousers on Sunday, they hadn’t just been particularly forgetful that morning – it was part of the worldwide No Pants On The Subway Day.

In cities across the globe, often in freezing conditions, thousands of people boldly went trouserless as part of the annual event – in which large numbers of people take to their local public transport in their underwear, but act as though nothing unusual is happening, insisting to puzzled commuters that it’s just a coincidence that lots of people are travelling without the benefit of trousers.

The prank was started in 2002 in New York by art jokers Improv Everywhere, and has since spread around the world. This year was the first time that a London No Pants On The Subway Day was organised – although it was renamed No Trousers On The Underground to avoid any misunderstanding over the American meaning of the word ‘pants’.

Over 30 Londoners braved temperatures of around -2ºC to go trouserless on the Picadilly Line, travelling between Leicester Square, King’s Cross and Earl’s Court before returning to Leicester Square. One of the attendees reported that ‘a couple near me just couldn’t keep a straight face, but being British of course tried their best to do so.’

Another London trouserless Tube rider related how he convinced one bemused passenger that he’d taken his trousers off on the grounds that it was ‘hot in here’.

Meanwhile, in New York, around 3,000 pantsless people joined in the revelry, travelling from six different locations across the city, reading magazines or chatting to friends as though it was the most natural thing in the world. (roundup)

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More than 100 surfers lined up on the same ocean wave in Cape Town, South Africa, to set a new world record.

The challenge started with 443 keen surfers of every age and ability paddling out from the Muizenberg beach in Cape Town.

Bobbing around on their boards, the wetsuit clad men and women patiently waited to be told which wave to catch.

On the fourth attempt, 110 surfers managed to stand for five seconds – smashing the previous record set in Brazil of 100 surfers.

"There were more than 1,000 people on the beach and everyone was in high spirits with plenty of cheering and hooting as the surfers took off and rode the wave," said record organiser and founder of Earthwave Paul Botha.

"We made seven attempts on the record in one hour this year. The fourth attempt produced the most surfers on one wave, with an estimated 120 riding at one time.

"Photographic evidence proved there were 110 surfers still riding five seconds after taking off."

The Earthwave concept was developed three years ago to promote awareness of climate change while at the same time attempting to break world records.

In 2006, Earthwave South Africa raised the record from 44 to 73, before Earthwave Brazil increased it to 84 surfers on one wave in 2007 and an incredible 100 in 2008. (Telegraph)

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With a puff, a heave and a ho, 100-year-old Ruth Frith tossed a 9lb shot an astounding 14ft to win a gold medal at the World Masters Games yesterday.

It must be said, though, that Mrs Frith was the only shot-put competitor game enough to turn up for the event in the women aged 100-104 category.

Her possible competitors were too old to get to the Sydney stadium or didn’t have the strength to lift the weight. She was one of 28,292 competitors from 95 countries ranging in age from 24 to 101 who were taking part in the world’s biggest multi-sport event.

Mrs Frith has been labelled one of the most inspirational athletes at the Games, an international multi-sport event held every four years and is open to sports people of all ages and abilities. It runs until October 18.

However, the minimum age varies depending on the sport but ranges from 25 to 35.

The first World Masters Games were held in Toronto in 1985. (Roundup)

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Never mind breaking records guys, mind you don’t break your hips! This line-up of veterans are all over 80 years old and are shooting for a Guinness World Record.

Two teams of ice hockey players, all octogenarians, played in the first tournament for players 80 and over at the Burnaby ice rink in British Columbia, reports Metro.

Goaltender Jim Martin was the oldest player to take part at 87.

The game had to be held up for half-an-hour after three of the players lost their way en-route to the rink.

The teams have yet to hear from Guinness officials regarding their application.

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China is claiming a new world record – for the largest number of people dyeing their hair together in the same place.

A total of 500 middle-aged and elderly people gathered at the gym hall at Shanghai University to create the record.

Participants, who were either wholly or partially grey, raced to see who could dye their hair black the quickest.

The fastest completed the task in just one minute while the slowest took nine minutes and one second.

The new record was reportedly witnessed and validated by China’s Record Office and the Shanghai Institute of Measurement and Testing Technology. (People’s Daily)

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Some 1,000 Indian snake charmers staged a rally in protest against a law that made their profession illegal.

Playing their distinctive flutes, they marched in Calcutta, demanding the right to perform with live snakes.

Despite the 1991 ban, hundreds of thousands of snake charmers continue to perform in India, reports the BBC.

Snake charmers say the ban threatens the survival of their way of life. Animal rights groups say it should be kept to curb the abuse of snakes.

Raktim Das, the head of India’s snake charmers federation, said the government should make the traditional performance legal again.

He also said serum farms should be set up across India where snake charmers could sell venom for medical use.

"We are being consistently harassed by the police for keeping snakes, which are snatched away without paying us compensation," Mr Das said. (BBC)

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Mexico puckered its way to a new record on Valentine’s Day, when nearly 40,000 people locked lips with their sweeties to beat the world record of simultaneous kisses, previously held by Britain.

The new record was set late Saturday, when 39,897 people crowded into the Mexican capital for the group smooch.

"There are 42,225 people on site, but unfortunately you did not all participate in the record," announced Carlos Martinez, a Guinness official who was monitoring the crowds.

"The number of participants is 39,987 and the new record for the number of people kissing simultaneously goes to Mexico," he said.

The British record had been 32,648 people.

Tourist groups and community activists organized the event to make a statement against violence in Mexico, where more than 5,300 people were killed in 2008 due to a rash of drug feuds and rampant criminal activity.

The group kiss also aimed to send a message to a local mayor who tried to ban kissing in the public square.

The kiss "sends a message to the whole world about Mexico’s respect for al kinds of freedoms," said local tourist official Alejandro Rojas Diaz. (AFP)

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Thousands of competitors walked on hot coals, swam through underwater tunnels and braved electric fences in what’s billed as the world’s ultimate endurance test.

The Tough Guy 2009 challenge is described by its organisers as a ‘uniquely fear-ridden’ test of both body and spirit, reports the Daily Mail.

Competitors from 25 countries descended on South Perton Farm, near Wolverhampton, for the brutal survival race.

They were strongly advised to prepare by undergoing cold water training to guard against the potentially lethal threat of hypothermia.

The freezing cold challengers began the race with a gruelling six-mile cross-country run and were then challenged by 21 different obstacles including tunnels and swamps to complete the course.

The event’s website warns: "The event is uniquely fear ridden and you need to be fit in both body and spirit to survive the ordeal."

The hardy challengers risk cuts, burns, broken bones and possibly worse as they make their way across the 150-acre site.

Competitors must sign a ‘Death Warrant disclaimer’ before taking part in the event which claims to be the ‘safest most dangerous taste of mental physical pain and endurance on earth’. (Daily Mail)

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The mysterious "mass suicide" of 152 dolphins washed up on Iran’s coast over the last month has alarmed environmentalists, with the blame pointed at regional fishing practices.(Xinhua/AFP)

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Hundreds of people posed naked on Switzerland’s shrinking Aletsch glacier on Saturday for U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick as part of a Greenpeace campaign to raise awareness of global warming.

Tunick, perched on a ladder and using a megaphone, directed nearly 600 volunteers from all over Europe and photographed them on a rocky outcrop overlooking the glacier, which is the largest in the Alps.

Later he took pictures of them standing in groups on the mass of ice and lying down. Camera crews were staged at five different points on the glacier to take photographs.

Glaciers are sensitive to climate change and have been receding since the start of the industrial age but the pace of shrinkage has accelerated in recent years.

The environmental group Greenpeace, which organised the shoot, said the aim was to "establish a symbolic relationship between the vulnerability of the melting glacier and the human body."

The Aletsch descends around the south side of the Jungfrau mountain in the Upper Rhone Valley.

The volunteers walked for several hours in the mountains to reach the glacier before taking their clothes off briefly for the shoot in temperatures of around 10 degrees Celsius (50.00F).

Alpine glaciers have lost about one-third of their length and half their volume over the past 150 years. The Aletsch ice mass has retreated by 115 metres (377 ft) in the last two years alone, said Greenpeace.

Tunick has staged mass nude photo shoots in cities across the world, from Newcastle, Britain, to Mexico City, where a record 18,000 people took off their clothes in the Mexican capital’s Zocalo square in May.

Speaking to Geneva’s Le Temps newspaper in an interview published before the shoot on Saturday, Tunick said his photographs were both works of art and political statements.

"I will try to treat the body on two levels. On an abstract level, as if they were flowers or stones. And on a more social level, to represent their vulnerability and humanity with regard to nature and the city and to remind people where we come from."

Switzerland has about 1,800 glaciers and almost of them are losing ground.
Greenpeace said if global warming continues unabated, most glaciers will disappear from the Earth by 2080. (Reuters)

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