It may seem a bit potty but one inventor believes he has found the perfect way to salvage unwanted toilets – by turning them into desks for local schoolchildren.

Scientists claim there is a fine margin between genius and madness and this is one invention which surely proves that theory.

Loo manufacturer Gao Jianguo discovered a way to transform these bog standard unused toilets into fully functional desks by turning one lavatory’s cistern lid into portable lap desks.

Alternatively students can sit on top of the toilet seat backwards and work from a fixed position.

Gao, from Shijiazhuang, northern China, has now donated hundreds of the wacky toilet desks to local schools in the area.

While most critics believe his invention stinks, the inventor says his unique idea will stop hundreds of loos being thrown away every year.

‘We have lots of toilets that we would otherwise throw away,’ said Gau, responding to critics who have poo-poohed the idea.

‘It is wasteful and if we can find a use for them we should.

‘They are brand new and have never been used so there is no hygiene issue.’ (Metro)

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This tank might look like a sturdy piece of military kit but it wouldn’t be much use in battle.

The Challenger II vehicle is made from 5,016 egg boxes and took 512 hours to make.

It has been built to celebrate the launch of Eggs for Soldiers’ national egg and spoon race on March 4 to raise money for Help for Heroes.

Sculptor Stuart Murdoch’s creation used 26 litres of glue, 10,100 nails, 15 litres of paint, 80 square metres of steel and 5,013 staples.

Eggs for Soldiers was created in 2011 to raise money for Help for Heroes.

Fifteen pence from the sale of every khaki green box of six Eggs For Soldiers goes directly to the charity which helps wounded servicemen and women returning from conflict.

People can run their own fundraising egg and spoon races by registering at www.bmycharity.com or go to Clapham Common in London for the family eggstravaganza on March 4 where the tank will be on display to the general public. (Daily Mail)

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Inseparable Lionel and Ellen Buxton are still as happy as the day they met – almost 82 years ago.

The loved-up pair are one of the country’s oldest married couples having tied the knot in 1936, and 75 years later are still going strong.

They have clocked up almost 200 years between them, 162 of which have been spent in marital bliss.

Ellen, 100, said: ‘We have never been apart really and have never wanted anyone else.

‘We have been married happily because we have been good friends as well as husband and wife.

‘We have always made sure we have had nice evenings out together. Whether it is going for a romantic meal or out to play bingo.’

Grandparents Ellen and Lionel, 99, have not spent more than one night apart from each other in the past eight decades and have not got sick of the sight of each other yet. Lionel turns 100 in March.

Luckily they both share all the same interests including TV soaps, bingo, cards, quizzes and reading novels.

The lovebirds, who live in Dover, Kent, even follow the same sports including darts, snooker and football – both are Charlton Athletic fans.

The pair met in March 1930, the year Uruguay won the first World Cup, building started on the famous Hoover Dam and stars of the silver screen Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen were born.

They have seen 15 Prime Ministers come and go and watched on as Britain has fought a dozen conflicts.

The couple have their only child, Cyndy, now 62, and four grandchildren. (Daily Mail)

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A lost tribe is captured on camera for the first time — before vanishing back into the Amazon rainforest again.

The Mashco-Piro Indians of Peru lined up along a riverbank to beg for cooking pots from passing boats.

They are believed to have finally rumbled the outside world as their jungle hideaway increasingly falls victim to loggers and firms drilling for oil and gas. The natives’ strange tongue was unintelligible to all but a lone villager in Madre de Dios — an Indian himself.

But after befriending the tribe they shot him in the heart with a bow and arrow. An exasperated archaeologist said: "Now that he’s dead it’s impossible to make contact." (wrapup)

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Britain is on its knees — copying the latest trendy pose sweeping the globe.

Fans of Tebowing have been bending on one knee and putting a hand to their head at sites including Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Abbey Road, Windsor Castle and Stonehenge.

It is named after the praying stance of Denver Broncos American Football star Tim Tebow (see the pic, right) and follows other "must-do" poses such as planking.

The term "To Tebow" has even entered the Urban Dictionary as: "To get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different."

To take a good Tebowing photo, people are advised to kneel on the knee closest to the camera and place their elbow on their other knee.

They should then place their forehead against their hand on that arm, drop their other arm and pray.

The pose has been likened to that of Rodin’s famous sculpture The Thinker.

Quarterback Tebow, 24, is the son of Christian missionaries and he has previously written the names of Biblical verses on his face ahead of games.

He now kneels in prayer on the sidelines before and after NFL matches.

The new craze has seen his name rocket to the top of Google’s trending searches and Tebow tweeted "Love it!" as his trademark move went global. (The Sun)

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He has more designer outfits than the average woman and sulks unless he changes at least three times a day.

Known as Britain’s best-dressed pooch, meet two-year-old diva dog Rocky, who has an extensive wardrobe of 1,500 outfits worth a staggering £2,500.

His devoted owner Lynsey Noble, 26, spends more on his clothes every year than the average British woman spends on herself and even wheels her pampered pooch around in a designer baby buggy.

Up to ten times a day Rocky rotates through his 1,500 designer outfits including fancy dress costumes of an elephant, dinosaur, panda, bumble bee, zebra, Superman, and his favourite – a ‘hot dog’.

And no style icon would be complete without their fashion staples, which for Rocky includes 15 t-shirts, three tracksuits, six hoodies, four coats and three body-warmers.

Rocky’s sharp sense of style is so great his owner’s boyfriend Daniel Judge, 27, a metal worker, now sees him as a rival for Lynsey’s affections.

The beautician takes her four-legged friend everywhere, and even shares a bed with him.

Lynsey said: ‘My friends and family tease me about how much I pamper Rocky, but I don’t care.

‘I call him my little fur baby and love nothing more than spoiling him rotten.

‘I don’t dare work out exactly how much I have spent on him – he has more clothes than me.

‘If I see something and I like it then I buy it. And If it’s in Rocky’s size it is destiny and he has to have it.”

Rocky was adopted by Lynsey, of Maidstone, Kent, when he was just ten weeks old, which is when the big-spending pampering began.

Since then the pair have never spent a night apart.

Like any serious fashionista spoilt Rocky – who won Mr Pageant Pooch 2011 – can pick from an accessory draw of more than four scarves, baseball hats, vests and bow-ties.

He also has sun glasses, a guitar, microphone and 12 lead and collar sets in every colour of the rainbow.

Research for the Clothes Show Live found women spend on average around £1,000 a year on clothes and generally own 100 different items.

Mutt Rocky is never far from his products, including doggy shampoo, which he enjoys during luxury baths with his specially bought floating rubber ducks.

The fussy pet also believes you should only put beautiful food into a beautiful body, which is why he refuses to eat anything accept specially boiled chicken – every day.

Lynsey says the best places to buy pet costumes and treats are from Japan and South Korea.

She said: ‘But I will never make Rocky wear anything that he doesn’t feel comfortable in. He doesn’t wear shoes as he cannot walk properly in them and it would be mean.

‘I’d probably get in trouble if I admitted to all the places I take Rocky with me in my doggie handbag.’

Rocky, whose most expensive outfit is his £39 dinosaur suit, even has his own Facebook page with more than 1,000 doggie friends who he swaps style tips with. (Daily Mail)

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It looks like standard fare for a video bloopers TV show.

But this footage of shoppers laden with produce taking a tumble in the supermarket aisle is in fact the latest online fad.

Falling, as it is imaginatively called, involves participants dreaming up the most amusing and embarrassing ways to trip themselves up in front of other shoppers.

The stunt is filmed by a co-faller as those taking part hurl themselves to the ground, throwing shopping goods into the air and rolling around in mock pain in front of bemused onlookers.

Groups of people have been indulging in the latest craze by tripping up in supermarkets, libraries and even in the middle of the street – wherever there is an audience.

It is the latest in a line of internet fads featured on video site YouTube.

Others include cone-ing – where people would order an ice-cream cone at a drive-through fast food outlet, then when they were handed the cone that would grab it by the ‘wrong’ end to the bemusement of the restaurant staff.

But the most popular has been planking, which saw participants lying flat face-down across unusual objects – including balconies, rock outcrops and billboards. (Daily Mail)

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A phone app invented by a weary dad to send his twin baby daughters to sleep is earning him £60,000 a year.

Matthew Nifield’s Nap App works by playing soothing sounds — and is proving a hit with parents worldwide.

He came up with the idea after a string of sleepless nights because six-month-old Maddie and Gwen would rarely nod off together.

Computer whizz Matthew, 33, noticed that certain noises soon got the girls yawning.

So he recorded gentle sounds like waves, rain falling on a car roof and a cat purring, then played them to the twins. Soon he was getting a good night’s sleep again.

Matthew said: "I looked for an app to help them doze off but there wasn’t one, so I created my own."

The app, called White Noise Ambience, has 150 sounds to choose from, including frogs and a tumble drier.

Matthew added: "The girls’ favourite is waves crashing. I like rain on a car. I drop off after ten minutes of that."

Matthew, from Cardiff, now lives in California and designs other internet products. (The Sun)

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A South African woman has launched an unusual yoga class in Hong Kong – for dogs.

Suzette Ackermann’s ‘doga’ classes are aimed at dog-owners wanting to pamper their pets.

"I already gave yoga classes for adults and also for mothers and their children, so I thought ‘this can not be so different than that!’ and it is not so different," she says.

Dog owner Baleros Harty said: "It’s relaxing, it’s like you’re bonding with the dog, and the dog listens to you more. It’s more well-behaved when we do yoga together." (Orange News)

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A leafy market town owes its safety to just one family – which has provided 15 firefighters to the local station over the last 50 years.

Paul Curtis, 39, is the third generation of his clan to man the pumps at Saffron Walden Fire Station in Essex and currently serves with nine relatives.

His family has attended an estimated 25,000 call-outs over the last half century and picked up a string of bravery awards along the way.

Paul, a father-of-three who also works for Highway Patrol, admits that working with family members makes the risks even more acute.

Mr Curtis lives in Saffron Walden with his wife Sherri, 39, a psychiatric nurse, and sons George, 10, Max, seven, and daughter Eve, four.

He follows in the footsteps of his father David Curtis, 62, and his grandfather Roy Vincent who started the family tradition when he signed up with his brother in 1961.

Paul’s grandfather and great uncle are local legends who were awarded recommendations for bravery after they fought a ferocious fire at a town central hotel.

Roy and his brother Barry battled to save the 33 guests at the Rose and Crown on December 26, 1969, they saved many lives but sadly 11 people died.

Roy Vincent, who died in 2006, joined the station in 1961 along with his brother Barry who died in the early 1980s.

Paul’s dad David Curtis, 62, followed in their footsteps in 1970, his cousin Paul Start, now 63, joined in 1973 and Paul’s uncle Dave Vincent signed up in 1980.

Another of Paul’s cousins Allen Start, now 39, was the next to join when he began working in 1988.

Paul himself started in 1990 and was soon joined by his younger brother Mark, 38, in 1992 and their cousin Simon Curtis, 38, in 1996.

Currently working at the station along with Paul are his cousins Jamie Start, 36, Mark Webb, 38, and Nigel Webb, 42.

He also works with his second cousins twins Daniel Foster, 23, Alan Foster, 23 and their dad Brian Foster, 56.

The Rose and Crown fire was one of a number of hotel fires which gave added impetus to the passing of the Fire Precautions Act in 1971. (Daily Mail)

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