The cremated remains of a cat that appeared in the opening credits of Britain’s longest-running television soap have sold for over £800 (US$1,200), an auction house said last week.
For over a decade, viewers tuning in to Coronation Street were greeted with a clip of Frisky the cat crouching on a pigeon house.
The tabby beat 5,000 other cats to get the part in 1990, and he featured in more than 1,000 episodes of the show before he died ten years ago.
His ashes, sealed in a wooden box with a brass plaque, were put up for auction by the cat’s owner and sold for more than four times the initial estimate.
After some frenzied bidding, the item went under the hammer for £700, and with the buyer’s premium the total came to £844, Dominic Winter Auctioneers said.
Frisky was a favorite with viewers and made numerous public appearances to raise money for charity, and the auction sparked significant interest.
“He seems to be really well known,” Chris Albury of Dominic Winter told AFP.
The winning bidder, who was not present at the auction, also gets a collection of nine postcards showing Frisky being cuddled by Coronation Street actors and a certificate of authenticity.
“It would make a nice cabinet display if you’re a Coronation Street fan,” said Albury.(AFP)
一家拍賣公司上週表示,英國最長壽電視劇片頭裡那隻貓咪的骨灰,已經以超過八百英鎊(一千兩百美元)的價格賣出。
曾有十年的時間,收看「加冕街」的觀眾總能在片頭看到貓咪「弗瑞斯基」蹲伏在鴿舍上的身影。
弗瑞斯基是隻斑貓,一九九0年擊敗其他五千名競爭者得到演出機會,十年前去世的他,生前共參與過一千多集演出。
飼主把裝有弗瑞斯基骨灰的黃銅名牌木製骨灰盒拿出來拍賣,結果成交價是最初估計的四倍多。
多明尼克溫特拍賣公司表示,經過幾次激烈的競標後,該物件以七百英鎊成交,加上買方需支付的費用,總成交價為八百四十四英鎊。
弗瑞斯基生前深受觀眾喜愛,並多次公開現身為慈善活動募款,因此這次拍賣十分引人關注。
多明尼克溫特拍賣公司的克里斯•阿爾伯尼向法新社表示:「他好像真的很紅。」
並未現身拍賣會場的得標者還獲得劇中演員撫抱弗瑞斯基的九張明信片組,及一張真品保證書。
阿爾伯尼說:「對『加冕街』的粉絲來說,那會是很棒的收藏。」(法新社╱翻譯:林倩如)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into