yesterday was a . . .

Good Day for King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, who has not only got his World Wide Web page up and running (http://203.150.20.6/ including selections of jazz composed and performed by the King), but he has had the world's longest necktie make for him. Six metres wide and 99.64 metres long, it has been designed in Polyester by a tie manufacturer to celebrate the king's forthcoming 50th anniversary of his succession to the throne.

Bad Day for Brazilian travellers, as an 84-year-old German had to be banned from an airline flight because he smelled so bad. The man, who was unnamed, had been travelling around Brazil for 42 days without bathing or changing his clothes. "He smelled so bad we couldn't get within more than a few metres of him." said a police officer at Recife airport.

The man told the German vice-consul that he was too old to bathe.