Interesting News Of The Week 16/07/2012

The weeks seem to go so fast now.
Here's this weeks stories.

Spelling Screw Up

The first story this week is do with the Olympics and a torchbearer who got a new tattoo to celebrate her role in the Olympic torch relay.

Here's the story.

Jerri Peterson, from Atlanta in the US, carried the torch through Derby on 30 June after being nominated by the hotel chain she worked for.

You may be thinking, whats that got to do with spelling?

Well, that's not the main part of the story.

Before coming to England, she had decided to spend $10 (or £6.50) on a tattoo to mark the occasion.

After having the tattoo it was a while later the 54-year-old noticed it featured the mis-spelling "Oylmpic" rather than "Olympic", whoops bit of a mistake there on the artists behalf.

Mrs Peterson was one of 70 international employees selected by her firm to take part in the relay as a thank you for her years of charity work, she said: "I always wanted to have a tattoo but I never quite felt passionate about any one thing to have it put on my body permanently", but this event seemed to be significant enough for her.

She said to reporters "When I was selected for this wonderful honour, I thought 'that's it - I'm ready to have my tattoo'.".
She booked a session with a "really good" tattoo artist in her home state of Georgia, and took a friend along for moral support.

Initially she was delighted with how it looked and it was only when she sent a photo of the tattoo to a friend that the spelling mistake was pointed out.

She then said: "I looked at it and I was so disappointed. I called my husband and he giggled a little bit. Then I started laughing about it and I've laughed ever since.", obviously feeling more comfortable with the mistake after confiding in her husband, which naturally you would.

Mrs Peterson pointed out the mistake to the tattoo artist responsible but declined his offer to correct it.

She said: "He felt so bad when he found out. He wanted to fix it but I decided I want to keep it. It's fine.", she then finished the interview by saying "It's the Oy-limpics, it's as unique as I am.", what a nice way to look at the situation.

If any of you are wondering what this incorrect tattoo looks like here's a picture courtesy of the BBC news team:

£276,000 Victoria Cross

This story is one that's not got anything to do with the Olympics, I thought seeing as it's going to be in most news stories now I would include one that isn't, this story is to do with the Victoria cross which was awarded in World War I.

The first Victoria Cross awarded to a private in World War I has just sold for £276,000 at an auction, that's right £276,000.

The medal, awarded to Private Sidney Godley of East Grinstead, West Sussex, England. The medal originally was expected to fetch up to £180,000 and was valued around that price.

Godley manned a machine-gun position defending Nimy Bridge in Mons while under fire from German soldiers in the first weeks of the war.

A second VC was awarded posthumously to a Gloucestershire soldier around the same time and that was sold for £240,000 at the same auction.

Oliver Pepys of Spink auction house in London, where the medal was sold described Godley's medal as "hugely important". He said to reporters "The Godley VC is one of the most distinguished medal groups of the Great War, so it was not surprising that it attracted much interest. I am delighted that the sale drew attention to such a valiant man.".

Now what I don't understand is if the medal is "hugely important" and part of the "most distinguished medal group", then why would people even consider selling them, they are a great part of history and can be fantastic things to pass down through the generations to show families histories.

The medal was originally presented with the top military honour to Godley by King George V in 1919 after he spent four years as a prisoner of war and unfortunately for us the auctioneers are not identifying the seller, probably due to pride issues.

Well lets have a little more information on Godley.
He was 25 when he was sent to the Western Front with the 4th Royal Fusiliers and was badly wounded in the attack, on 23 August 1914.

At the time of the attack he had shrapnel in his back and a bullet in his skull, but still persisted to protect British positions in the face of a German onslaught until he was captured.

During his four years as a prisoner in Germany, he was told by his captors that he had been awarded the VC and was invited to dine with the Germans one Christmas Day in recognition of the honour, which seemed a nice gesture from the Germans, showing they can't have all been bad, even though they were made out to be.

Godley unfortunately died in 1957 aged 68 and was buried with full military honours in Loughton Cemetery in Essex.

Since his death blue plaques have been placed at East Grinstead Town Council offices and at the house in Torrington Drive, Loughton, where he lived for some time.

Here's a picture of what the cross looks like for any of you who are unsure:

Summary of the week

Time for the summary, this week we have tattoo artists getting all caught up in the "Oylmpic" games and people selling off medals from the wars just for money, so much for family values.