David Beckham richer than Queen Elizabeth
Los Angeles:Former soccer ace David Beckham and his nuclear family are richer than Queen Elizabeth, according to a report by the London School of Marketing.
The researchers analysed the different business ventures and marketing values of David and his family and found that the family was worth USD 712 million, reported Ace Showbiz.
“The Beckham brand has been used to advertise everything from designer clothes, to satellite television and even whisky,” CMO at the London School of Marketing, Anton Dominique, explained. Experts estimated that Brand Beckham generated around USD 60.60 million per year. David’s soccer-related business Footworks is worth around USD 227 million, the Beckham label is worth USD 106 million and Beckham Ventures, Victoria Adams’s fashion business, is worth USD 91 million.
Combined with their non-business assets of an estimated USD 288 million, the family is worth USD 712 million. Meanwhile, the Queen with her castles, estates and collection of rare artworks is thought to be worth USD 515 million. “What’s also interesting is that the family name is almost as influential as any individual family member. For instance, Romeo Beckham won a very lucrative marketing contract with the fashion house Burberry,” Anton added. Similarly, Brooklyn Beckham who recently appeared on the cover of Miss Vogue has garnered 4.5 million followers on Instagram.
“The Beckham name has the Midas touch when it comes to advertising, even the mere mention of their name associated with a brand is a small news event in itself,” said the CMO of the famous family. (PTI)
Einstein lookalike becomes Internet celebrity in China
Beijing: A 68-year-old Professor in China with unruly hair and bushy moustache has become a minor Internet celebrity due to his resemblance to famous physicist Albert Einstein. Gary Manzo, Professor at the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, became an Internet hit after pictures taken by students were widely shared on the Chinese microblogging website Weibo.
His humorous, outgoing and cheerful personality has made him popular among his students. Manzo has also accepted his newfound fame. Manzo, who hails from US, was initially surprised to discover how popular he had become online, ‘shanghaiist’ reported.
Photographs of the professor lecturing and walking on campus have been widely shared on Weibo, with many web users expressing their amazement at his likeness to the legendary scientist.
The professor has been teaching in China for three years. (PTI)
World’s smallest land snail discovered in China
Beijing:Scientists have found what may be the world’s smallest land snail – tiny enough to fit almost 10 times into the eye of a needle – in China.
While examining soil samples collected from the base of limestone rocks in Guangxi Province, Southern China, scientists Barna Pall-Gergely and Takahiro Asami from Shinshu University, Adrienne Jochum, University and Natural History Museum of Bern, and colleagues, found several minute empty light grey shells, which measured a height of less than 1 mm.
The single known shell of the new species, named Angustopila dominikae, was measured a mere 0.86 mm in shell height. Thus, it is considered to be perhaps the world’s smallest land snail species when focusing on the largest diameter of the shell, researchers said.
In their paper published in the journal ZooKeys, the team described a total of seven new land snail species.
Another of the described new species, called Angustopila subelevata, measured 0.83-0.91 mm (mean = 0.87 mm) in height. Pall-Gergely and his team also discussed the challenges faced by scientists surveying small molluscs, since finding living specimens is still very difficult.
The evolutionary relationships between these species, as well as the number of existing species are little known. “Extremes in body size of organisms not only attract attention from the public, but also incite interest regarding their adaptation to their environment,” said researchers.
“Investigating tiny-shelled land snails is important for assessing biodiversity and natural history as well as for establishing the foundation for studying the evolution of dwarfism in invertebrate animals,” they said.
“We hope that these results provide the taxonomic groundwork for future studies concerning the evolution of dwarfism in invertebrates,” they said. (PTI)
Turkish man dies after spending 47 years in hospital
Istanbul:A Turkish man died at 70 after spending nearly half a century in a hospital in Turkey “because he had nowhere else to go”, media reported today.
Abdullah Kozan, who had asthma and diabetes, was first admitted to a state hospital in western Bursa province with a severe headache back in 1978 when he was doing his military service.
He died on Friday in his room, where he had spent the past 47 years, Dogan news agency said. Kozan had been allowed to stay because “he had no place to go and he got on very well with hospital staff,” workers told Dogan.
The hospital administration registered Kozan as a new patient each time he was discharged at the end of a treatment. “He was like a member of our hospital. We protected him. But we couldn’t save him when he got worse” during the recent Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday, one staff member said.
An undated picture published by Dogan showed Kozan, still alive, wearing beige and burgundy pyjamas as he sat on his hospital bed, with a doctor standing beside him. (AFP)
Beatles contract sold for £365,000 at London auction
London:The contract that launched the career of the Beatles was sold today in London for £365,000 (492,000 euros, USD 553,000), auction house Sotheby’s said.
The document was signed by John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with their manager Brian Epstein on October 1, 1962 — four days before the release of their first single “Love Me Do”.
It was the only deal signed by the four final Beatles members with Epstein, who died from an accidental overdose in 1967 and was dubbed the “fifth Beatle” by McCartney.
The band had first signed a contract with Epstein when Pete Best was still the drummer.
After his replacement by Starr less than nine months later, the two parties had to put pen to paper again.
“Without this contract, and the relationship it represents, it seems inconceivable that the Beatles could have achieved all that they did: it took more than inspired musicianship and song-writing to remake popular music,” said Gabriel Heaton, Sotheby’s specialist in books and manuscripts.
“The presentation, direction, and internal harmony of the Beatles all owed a huge amount to Brian Epstein.”
The new contract features the signatures of the musicians, with the fathers of McCartney and Harrison acting as co-signatories because their sons were younger than 21 at the time.
Under the contract, band members were required to give one month’s notice before leaving the group, while another clause stated that any member could be expelled “should two or more of them desire”.
The document also outlined the different commission rates that Epstein would receive for earnings of up to £400, up to £800 and more than £800 a week. (AFP)