Naked man shocks car thief

A man who was trying to steal a car in the middle of the night got a big surprise.

Russell Stuart, the owner of the car, was asleep in bed in his house in the South of England. But he heard what was happening, ran downstairs and got into the passenger seat of the car. He did not stop to get dressed.

Mr Stuart asked the thief: "Where are we going then?" Then the surprised man ran away. Mr Stuart said: "I don’t know what he must have thought when a large naked man got in the car next to him."

Mr Stuart then drove round in the car looking for the man for a few minutes. He stopped and went home because he was worried police would arrest him for driving naked.

Little boy is top inventor

A national exhibition of top inventions includes a broom designed by a three-year-old boy.

Sam Houghton, who is now eight, watched his father using two different brushes to sweep up leaves and dirt. He stuck the two brushes together using rubber bands, so that the double head could be flipped over for different jobs.

Now Sam’s brush is in an exhibition of the top 15 inventions of the past 10 years at the British Library in London. Sam's invention was patented when he was five.

Prime Minister's father dies

David Cameron, the new British prime minister, has had a strange few weeks. He was on holiday with his family when his wife Samantha gave birth to their baby three weeks early. So Mr Cameron took a few days of special leave for new fathers.

Mr Cameron returned to work this week promising to get down to business.

But he had to stop work again after just one day because his 77-year-old father Ian became very ill on holiday in France.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy helped Mr Cameron to get to his father's bedside by lending him a helicopter. This meant he was at his father's bedside when he died.

Mr Cameron has said his father was an "inspiration". He was born with disabilities which badly affected his legs. But Mr Cameron said he did not let these problems "get in the way of his incredible sense of fun."

Tax troubles

Nearly six million people in the UK have paid the wrong amount of tax, it was announced this week. The problems are the fault of the tax office. The Government is blaming the Pay As You Earn system which was created in the 1940s when people's working lives were much simpler. Now it is common to move jobs often, or have more than one job.

About 1.4 million people will get letters from the tax office asking them to pay about GBP 1,500 in unpaid tax. But 4.3 million people will get some money back, because they have paid too much tax.

The Government says it will claim back underpaid tax because it needs the money.

by Susan Young
susan@englishuk.com