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Pensioner Destroys Spanish Fresco

A pensioner's restoration of a fresco that has adorned the wall of a Spanish church for more than a century has become an internet sensation. The famous painting of Jesus Christ by artist Elias Garcia Martinez had been deteriorating for years until 81-year-old Cecilia Gimenez decided to do something about it.

The results can be seen above. On the left is the original, whilst on the right is the hilarious attempted restoration. The new version has swept the internet, with people likening it to anything from a bear to Chewbacca from Star Wars. Indeed, even the BBC correspondent Christian Fraser described how it "resembles a crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic".

After starting her masterpiece, the elderly woman soon realised she was a little out of her depth and contacted her city councillor in charge of cultural affairs. Luckily he was sympathetic to her attempts:

"I think she had good intentions. Next week she will meet with a repairer and explain what kind of materials she used. If we can't fix it, we will probably cover the wall with a photo of the painting."

Since appearing on British news sites, a number of famous paintings have been given the same treatment. What do you think of these? An improvement?

Is This Really the Best Joke at Edinburgh Festival?

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival sees hundreds of comedians performing thousands of sets over the course of a month. From all these hours and hours of stand-up, the funniest joke told at the Festival this year has been chosen. The comedian who took the ‘prestigious' prize this year is Canadian Stewart Francis (pictured above) for this joke:

Thousands of Students Still Hoping for University Places

Tens of thousands of school students are waiting to hear if they have gained last minute spots on university courses. After A-level results were released last Thursday, school leavers throughout Britain are attempting to gain a precious university place through ‘clearing'.

‘Clearing' happens when the A-level results in Britain are announced. All the places on university courses held by students who then don't get the grades they need, are suddenly freed up. Other students can then attempt to fill these places by going through the process of ‘clearing'. UCAS, the university application system, confirmed almost 21,000 extra students have gained spaces through clearing, though as many as 162,000 are eligible for it.

All in all, almost 400,000 people who had provisional offers achieved the grades they needed and have been accepted onto university courses. Whilst this may sound like a lot, it is 30,000 down on the same time last year. Indeed, there are still 61,000 students waiting to find out if they have a place at their original choice of university. One reason for his could be the fact that for the first time in more than 20 years, A-level results as a whole were worse than the previous year.

London 2012 In Numbers

With the London 2012 Olympics now just a fond memory, we look at the numbers of the Games. Medals, athletes, visitors- there are some amazing facts and figures that came out of London 2012. Here are some of the best:

Harry and Amelia: The Most Popular Names in Britain

The list of most popular names given to babies born in England and Wales in 2011 has been revealed, with some surprising results. Harry was the most popular name given to boys during the year, whilst Amelia was the most popular girls' name.

The annual list, collected by the Office for National Statistics, reveals the names of every one of the 723,913 babies born in England and Wales last year. There has been a fair bit of movement at the top of the list, with Oliver and Olivia both being knocked off top spot, whilst Jacob, Ava and Isabella are all new in the top 10. Further down the list, Tommy, Blake, Frankie, Elijah and Jackson are all new entries into the top 100 for the boys, with Bella, Willow, Elsie, Kayla, Francesca and Lydia new for the girls.

However, if you're concerned that in 30 years time half the adult population will be called Harry or Amelia, don't worry. The ONS revealed that there were more than 28,000 different boys' names and some 35,000 different girls' names registered in 2011, with the top 10 names accounting for just 14% of babies.

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