Majorcan Titbits

The Magalluf auction prize that still has ‘Becks appeal’
David Beckham’s milestone 100th cap for England – bought in an auction here in Majorca – is looking for a new home. The mystery benefactor who paid an undisclosed sum at the annual Pirates’ celebrity charity night several years ago in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital has decided to sell his investment.
Artisans, a shop in South Street in the Scottish golfing capital of St Andrews, is reporting widespread interest in the star attraction in their latest shop window.
The England cap is the one Becks won against France in 2008, and there’s also the shirt he wore that night signed by the whole squad? He was also presented with a special gold cap from the same match, which is not included in the sale.
Shop owner Beth Dymoke said she’s “surprised” by the amount of attention the piece has received.
She said: “We are selling it on behalf of a local client, who decided to sell off a few of his items. It happens quite often. People decide to down-size and ask us to help sell their stuff.
“It’s difficult to tell what could be coming in — from Chanel bags and Prada clothes to medieval capes, but this is the first time we have had something football-related.
“I was quite surprised to have a David Beckham piece turn up. A lot of people have been stopping to take photographs with it.”
The owner originally bought the piece at a charity auction in Magalluf for the Great Ormond Street Hospital children’s charity.
He made a bid on the cap and shirt because his young son was a massive David Beckham fan. However, since returning to Scotland, the owner said his son had seen the light and realised Scotland was the only team for him.
He said: “We lived in Majorca at the time and we went to a charity auction one night.
“They had a load of sports stars donating souvenirs, but my son was mad about Beckham at the time.
“Now we are back in Scotland, he supports the national team, so it’s his decision to sell it.
“Beckham’s no longer cool to him!”

Hawking book gives a window into
Majorcan childhood life
AN insight into Stephen Hawking’s early years in Majorca is revealed in his new autobiography published this month.
My Brief History: A Memoir chronicles much of Hawking’s childhood on the island when he spent three months here in the 1950s as an eight-year-old.
His mother had separated from his father at the time and came to stay in Deya with Stephen and his siblings on the recommendation of Beryl Pritchard, wife of Robert Graves the author.
Hawking was born in Oxford on the 300th anniversary of the death of Galileo and claims in his book that he complained to his parents that his first school “wasn’t teaching me anything”. As proof, he didn’t learn to read until he was eight.
When he came to live in Majorca, Hawking had a tutor. Intending to open his tutee’s mind to the beauty of the English language, he told him to read a chapter of the Bible every day and write a commentary.  This ploy backfired when Hawking complained that many sentences started with “and”, contrary to what he was being taught about good English. The tutor replied that the language of the Bible was outdated. In that case, Hawking asked, why was he being made to read it?
Hawking was later awarded the Nobel Prize, and remains in the memory of the Graves family thanks to the scientist’s eccentric sense of humour. One day, to everyone’s surprise, he threw a stink bomb under the sofa and the living room could not be inhabited for some time.

Lucky strike helps holiday mum beat
cancer
A mum-of-two only discovered that she had breast cancer after her son accidentally kicked a football in her chest during a family holiday in Majorca.
Karen Cooper, aged 42, was playing on a beach when she was knocked for six by a football kicked by her son, Zac.
Still in pain the next day, she decided to take a trip to the doctors when she returned to her hometown of Gorton in Manchester.
At first, doctors told Karen that she had a lump in her breast but that it was nothing serious.  After  a biopsy and tests, however, it was revealed she in fact had life-threatening stage-three breast cancer.
Karen said Zac, 15, felt guilty and thought that he had caused the disease.
However, the cancer would have been undiagnosed and could have potentially cost Karen her life had it not been for her son.
She told British media: “We had to reassure Zac. He was shocked and upset but we told him that he had found it for me. He saved my life, definitely.”
Karen began her treatment at The Christie Hospital in Manchester in September 2010.
After six rounds of chemotherapy, fifteen sessions of radiotherapy and undergoing surgery, Karen finally beat the disease in April 2011.
“I was determined to beat it and I just kept positive,” she added.
Karen is now healthy again and ran Manchester’s Heaton Park Race For Life this summer, raising £282 for Cancer Research

Island tops Internet dating claims to shame
MAJORCA is  proving to be first down the aisle when it comes to online dating scams. A new survey by a web-based matchmaking site has revealed that the island’s wannabe romantics will stop at nothing to get the date of their dreams.
Lying about age, weight, height, job, income and – even more jaw-dropping – whether they are in a relationship already, or even have a family they do not admit, this  makes the island the worst in Europe for lying lotharios.
The poll estimates that two-in-three men looking for a date lie about their own circumstances – and one-in-three women.
The worst examples include dads not owning up to having a family – and even saying they are emigrating abroad in a desperate attempt to give their girlfriend the slip while they try to date someone else